Self-recruited feedback: a cost-effective procedure for maintaining behavior.

The maintenance of learned behavior is a problem faced frequently by teachers of persons with severe disabilities. The present study examines the use of a self-management procedure to improve and maintain work performance of young adults with severe disabilities in integrated job settings. Students were taught to self-monitor work rate on job tasks, evaluate daily performance against a criterion, and recruit contingent feedback from supervisors. A multiple baseline design across subjects, and two within series reversals, indicate a functional relationship between self-recruited feedback and maintenance of improved work rate. Self-monitoring of work rate alone was not a consistently effective maintenance strategy. Results are discussed in terms of the need for a comprehensive technology of maintenance that requires a low response cost to apply over long periods of time.