Increasing Exercise Intensity: Teaching High-Intensity Interval Training to Individuals with Developmental Disabilities Using a Lottery Reinforcement System
A simple weekly raffle can push adults with DD to hit HIIT heart-rate levels for 30 minutes and even lose weight.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three adults with developmental disabilities joined a gym program. The goal was to keep their heart rate in the high-intensity zone for 30 minutes.
Each minute they hit the target heart rate they earned a lottery ticket. At the end of the week they drew tickets for small prizes like snacks or gift cards.
What they found
All three adults soon worked hard enough to stay in the HIIT zone for the full half hour. One man also lost 10.8 pounds in nine weeks.
The lottery tickets worked like cash in a slot machine: small chance of a win, but still motivating.
How this fits with other research
Russell et al. (2018) showed that tokens keep their power even after kids eat free candy. May’s team used the same idea: tickets stayed valuable even when no food was given right away.
Regnier et al. (2022) warn that token gains fade when the tokens stop. They say you must thin the schedule and add praise to keep the skill alive. May did not test this next step, so plan for maintenance before you start.
Sances et al. (2019) taught an adult with autism to follow a bee-keeping list on his own. Both studies prove adults with DD can master tough adult tasks when reinforcement is clear and immediate.
Why it matters
You can run a cardio group for adults with DD without fancy equipment. Tape a heart-rate watch on their wrist, hand out raffle tickets, and let them draw for dollar-store prizes each Friday. Start with one ticket per minute on target, then thin to one every five minutes while you add loud praise. Track weight and heart-rate recovery as bonus social-validity data.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Rates of overweight and obesity are above 70% in typically developing adults in the United States, with higher rates observed in individuals diagnosed with developmental disability (DD). Lottery reinforcement systems have been validated as effective exercise interventions for individuals with DD. Although high-intensity interval training (HIIT) has demonstrated health benefits, it has not been studied using individuals within this population. The purpose of this study was to implement a lottery reinforcement system to systematically increase heart rate (HR) during 30-min HIIT sessions with 3 adults with DD. Results demonstrated increases in HR from below to within the prescribed range in all 3 participants. For 1 participant, weight decreased by 10.8 pounds during the 9-week program. Implications include that lottery systems increase exercise intensity with adults with DD, that HR during exercise can be reliably controlled using a lottery system, and that similar programs may result in health benefits.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2020 · doi:10.1007/s40617-020-00428-9