Incorporating Choice-Making Opportunities to Increase Engagement in Leisure Activities for Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

A growing number of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) attend day programming. These programs are designed to give consumers the opportunity to explore the community, socialize with community members, and to engage in community activities. Unfortunately, activities offered may be selected by program staff without much input from the day program participants. Researchers examined the use of video-based paired stimulus preference assessments (VPA) to identify potentially preferred activities for three adults with IDD in a day program setting. Participant engagement levels during identified preferred activities were compared with staff-selected activities. Consistent with previous research, researchers were able to identify a hierarchy of preferred activities using the VPA. Researchers found preferred activities identified by the VPA maintained more engagement than staff-selected activities for all three participants. Our findings suggest VPA may be beneficial to incorporate into daily activity planning for adults with IDD in day programs.