Abstract:
This study investigated the engagement levels of six less active service users with severe and profound intellectual disabilities who attended a day centre in New Zealand. The study was conducted in a day centre to address a societal concern that people with intellectual disabilities who attend day centres in New Zealand exhibit low levels of engagement in activities while attending day centres. The day centre where this study was conducted adopted an active support approach to increasing engagement in activities. Baseline data show low levels of engagement in activities suggesting that during times when active support was not available, less active service users were not regularly engaged in activities. Antecedent choices of activities were offered to participants contingent on inappropriate or no engagement in activities. Initially, engagement levels increased for four of the six participants. For one of the participants who continued to exhibit low engagement levels, a verbal and physical prompt was added to the choice procedure. Subsequently, this participant‟s engagement also increased to a high level. The sixth participant exhibited challenging behaviour upon the provision of a choice of activities. The choice procedure used in this research did not have a means of dealing with challenging behaviour and consequently this participant was returned to baseline. Once engagement levels had increased and were stable, staff of the day centre were trained in the choice procedure and were responsible for allocating a staff member to conduct the procedure on a daily basis. High levels of engagement were observed when staff implemented the procedure and high levels of engagement were maintained.
