The question of the quality of life, such as the ability to complete the routine skills independently has been widely debated in the special education field. However, perspectives have not adequately addressed the various outcomes of electronic visual activity schedule via iPad (First Then App) on assisting the individual with severe disabilities completing routine skills independently. This study aims to investigate the effects of using electronic visual activity schedules with special attention to learning routine skills and communication skills for students with severe disabilities. The following questions will be examined during the research period: What is the effect of visual activity schedules via an iPad First Then App, on the percentage of steps completed for routine tasks for students with severe disabilities? 2. What is the level of perceived student engagement when using the app vs. typical instruction? 3. What is the effect of the First Then App on the communication skills when completing daily life skills and school routines? 4. What value do the teacher and students place on the use of an electronic VAS to teach daily life and school routines? The study will take place in a suburban elementary classroom for a student with significant disabilities, and who match the inclusion criteria.The data will be collected via single-subject multiple baselines across skills (ABAB design). Participating student will be asked to complete routine skills without (baseline data) and with (intervention data) the technology-based intervention. The least to most intrusive prompts will be consistent with the First Then the application, and the positive reinforcement will be included to prevent behavioral challenges. A member of the research team will collect the interobserver agreement and procedural fidelity. As a result, the researchers will expect to see the independent variable, the app with systematic instruction, to have an impact on the dependent variable, overall skill acquisition of the targeted life skill and increases in overall communication. Also, We expect to have a functional relation between the independent variable and dependent variable. This paper sheds new light on the rarely acknowledged issue of using electronic visual activity schedules for students with severe disabilities to learn routine skills and communication skills.

Students with disabilities often face difficulty throughout their lives. One of these common challenges for students with severe disabilities is they often struggle with routine skills — for example, significant time spent helping students transition to activities throughout the day. The student's performance to complete required daily school routines increased when the researcher applied the picture activity schedules. Also, one strategy to enable students with disabilities to increase independence is through assistive technology. Therefore, many studies support the use of technology-based visual supports to teach daily school routines. Teachers increasingly have started to adopt an electronic visual activity schedule (eVAS) as a means to provide clear and consistent support for students with disabilities. Although the above studies are positive, there is still a need to more fully examine the various outcomes of eVAS. Therefore, this study is to investigate the effects of using eVAS (i.e., FIRST THEN application) on the latency period that the student spends for checking the schedule independently and prompts needed to transition throughout the day. Also, the value that the teacher and student place on the use of an eVAS to teach daily life and school routines instead of using typical instruction (e.g., traditional visual schedule), and the student’s ability to generalize the use of the eVAS across instructors and materials (display). The participant was a 10-year-old male in the fifth grade with intellectual disability and autism. This study was conducted in an intermediate school in the southeastern United States. An ABAB single case design was used to investigate the effects of the app. The dependent variables (DV) included: 1) The percent of independent correct responding to the natural cue “timer went off, or the teacher said: “Time to Switch”; 2) The amount of time the participant took to respond to the natural cue and check a schedule. The independent variable (IV) was applying the system of least prompts (SLP) along with the First Then application on iPad. Both DV and IV were collected five sessions in five days, during the transition period between activities in each baseline, intervention, maintenance, and generalization phases. The second observer recorded 25% of the data collection of the inter-observer agreement and procedural fidelity. By the end of the study, the social validity survey was provided one for the teacher and another one for the participant. The result indicated a functional relation between DV and the IV. Also, the limitation and the suggestion for future research were discussed. In conclusion, this study extended the result of prior studies by emphasizing the effectiveness of using the eVAS with students to independently complete the routine skills and applying SLP to give the student the opportunity to do the task with less prompts. The study will guide teachers use of such support tool and apply the intervention in the classroom with students with disabilities.

This study investigated the effects of an electronic visual activity schedule (eVAS; i.e., FIRST THEN Visual Schedule application) paired with the system of least prompts on the latency period and level of independence that a fifth-grade student with Intellectual Disability needed to transition throughout the day. Also investigated were the value that the teacher and student placed on the use of an eVAS to teach daily life and school routines instead of typical instruction (e.g., traditional visual schedule) and the student’s ability to generalize the use of the eVAS across instructors and materials (display). An ABAB single case design was used to investigate the effects of the eVAS app. Study research results indicated a functional relation between the use of the eVAS paired with the system of least prompts and the students correct responding and decreased latency. Limitations of the study and the suggestions for future research are discussed.