Teaching an Adult With Autism Spectrum Disorder to Use an Activity Schedule During a Vocational Beekeeping Task

One adult with autism worked at a bee farm. He needed help every step of the honey harvest.

The team made a picture list of the job. He checked each photo after finishing the step. When the whole list was done he picked a small prize.

The researchers counted how many steps he did alone before and after the picture list was added.

With the picture list and prize, the man went from 20 % correct to 100 % correct on his first try.

He kept the perfect score even when the trainer stepped back. The farm boss called the work "independent."

May et al. (2020) used the same recipe—list plus lottery prize—to get three adults with disabilities to run on treadmills at HIIT speed. The combo works for both sweat and honey.

Al-Nasser et al. (2019) swapped the bee steps for ABA task sheets. Neurotypical college kids hit mastery with pictures alone, no extra prize. The difference: the man with autism needed the prize to stay on task.

Tullis et al. (2019) remind us to ask what jobs adults actually like. Pair their preference check with Sances’ picture list and you get both choice and independence.

If you serve adults with autism, stop doing the task for them. Snap photos of each work step, load them on a phone or laminated card, and add a tiny reinforcer at the end. In one session you can turn prompt-dependence into boss-level independence.