Use of Visual Supports to Increase Task Independence in Students with Severe Disabilities in Inclusive Educational Settings

The present study sought to determine if systematically teaching the use of visual supports to three students identified as having moderate to severe disabilities resulted in improved task completion and independence in general education settings. For each participant, a visual support system delineated a multi-step task, which prior to the implementation of the intervention, required extensive prompting. A non-concurrent multiple baseline design across participants demonstrated that the use of visual supports paired with systematically teaching use of the visual support increased independent task completion for each student. Results, analyzed through visual analysis and calculating effect size through Tau-U, showed intervention of visual supports paired with systematic teaching of the supports was highly effective for the participants. Social validity data gathered after the completion of the study revealed that teachers and support staff viewed the visual support intervention as an effective strategy in aiding the participants’ independent task completion.