Recorded audio prompts. A strategy to increase independent prevocational task completion in individuals with dual diagnosis.

McMillan et al. (1999) tested recorded audio prompts with two adults who had both intellectual disability and mental illness. The team wanted to see if short taped messages could replace staff cues during prevocational tasks like sorting and packaging.

They used a multiple-baseline design across tasks. Staff first gave the usual verbal cues. Later, a small player on the table spoke the same cues instead.

Both adults jumped from needing staff help most of the time to finishing tasks on their own. The taped prompts doubled or tripled independent work steps.

Staff talk dropped to almost zero once the audio started. Clients kept working even when no one stood nearby.

Lerner et al. (2012) extends the idea. They moved audio cues from the workshop to real store jobs and used a live earpiece instead of a tape. Teens with autism and ID still hit competitive work speed.

Fiene et al. (2015) is a close cousin. They swapped audio for a vibrating watch plus self-graphing. Elementary students with autism raised on-task behavior the same way these adults raised prevocational work.

McMillan et al. (1999) pictorial paper seems opposite at first: it claims pictures beat audio. Look closer — that study taught new daily-living steps, not simple job routines. Pictures help first learning; audio keeps fluent tasks going.

If you run a day or vocational program, a cheap mp3 player can cut staff prompting in half. Record short cues like "fold, then stack" and let the device do the talking. Clients gain independence, and you free staff for other supports. Start with one task, measure baseline, then flip the switch — the 1999 data say you should see a jump the same day.