Can video prompting be used to teach employment skills to older adults with moderate to moderate-severe intellectual developmental disabilities?

BACKGROUND

Being employed gives people with intellectual developmental disabilities (IDDs) a daily routine and helps them develop a range of physical, cognitive, and social skills, along with a sense of independence, but many have difficulty integrating into the work force. Assistive technologies may support employment but research on their efficacy is scarce. The study examined the impact of using video prompting on the ability of older adults with IDD to learn two new employment-related tasks.

METHOD: In this single-subject study design, we examined six adult participants (over age 50) with IDD, asking whether viewing video prompts on a tablet could help them learn novel work-related duties. We compared the completion of steps in these work tasks before the intervention, during the intervention (with prompts), and after the intervention (with no prompts).

RESULTS

All participants showed the ability to learn. Accuracy in follow-up was better than in the baseline sessions, albeit with some variability: three performed the tasks correctly in follow-up when they were not given prompts, but the accuracy of the remaining three participants dropped, suggesting the utility of longer interventions.

CONCLUSIONS

Video prompts may promote active aging and independence in older adults with IDD by teaching new work skills.