The effects of fading, modeling, prompting, and direct instruction on letter legibility for two preschool students with physical and developmental delays

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the model, lead, and test procedure, as well as a fading procedure with prompts and Direct Instruction with two preschool developmentally delayed students. These procedures were implemented to teach a class of preschoolers to write their names in preparation for their kindergarten transition. The participants were enrolled in a special education preschool and both were referred to the program due to physical as well as academic delays. Signing their name was a daily task that the students needed to accomplish before they started the day. During baseline both students had difficulty with letter identification and formation. The results of the model, lead and test suggested that these were effective procedures. When these were faded, there was little change in both participants handwriting. The benefits of using Direct Instruction procedures and fading for preschool students with physical development delays at the preschool level were discussed.