Background. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the prompt fading technique to increase compliance behavior for a child with a mild intellectual disability. Generally, people with cognitive deficits show the higher prevalence of defiance due to their limitations in processing social situations. A defiance is a form of non-compliance which is displayed through negative emotional behavior, such as sulking, crying, shouting, or hitting others. Several non-compliance behaviors can be seen as normal at a certain stage of ages, such as throwing tantrum at 2-year-old. However, non-compliance behaviors can be identified as a problem if they appear with a higher intensity than other same-aged children, and has the possibility of persisting until adulthood. F, the participant of this study, is an 8-year-old boy who has shown non-compliance behavior since the age of 2 years and continued until the time of the study. Non-compliance behaviors that displayed by F often make him obtain physical punishment from his parents. Meanwhile, physical punishment risks in increasing the individual’s prevalence of aggressive behavior in the future. Furthermore, the distress that parents feel due to F’s non-compliance behavior can exacerbate the pattern of daily parenting.

Methods. This single case study (n=1) is using A-B with follow-up research design. The prompt fading technique used in this study is the most-to-least fading method. In this study, compliance is defined as moving to fulfill the instruction less than 10 seconds after instruction was given. Target behavior in this study is compliance with daily tasks at home. This study consists of 3 phases, i.e. baseline, intervention, and follow-up. The baseline phase consists of ten trials in two sessions. Meanwhile, the intervention phase consists of seven sessions with a total of 70 trials, which lasted 30-45 minutes at each session and held at the participant's home. The follow-up phase which consists of ten trials conducted in two sessions to ensure the stability of follow-up results. The continuous sampling method used to record the behavior and it allowed the researcher to observe and record any participant’s behaviors that appear over a period of time. To see the effectiveness of the intervention program, the results between baseline and follow-up phases were compared using visual analysis method. The program is effective if the participant's frequency of compliance behavior increases by 60% from total trials.

Results. The results show a gradual increase in frequency for F’s compliance behavior. Of the 10 trials conducted in the baseline phase, F had not been able to meet the compliance behavior criteria. After the intervention was implemented, F showed an increase in compliance behavior that reached up to 60% in the follow-up phase. The instruction delivery and modeling strategy are assumed to affect the outcomes. The way of delivering instruction, which used a short and clear statement, and straight to only one expected behavior in one time, facilitated participant with intellectual deficits to remember cue words of instruction. Furthermore, it helps the participant to respond appropriately. Meanwhile, the modeling strategy also facilitates participant to observe directly the form of behavior that is expected of him, thereby increasing the probability of a more appropriate behavioral appearance.

Conclusions. The prompt fading technique is effective in increasing the frequency of compliance behavior to the daily task at home by 60% in a participant aged 8 years 2 months with a mild intellectual disability. However, this intervention program cannot be generalized into compliance behavior in academic context since participant still shows a strong refusal to any paper-and-pencil activities.

Added-Values. Prompt fading techniques are commonly used to form a series of new behavior, such as teaching children with special needs to pour water into a glass. Meanwhile, this study prompt fading technique was applied to increase the frequency of the behavior. This technique generally was also applied in an academic setting. But, in this study, it imposed in daily activities instruction at home. Therefore, the result of this study is expected to add information on the application of the prompt fading technique to increase the frequency of behavior, especially compliance behavior to daily tasks, in children with a mild intellectual disability.

Keywords: compliance; intellectual disability; prompt fading; daily tasks