Team sports for the severely retarded: training a side-of-the-foot soccer pass using a maximum-to-minimum prompt reduction strategy.

Three adults with severe intellectual disability learned a 9-step soccer pass. The coach first gave full hand-over-hand help. Then he slowly pulled his hands away until each player kicked alone.

Sessions happened in a gym. The coach used a multiple-baseline design across players to show the prompt fading, not luck, caused the gains.

Every adult hit the no-prompt goal after 24-29 short lessons. The kick stayed strong up to 276 days later in both the training gym and a new place.

Players also used the pass in real games with staff, showing the skill moved to real life.

Park et al. (2025) extends this idea to young autistic kids. They swapped max-to-min prompts for model-practice-feedback and still got fast kicking gains. The method changes, but the fade-to-zero spirit stays.

Pickering et al. (1985) is the older sibling. One year earlier the same lab taught adults with autism daily living skills with forward chaining and graduated guidance. The 1986 paper simply moves the same logic to a sport.

Cariveau et al. (2023) looks opposite at first. Simultaneous prompting beat prompt delay for listener responses. The trick: they wanted zero errors, so they gave the cue and prompt together. The 1986 study let errors happen and faded from full help. Different roads, same end—zero prompts.

You can teach a chained motor skill to adults with severe ID in under six weeks if you start with full physical help and fade it out. Write the 9 steps, decide your prompt levels, and track each fade. The skill can last nine months and show up on a new field—no extra programming needed.