Promoting independent ambulation: A case study of an elementary school student with developmental disabilities.

One elementary student with developmental disabilities could not walk alone.

The team taught four walker-use steps one at a time with forward chaining.

Each week the distance goal moved a little farther, a design called changing criterion.

The child learned every step and walked longer halls as the goal inched up.

Two months later the student still used the walker and walked farther than at the start.

Nabeyama et al. (2010) also raised walking distance in school, but they trained staff guarding moves instead of teaching the child.

Buskist et al. (1988) used constant time-delay to chain kitchen skills in older students and saw strong maintenance, showing different prompting styles still work for chains.

Shih et al. (2014) boosted walking with a dance pad and music, proving tech rewards can help, yet chaining gives a step-by-step road map when the walker itself is new.

You can copy this low-tech plan tomorrow: list each walker step, teach the first step to mastery, then add the next while slowly stretching the distance goal.

It needs no extra gear and fits inside the school day.

Try filming the weekly criterion line on the floor so the student sees progress and you keep goals transparent.