Brunswick County Schools

Although partial participation is used widely within educational programs for persons having severe mental or motor disabilities, there are few studies that target partial participation of a task rather than independent performance. One variation of partial participation requires that caregivers perform the task components that are not motorically feasible for a person, while teaching the student to perform the remaining components. In this study, three toothbrushing tasks (brushing teeth, rinsing, and wiping mouth) were analyzed into steps, some which the teacher performed and others that were taught to the student. The participants were 3 elementary-aged students with quadriplegic cerebral palsy and severe to profound mental retardation. Intervention procedures included time delay to fade physical prompts, reinforcement, and error correction. Instruction occurred daily in a self-contained public school classroom over a single school year, with follow-up probes conducted during the subsequent 2 years. A multiple probe design across tasks was employed to evaluate treatment effects. Daily training data and probes of performance indicated that 2 of the 3 students reached criterion on all three tasks, while 1 student reached criterion on one task. All students maintained performance on one or more tasks when measured 4 and 19 months following intervention.