The Effect of a Constant Time Delay Procedure on Teaching an Adult with Severe Mental Retardation a Recreation Bowling Skill

• Published in: The Physical educator Vol. 61; no. 2; pp. 63 - 74
• Main Authors: Zhang, Jiabei, Cote, Bridget, Chen, Shihui, Liu, John
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Indianapolis Phi Epsilon Kappa Fraternity 01.04.2004; Sagamore Publishing; Sagamore Publishing LLC
• Subjects: Adapted Physical Education; Adolescents; Adults; Bowling; Disabled students; Feedback (Response); Helplessness; Intellectual disabilities; Intellectual Disability; Intervals; Laboratory Experiments; Males; Multiple Disabilities; Opportunities; Perceptual Impairments; Physical Education; Physical education and training; Principals; Psychomotor Skills; Recreation; Recreational Activities; Severe Mental Retardation; Statistical Significance; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Time & motion studies
• ISSN: 0031-8981; 2160-1682

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a constant time delay (CTD) procedure on teaching a recreational bowling skill to a 39-year-old male with severe mental retardation. The CTD procedure used 5 seconds as delay interval, task direction as target stimulus, physical assistance as controlling prompt, and oral praise as reinforcer. A single-subject ABAB design was used for internal validity of the experimental control. The number of correct steps completed within the 5 second delay intervals was measured in probe trials conducted at the beginning of each session. Visual inspection of these data graphed and the Bloom test (1975) for statistical significance were used to analyze the data collected. The results indicated that the 5 second CTD procedure was effective in teaching the participant the recreational bowling skill. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)