Acquisition and Maintenance of Video Game Initiation, Sustaining and Termination Skills <sup/>

Abstract

An instructional program is reported in which a young adult with severe handicaps was taught to initiate, sustain, and terminate an age-appropriate leisure skill: an Atari video game. A multiple probe design across these three skill clusters was used to validate the instructional package. Instruction consisted of total task presentation with teacher praise for correct task step performance and a gradually increased intervention hierarchy for task step errors. The results indicated acquisition of the initiation, sustaining, and termination skills. Partial skill maintenance was noted on probes administered 4 weeks following program completion.