Predicting compliance of children with and without developmental delay.

Abstract

Noncompliance is a common problem exhibited by children with developmental delay (DD;Walker, 1993). The authors evaluated whether performance on the Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) test would predict compliance of children with and without DD to instructions alone (IA) versus instructions with modelling and/or gestures (IMG) administered by their caregivers. The ABLA test uses standard prompting and reinforcement procedures to assess the ease or difficulty with which a testee is able to learn a simple imitation and five two-choice discriminations. Twenty-one children without DD and 16 children with DD were presented with five age-appropriate educational tasks by their respective caregivers in a structured teaching session that included IA on some trials and IMG on others. The ABLA test performance reliably predicted the compliance of the children in the two conditions, and the results were consistent across both groups. The results are important for providing information to caregivers on how best to instruct their children in an effort to increase compliance.

The Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities Test for Predicting Learning of Persons With Intellectual Disabilities

“…In a systematic replication of LaForce and Feldman 2000, Hiebert, Martin, Yu, Thorsteinsson, and Martin (2007) assessed compliance of a group of children to IA and instructions plus modeling plus guidance (IMG) administered by their caregivers. The results indicated that (a) children at ABLA Level 6 performed significantly better on IA than those at ABLA Level 3 and/or 4, (b) children at ABLA Level 3 and 4 performed significantly better when given IMG than IA, and (c) children at ABLA Level 6 performed approximately equally well to both IA and IMG.…”