Teaching microwave skills to adults with disabilities: Acquisition of nutrition and safety facts presented as nontargeted information

A system of least prompts instructional procedure was used to teach three microwave oven food preparation skills (i.e., hot chocolate, popcorn, baked potato) to three female adults with disabilities. The instructor inserted corresponding nutrition and safety facts both in the prompt hierarchy and as instructive feedback in the consequent event. Participants acquired all skills in an average of 8.1 sessions per skill. Also, they generalized the skills to the home setting, and, with the exception of one skill for one participant, they maintained the skills over time. In addition, participants learned 83-100% of the nontargeted information inserted in the prompt hierarchy and 100% of the nontargeted information presented as instructive feedback.