Using a Multicomponent Adapted Power Card Strategy to Decrease Latency During Interactivity Transitions for Three Children With Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

An adapted Power Card strategy was examined to determine effectiveness in decreasing latency in responding to teacher cues to initiate interactivity transitions in the classroom among three students, aged 10 to 11 years, with developmental disabilities (i.e., one with autism and two with intellectual disability). The Power Card strategy, a form of visually cued instruction, included scripts in which the students’ “heroes” or preferred fictional characters demonstrated targeted interactivity transition behaviors. The strategy decreased response latency for all three students as documented within a single-case withdrawal (A-B-A-B-A-B) design replicated across the three participants. Instructional staff implemented the intervention and, at the end of the study, all remarked about the dramatic effectiveness of the adapted Power Card strategy, said they would use this strategy in the future, and noted that overall classroom functioning had improved. Implications for classroom practice and recommendations for further research on the use of Power Card strategies are discussed.