Mobility versus sedentariness in task arrangements for people with multiple disabilities: an assessment of preferences.

Three adults with multiple disabilities tried two ways to do the same job tasks. One way let them stand up and move around. The other way made them sit still.

Staff watched which style each person picked and how happy and focused they looked. The adults could switch back and forth until they showed a clear favorite.

Every adult either picked the moving style right away or moved toward it later. When they worked in the moving style they stayed on task more and smiled more.

Sitting-still sessions led to more looking away and flopping in the chair.

Lattimore et al. (2002) ran the same kind of side-by-side try-out with adults with autism starting new jobs. They also saw clear single-task picks, but two of three workers did not care about switching tasks during the shift. The 1998 study shows the extra step: even if someone picks a task, check if they also want to move while doing it.

Isenhower et al. (2025) split leisure tasks into three parts: social, electronic, and movement. They found matching the movement part to what the adult liked doubled engagement. Their finer three-part model builds on the simple move-or-sit idea from 1998 and gives you more precise choices.

Lancioni et al. (2011) swapped paper tasks for a computer that let adults press a switch to pick stimuli. Mood still went up, showing the core idea—let the client choose—holds across low-tech and high-tech setups.

If you support adults with multiple disabilities, build a quick try-out into your plan. Give both a moving and a sitting version of the same chore, craft, or assembly task. Let the client sample each for a few minutes and point to or move toward the one they want. Most will aim for the mobile set-up and reward you with better focus and brighter affect. No extra tokens or praise needed—the task format itself becomes the reinforcer.