The effectiveness of simultaneous prompting procedure presented by computers on teaching the skill of naming the items of clothing to individuals with autism

This study was designed for individuals with characteristics inherent in autism to examine the effectiveness of simultaneous prompting procedure presented by computers on identifying the items of clothing that were named. The study also examined the generalization effect across materials and maintenance sessions were conducted 1, 3 and 4 weeks after the instruction had stopped.The experimental design of the study was multiple probe design across three subjects who were students between 8-12 years of age with characteristics of autism. Five items of clothing were taught to each subject in the study. The dependent variable of the study was the behaviour of pointing to the right item of clothing by touching the screen by hand or finger. The independent variable of the study was the use of simultaneous prompting procedure presented by computers. There were probe, instruction and observation sessions in the study which were undertaken by the use of computers as well as generalization sessions that used picture cards instead of the computer pictures that were used before.The findings of this study showed that simultaneous prompting through computers was an effective instructional procedure in teaching the individual with autistic features to identify the picture of clothing items that were named. It was also evident that simultaneous prompting procedure was effective in maintaning what was learned 1, 3 and 4 weeks after the instruction had stopped. At the same time, the individuals in the study could geeneralize the skill across materials.Key words: Computer assisted learning, simultaneous prompting procedure, autism.