Effectiveness of Activity Schedule in Teaching Children with Autism to Order Food Using an Online Food Ordering Application

Abstract

Introduction: The use of technological tools, which is among independent living skills, is one of the important areas that support the social participation of individuals with autism today. Skills such as ordering food through mobile applications, in particular, both increase individuals' participation in daily life and enable them to gain autonomy. This study evaluated the effectiveness of using an activity chart in teaching children with autism the skill of ordering food from an online food ordering application.

Methods: Two boys, ages 12 and 13, and a girl with autism make up the study group. A multiple-tracking model between individuals from single-subject research methodologies was employed in this investigation. Teaching students how to order food from an online food ordering applicationis the dependent variable, while using activity schedules is the independent variable.

Results: The first participant’s baseline performance was recorded as 0%, with subsequent second and third data points measured at 6.6%. Similarly, the second participant’s baseline level was 0%, while the second and third data points reached 20%. The third participant also demonstrated a baseline performance of 0%. Following instruction, all participants achieved 100% performance during the teaching phase, group assessment, and maintenance sessions.

Discussion: Based on the study's findings, it was concluded that activity schedules are effective in teaching, maintaining and generalising the skill of ordering food via an online food ordering application for children with autism. Other studies in the literature support this conclusion.

Conclusion: It is believed that the data obtained will shed light on studies on ordering food via technological tools using activity schedules for children with autism. It has been observed that there are a limited number of studies in the literature on teaching daily living skills via a technological tool using activity schedules. It is anticipated that conducting more studies on this subject will contribute to the literature and the development of children with autism.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder, daily living skills, technological tools, activity schedule