Teaching seedling planting skills to students with intellectual disabilities through horticultural practices

The purpose of this study is to teach seedling planting skills to students with intellectual disabilities through horticultural practices. For this purpose, individuals with intellectual disabilities were taught seedling planting skills in the field of horticulture using the simultaneous prompting teaching method. In order to examine the effectiveness of simultaneous prompting, an inter-subject multiple probe design across participants was employed within the framework of single-subject research models. The study included three participants (two female, one male), aged 14–15, all diagnosed with mild intellectual disabilities. The dependent variable of the study was the performance level of students with intellectual disabilities in carrying out seedling planting in a horticultural setting, while the independent variable was the simultaneous prompting teaching method. For the target behaviors, baseline, daily probe, teaching, generalization, and maintenance sessions were conducted. The single-opportunity method was used in structuring the research sessions. In addition, the social validity findings were evaluated through interviews with the participants' families. The findings of the study revealed that simultaneous prompting was effective in teaching seedling planting skills within horticultural practices. It was observed that participants were able to generalize the acquired skills across different settings, people, and materials. At the end of the research, follow-up sessions conducted one, three, and four weeks later demonstrated that the acquired skills were maintained over time. Social validity data collected from families reflected positive views regarding the effectiveness of the applied method.