Affiliations: [a] Centre for Applied Psychology, University of Leicester New Building, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK | [b] University of Leiden, Netherlands | [c] INESC - University of Aveiro, Portugal | [d] Arden European Ltd., Solihull, UK | [e] Technical University, Lisbon, Portugal | [f] Work-Place of Leicester Ltd., UK
Correspondence:
[*]
Fred Furniss, Centre for Applied Psychology, University of Leicester New Building, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK. Fax: +116 252 2503; E-mail: fgf1@leicester.ac.uk.
Note: [1] This work was supported by the TIDE programme of the Commission of the European Communities.
Abstract: Supported employment services have made open employment a meaningful option for persons with intellectual disabilities. To date, however, few people with more severe intellectual disabilities have benefited from these opportunities [14]. Many such persons can, with systematic instruction, rapidly learn complex work tasks, but need long-term support to maintain an acceptable level of performance over time. We describe a new system, based on a ‘palmtop’ computer, to assist people with severe intellectual disabilities to perform complex work tasks. Using the system, a worker with severe intellectual disabilities uses a radically simplified palmtop computer to access a series of pictorial instructions guiding him/her through the steps in a task. For users who may become distracted from job tasks, devices similar to a commercial radio-pager remind the user to request the next instruction after a pre-set time has expired since the previous instruction. Should the user not respond to the prompt, the job coach or supervisor receives a similar alert. We present data from a series of six single case experiments in which the system was evaluated in use by workers with severe intellectual disabilities in real work settings. The results show that the system supports higher levels of work accuracy and pace than simpler support systems such as booklets of picture instructions, and that the prompting capacity of the system is useful to workers who may become distracted from job tasks. In addition, the capacity of the system to deliver instructions in clusters tailored to the needs of the individual user increases the utility of the system for persons with varying support needs.
