Teaching adolescents with severe disabilities to use the public telephone.
Total-task BST with four-level prompting teaches real-world chains like phone calls and the skills stick in new places.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Two teens with severe disabilities needed to call home from the mall.
The team used total-task BST: they showed the whole phone call, then guided each step.
Four prompt levels moved from a gentle hint to full hand-over-hand help.
Sessions happened at a real payphone in the community, not in a clinic.
What they found
Both teens learned to dial, insert coins, and talk on the phone.
They kept the skill after training stopped.
They even used new phones at a movie theater and a corner store without extra teaching.
How this fits with other research
Price et al. (2018) later used the same total-task idea to teach bus riding with Google Maps.
Olcay et al. (2024) copied the format for earthquake drills in a classroom.
Varley et al. (1980) did the same for job interviews, showing the method works across ages and goals.
Slane et al. (2021) reviewed 20 studies and found BST keeps working when teachers, not just researchers, run it.
Why it matters
You can teach any chained community skill the same way: show the whole task, give leveled prompts, then test in new places. Try it next time a learner needs to use an ATM, order food, or check out a library book.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Pick one chained skill your learner needs, script the whole task, and practice it start-to-finish in the real setting with least-to-most prompts.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Two adolescents with severe disabilities served as participants in a study conducted to train in the use of the public telephone to call home. Participants were trained to complete a 17-step task analysis using a training package which consisted of total task presentation in conjunction with a four-level prompting procedure (i.e., independent, verbal, verbal + gesture, verbal + guidance). All instruction took place in a public setting (e.g., a shopping mall) with generalization probes taken in two alternative settings (e.g., a movie theater and a convenience store). A multiple probe across individuals design demonstrated the training package was successful in teaching participants to use the telephone to call home. In addition, newly acquired skills generalized to the two untrained settings. Implications for community-based training are discussed.
Behavior modification, 1990 · doi:10.1177/01454455900142003