Three adult men with developmental disabilities participated in this study.
All three lived in community-based group homes and attended the same vocational
training program during the day. Participants’ domestic living skills were
assessed using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales—Interview Edition (Sparrow,
Balla, & Cincchetti, 1984). Results indicated that all three participants had
substantial deficits in adaptive behavior functioning, although they were able to
feed themselves using a spoon, drink out of a cup, and had the motor skills necessary
to wash dishes.With respect to dish washing, which was the target task in the
present study, staff reported that they did not currently perform this skill correctly
or independently. These three men were selected for this study because of their
substantial deficits in domestic living skills and, more specifically because they
were not independent with respect to washing dishes. A review of past habilitative
records provided no evidence that these adults had ever received any systematic
training to teach dish washing skills, although development of domestic living
skills was listed as an instructional priority in their individualized service plans.
In addition, the men were considered promising candidates for video prompting
because their vision and acuity were within the normal range. Table 1 provides
demographic information for each participant.