Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities - Division on ...

pendent task completion <strong>in</strong>creased dur<strong>in</strong>g
basel<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> the third sett<strong>in</strong>g before the PDA
was <strong>in</strong>troduced <strong>and</strong> after the <strong>in</strong>tervention had
been <strong>in</strong>troduced <strong>in</strong> other sett<strong>in</strong>gs. This f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>g
appears consistent with the <strong>in</strong>vestigations
by Bock (1994, 1999) who found a similar
pattern of generalization when teach<strong>in</strong>g categorization
strategies to students with autism
spectrum disorders.
Kent’s mother commented that dur<strong>in</strong>g the
<strong>in</strong>tervention phase Kent checked the time the
<strong>and</strong> announced, “Come on! It’s time to go [to
school]!” This was significantly different from
his mother’s prior reports that she had to
cont<strong>in</strong>uously cajole <strong>and</strong> argue with her son to
get him to leave the house to go to school on
time each morn<strong>in</strong>g. In addition, Kent used his
PDA to record his appo<strong>in</strong>tments <strong>and</strong> personal
<strong>in</strong>formation. He also set his PDA so that an
alarm sounded <strong>and</strong> a light at the top of the
device flashed. The light <strong>and</strong> alarm would
alert Kent to open the PDA, where his rem<strong>in</strong>der
would be displayed visually on the
screen. Perhaps, given Kent’s sensory issues,
the stimulation of multiple senses allowed him
to beg<strong>in</strong> his tasks <strong>in</strong>dependently (Dunn,
Myles, & Orr, 2002).
Similar to studies by Davies et al. (2002) <strong>and</strong>
Norris <strong>and</strong> Soloway (2003), the PDA was effective
<strong>in</strong> address<strong>in</strong>g a student’s target behavior.
Although few studies have been conducted
with PDAs, cautious optimism exists
regard<strong>in</strong>g the use of this technology. In particular,
the PDA <strong>and</strong> similar technology may
be a viable tool for <strong>in</strong>dividuals with special
needs. Positive aspects of palmtop computers
<strong>in</strong>clude their portability, small size, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g
popularity among the general public.
Thus, the <strong>in</strong>conspicuous nature of the PDA
allows users to support themselves <strong>in</strong> a variety
of sett<strong>in</strong>gs without call<strong>in</strong>g attention to any
additional differences. Use of this type of technology
to render assistance to <strong>in</strong>dividuals with
disabilities, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g those with AS, may assist
<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>creased levels of participation <strong>in</strong> the community
(Davies et al.; Norris & Soloway).
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