Running Head: TRAVEL PREPARATION 1

Travel Preparation: Traditional Travel Training Rethought

Rob LeSueur
George Mason University
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People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have increasing access to

being fully included members of their communities as the number of individuals with IDD that

live in institutional settings decreases (Hewitt, Heller, & Butterworth, 2015). Over the last 30

years, federal laws have been enacted to increase the rights and participation of people with

disabilities within society. The goals of these laws are increase the independence of people with

disabilities. While these individuals are legally integrated into society, they are underrepresented

in the workforce (US Census Bureau, 2013). The lack of employment is a significant barrier to

independence for these individuals.

A potential cause of the high unemployment rates, among others, is the access to reliable

transportation (Rose, Saunders, Hensel, & Kroese, 2005). Deka (2014) found that people with

disabilities are more likely to be reliant on household members to give them rides. The solution

to this is greater access and use of public transportation. One study of graduates from a post-

secondary education program (PSE) found that 94% of their graduates relied on public

transportation to get to work and social events (Ross, Marcell, Williams, & Carlson, 2013).

Since the beginning of the deinstitutionalization of people with disabilities, there has

been a recognized need to instruct people with disabilities on how to access public

transportation. The term “travel training” emerged around this time. Travel training was and still

is defined and recognized as “one-to-one, short-term, intensive, comprehensive instruction in the

skills necessary to travel safely and independently on public transportation” (“Association of

Travel Instruction - Home,” 2016). The one-on-one instruction has been a limiting factor in wide

use of travel training for students with disabilities (Kelley, Test, & Cooke, 2013; Mechling &

O’Brien, 2010). This tends to be the result of the high resource costs related to time, staffing, and

access to the community for the student and the instructor (Mechling & O’Brien, 2010).
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When students with IDD do participate in travel training, it is typically to learn a specific

route (Sohlberg, Fickas, Lemoncello, & Hung, 2009). This route is often from home to school or

work, as well as the return route. Route training is limiting in that it does not teach the student to

generalize the skills required to navigate beyond the set route. Route training also becomes

problematic when there is an interruption to public transportation on the trained route (i.e. metro

rail outages). Route trained individuals also require follow-up training when new destinations are

required.

Literature Review Commented [EEP1]: You need to establish a rationale for

this study
Current research on travel training for students with IDD is sparse. The research that has

been published tends to focus on the use of an assistive technology device to aid in independent

travel. Kelley and her colleagues (2013) state that the lack of research on classroom instruction

of travel skills is the result of early studies finding it to be less effective than one-on-one,

community-based training. Kelley also notes the changes in educational practices since the early

studies.

The current research can be broken down into the following areas: virtual reality or

virtual environments and prompting devices. Virtual reality or virtual environments are methods

of teaching travel skills within a classroom using technology to simulate a route. Prompting

devices are methods that have the person with IDD utilize a form of technology with software

that will provide prompts to the individual on how to travel.

Virtual Reality or Virtual Environments

Custom-built, virtual test environments were the primary used technology in virtual

reality travel training studies (Courbois et al., 2013; Farran, Courbois, Van Herwegen, & Blades,

2012; Mengue-Topio, Courbois, Farran, & Sockeel, 2011). The virtual test environments were

used to study various route finding techniques used by individuals with IDD. The environments
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had to be built by the researchers and did not have a real-world equivalent. Two of the studies

involved finding a shortcut between two points, once the routes from a third point were learned

to each of the previous points. The other study aimed to determine the usefulness of particular

landmarks to individuals with IDD. In all three of these studies, the individuals with IDD were

compared to control groups consisting of individuals without disabilities. Another study had

similar findings when comparing shortcut finding ability of adults with IDD to control groups of

both chronological age and mental age equivalents (Courbois et al., 2013). Another study in

virtual environments found that adults with IDD were more likely to be distracted by extraneous

visual landmarks than children without disabilities between the ages of six and nine years old

(Farran et al., 2012). These studies show that adults with IDD can learn routes in a virtual

environment even though it will longer than individuals without disabilities.

The first shortcut study adults with IDD made more errors per trial and took more trials to

learn a new route when compared to adults without IDD of the same chronological age. When

tasked with finding the shortcut between the two points, the adults with IDD had a more difficult

time locating a shorter route and travelled a greater distance in finding the point than adults

without disabilities (Mengue-Topio et al., 2011).

The other study within this domain used PowerPoint and video models to familiarize

students with landmarks along the bus route in order to identify when the appropriate time to

signal a bus driver to stop at a desired stop (Mechling & O’Brien, 2010). The participants in this

study used the PowerPoints to familiarize themselves with three landmarks prior to actually

making the trip by virtually making the trip through watching a video of the route. Upon

completion of the training in the virtual environment, the three participants in the study were

each able to make three trips to the target destination and signal their stop without error. This
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study shows that adults with IDD are able to generalize virtual reality training into a real world

scenario.

Prompting Devices

The use of prompting devices in assisting in individuals with IDD in independent

pedestrian travel has been found effective in recent publications. Studies have used a variety of

prompts including pictures (Fickas, Sohlberg, & Hung, 2008; Kelley et al., 2013), augmented

reality (McMahon, Cihak, & Wright, 2015), audio (Fickas et al., 2008), and photo-audio

combination (Mechling & O’Brien, 2010). Fickas and his colleagues (2008) compared several of

the common methods of prompting and found that audio prompts were more effective and

preferred by the participants than other forms of prompting. One recent study found that visual

and auditory prompts to support adults with IDD in independently signaling a bus driver for their

stop greatly increases the success rate (73%) when compared to the success rate when the

individual was not assisted (8%) (Davies, Stock, Holloway, & Wehmeyer, 2010).

The purpose of this research study is to determine the effectiveness of a classroom and

community-based learning course for travel education in preparing students with IDD to travel

independently using public transportation. The curriculum is designed to be taught to 10 to 15

students at once. If effective, this will greatly reduce the overall resource costs of time, staffing,

and monetary expenditure of traditional travel training methods. It will also allow the students to

have a more generalizable understanding of public transportation than traditional route training

methods. The research questions addressed by this study include:

1. Does the classroom and community-based learning course improve the independent

travel abilities of PSE students?

2. Does residential status at the PSE effect the outcomes of the course?

Method
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Design Commented [EEP2]: Is this experimental non-

experimental? Comparative? What is the design? Pre-post
one group?
This quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest study will use 10 first-year students from a PSE
Commented [EEP3]: This is hard for me to comment on
at a university in Virginia. This group of students will be part of a 15-week course offered at the because I don’t know what overall problem you are trying to
solve or how much research has already been done in this
field.
PSE. The students will be randomly selected from the 12 to 17 first-year students enrolled in the
Commented [EEP4]: What is the purpose of the study?
course. The group will be comprised of five randomly selected students from two stratified

groups: commuter students and residential students. Commuter students in the PSE are defined

as students that live with family or in housing arranged by family. Residential students are

defined as students that live in supported housing provided by the PSE.

The PSE currently has 54 students. All the students in the program have a disability

diagnosis that falls under the umbrella of either intellectual disability (ID) or developmental

disability (DD). The PSE accepts on average 15 students an academic year that starts in late

August of every year. The PSE is comprised of an equal split of males and females. In-state

students comprise of 66% of the enrolled students. The disability types include 40% ID, 30% Commented [EEP5]: You need to write these out for a
broad audience who might not know what they stand for
autism spectrum disorder, and 20% other disability falling in the DD category. The current racial

make-up is 18% African American, 3% Asian, 3% Hispanic, 7% Middle Eastern, 64%

Caucasian, and 5% mixed race.

The course will meet once a week for 3 hours each meeting. The course will consist of

both lessons in the classroom as well as community-based instruction to practice the skills

discussed in the classroom. The course will teach a variety of travel skills. The travel skills will

include the following domains: safety skills, navigation skills, transit skills, and the use of

technology to assist in the other skills.

Safety Skills. The domain of safety skills are the skills required for safely getting to and

accessing public transportation. These will include skills on safely traversing from a starting

location to an access point (i.e. a bus stop), safety skills on waiting at the access point, and skills
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of safely accessing and riding various types of public transportation. This domain will include

instruction on crossing streets at a variety of types of intersections, the proper behavior and

location to wait at access points, and the written and unwritten rules of riding on different types

of public transportation. Also included in this domain is instruction on managing the unexpected

or unsafe events that may occur during travel, including developing a safety plan.

Navigation Skills. Navigation skills are the skills required to get to a destination in the

most direct manner possible. These skills include locating and boarding the correct bus or train,

how to read a public transportation map, and identifying and locating landmarks.

Transit Skills. Transit skills are the skills required to access and ride various forms of

public transportation. These skills include reading transit schedules, the identification or payment

required to use the public transportation, the process of boarding various types of public

transportation and entering stations and getting to the platform, how to signal the driver to stop,

and exiting the mode of transportation or station.

Technology. Technology skills are the skills necessary to use technology to support the

student in the other travel skill domains. These skills include the use of computer programs and

cell phone applications that will enhance and support the abilities in the other domains. These

will include common map software and applications that track public transit in real-time.

Setting

Instruction will be implemented over a 15-week semester. Delivery of the course will be

a hybrid of both classroom instruction and community-based learning activities. Some lessons

will be entirely classroom-based, while others will be entirely community-based instruction. Commented [EEP6]: Why is this a distinction? What
makes this important to know that there are two kinds of
instruction?
Classroom instruction will focus on the introducing and discussing the various skills in a

controlled setting with limited distractions. Community-based lessons will be delivered to

practice skills and let the instructor observe potential problem areas for students in real-life
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settings. When timing permits, the lessons will be delivered as a combination of classroom and Commented [EEP7]: Which lesson? Is there only one?

community-based instruction in order to practice the taught skills during the meeting in which

they were introduced. Community-based learning will take place on various forms of

transportation including shuttle buses, city buses, and metro rail. Community-based instruction

will also be conducted at the various target destinations. The destinations used for the course will

be chosen with the intent to reinforce the importance of independent travel for both leisure and

necessity.

Teachers/ Instruction

The course will be entirely delivered by the researcher. The course will also include

instructional assistants to bring the student to teacher ratio to 3:1 or lower. Instructional Commented [EEP8]: How will you be sure the assistants
have fidelity to the intervention?
assistants will be introduced to the study prior to the beginning of the class and study. Only the

researcher will make observations that relate to the study. The low ratio is to insure safety during

community-based instruction as well as provide adequate assistance to each student in the class

during classroom instruction. The course content, syllabus, pacing guide, and activities are

designed by the instructor. The instructor has taught the course twice in its present state and once

in a different format. Between the former and current format, the instructor took part in a training

to be a travel training instructor, again focusing on one-on-one route training. Pieces of the

content are based in part on available resources on travel training. The pacing of the course is

designed in such a way that skills can be taught, practiced, and obtained in a manner in which the

skills build on each other throughout the course with the most basic skills taught in the beginning

of the course with the exception of the use of a few applications available for use on the phone

that are taught after a few trips are completed. This is done with the intention of being able to

discuss difficulties met during the trips and offer the applications as potential solutions to those

difficulties.
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Materials

Materials in the course will vary by lesson. The primary materials for classroom

instruction will be a computer with both access to the internet and PowerPoint installed, a

manner of projecting the screen for view by the students, and PowerPoints prepared by the

researcher. Online videos and websites will be shown as appropriate in during the course. For

specific lessons, the course will move from the traditional classroom and be held in a computer

lab with a projector. The lesson on cellphone applications will require a cellphone and a means

to connect the cellphone to have its screen projected to the class. Students will be expected to

bring paper and writing implements to each class. During the first course meeting, travel kits will

be introduced to the students and they will be expected to bring their travel kits to each class

meeting. Travel kits include wallets containing a small amount of money, student identification

card, the area’s paratransit card, an emergency contact card, and a fare card; a cellphone; any

required medication; and an item used to relieve stress.

Measures

Pre-course observations and post-course observations will be scored using a modified

version of the point system used by (Fickas et al., 2008) found to have high validity and

reliability in their study (see Appendix A for a sample from their study). The scale used in this

system will be modified to measure use of public buses and safety decisions, not only pedestrian

route decisions. The goal of the travel observations is to measure practical knowledge and use of Commented [EEP9]: How will this be collected and
assessed?
the travel skill sets in a real-world scenario.

The routes used in this study will be broken into decision points. Decision points are

defined as location or step that the student must make a decision in order to efficiently and safely

get to the assigned destination. Decision points include directional decisions at intersections

while walking, identifying and boarding the correct bus, identifying a landmark, and signaling
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the driver to stop at the correct stop. The decision points will also include points for having a

complete travel kit including the correct identification, finding directions or consulting a bus

schedule prior to departure, and crossing streets safely. The decision points for having a

complete travel kit and finding directions or schedule prior to leaving will each be a single,

separate decision point. Decision points for safely crossing the street will have a different

decision point assigned for each required street crossing.

Each decision point will be worth a maximum of five points. All five points will be

awarded at a decision point when the desired decision is completed without error, prolonged

hesitation, or cues from the researcher. Point deductions will be accessed at each decision point.

Prolonged hesitation at a decision point will result in a one-point deduction. Prolonged hesitation

is defined not making or indicating a decision and looking around without progressing for longer

than 10 seconds. Questions from the student that regard reassurance or confirmation will result in

a two-point deduction. Questions that are directional inquiries will result in a three-point

deduction. If the student is completely confused or gets lost, five points will be deducted and the

researcher will cue the student back to the correct direction. If a student misses a decision point,

four points will be deducted. For missed decision points that will result in the student getting lost

(i.e. getting on the wrong bus or failing to signal the driver to stop within one stop past the

correct stop), the research will first cue the student to correct the mistake. If the student corrects

after being cued, four points will be deducted. If the student fails to correct, the researcher will

make the correction and five points will be deducted.

Procedure

The students participating in the study will be tasked with going to an unknown location Commented [EP10]: Are groups formed? How are they
formed? What is the difference in the intervention for each
group?
using public transportation with a researcher collecting data on the student using the point
Commented [EP11]: What is the research question? That
system prior to the first course meeting. An unknown location will be defined as a location that should come from the research before the design of the
study.
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the student has not been to previously. The student will not have used public transportation to

travel to the location previously to insure that it is a new experience and they have not had any

route-training to the location. The pre-course destination will be the same for each of the

students participating in the study.

The course will serve as the intervention in this study. The students will be taught the

various travel skills in a sequential manner. The course will start with the basic safety skills and

contingency planning. The course will progress and slowly build skills in safety, navigation, the

use of technology, and the proper use of various modes of public transportation. The pacing

outline is designed in such a way that the instructor can observe students during travel in more

controlled situations before moving to larger, more crowded modes of transportation. The skills

learned early in the course will be repeated often throughout the course and utilized by the

students during community-based instruction while new skills are being introduced. The course

outline can be found in Appendix B.

At the conclusion of the course, the researcher will again have the students go to an

unknown location using public transportation. The unknown locations will be different from

pre-course observations to post-course observations. The locations will be of similar distance and

take a similar amount of time to get to the location. Decision points required in the travel will be

held constant for both pre-course observations and post-course observations.

Scoring Procedures and Data Analysis

For both pre-course observations and post-course observations, total scores will be

summed, including all the deductions for each decision point. All the scores will be entered into

a statistical computer software.

Once the data is entered, a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) will be conducted to

compare the effect of the course on the ability to travel independently. The ANOVA will be set-
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up in such a way that residential status within the program is compared alongside effect of the

course. The residential status will be set as the between-subjects factor and time will be used as Commented [EEP12]: Then this is a 2X? Factorial ANOVA
– although I don’t know the category factors you will be
measuring.
the within-subjects factor. Time will be defined as the contrast between pre-course observations

and post-course observations. Analyzing the data in this way will allow the researcher to

determine if one residential status group performs significantly different than the other

residential status group using fewer t-tests. This analysis will also allow for the observation of

significance of the change between pre-course observations and post-course observations within

each group. A paired sample t-test will be used to access effectiveness of the course on travel

ability regardless of residential status.

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References

Association of Travel Instruction - Home. (2016). Retrieved December 14, 2016, from

http://www.travelinstruction.org/

Courbois, Y., Farran, E. K., Lemahieu, A., Blades, M., Mengue-Topio, H., & Sockeel, P. (2013).

Wayfinding behaviour in Down syndrome: A study with virtual environments. Research

in Developmental Disabilities, 34, 1825–1831. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2013.02.023

Davies, D. K., Stock, S. E., Holloway, S., & Wehmeyer, M. L. (2010). Evaluating a GPS-based

transportation device to support independent bus travel by people with intellectual

disability. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 48, 454–463.

https://doi.org/10.1352/1934-9556-48.6.454

Deka, D. (2014). The role of household members in transporting adults with disabilities in the

United States. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 69, 45–57.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2014.08.010

Farran, E. K., Courbois, Y., Van Herwegen, J., & Blades, M. (2012). How useful are landmarks

when learning a route in a virtual environment? Evidence from typical development and

Williams syndrome. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 111, 571–586.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2011.10.009

Fickas, S., Sohlberg, M., & Hung, P.-F. (2008). Route-following assistance for travelers with

cognitive impairments: A comparison of four prompt modes. International Journal of

Human-Computer Studies, 66, 876–888. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2008.07.006

Hewitt, A., Heller, T., & Butterworth, J. (2015). Introduction to the special issue: National goals

2015. Inclusion, 3, 201–204. https://doi.org/10.1352/2326-6988-3.4.201

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Kelley, K. R., Test, D. W., & Cooke, N. L. (2013). Effects of picture prompts delivered by a

video iPod on pedestrian navigation. Exceptional Children, 79, 459–474.

https://doi.org/10.1177/001440291307900405

McMahon, D., Cihak, D. F. ., & Wright, R. (2015). Augmented reality as a navigation tool to

employment opportunities for postsecondary education students with intellectual

disabilities and autism. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 47(3), 157–

172. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2015.1047698

Mechling, L., & O’Brien, E. (2010). Computer-based video instruction to teach students with

intellectual disabilities to use public bus transportation. Education & Training in Autism

& Developmental Disabilities, 45, 230–241.

Mengue-Topio, H., Courbois, Y., Farran, E. K., & Sockeel, P. (2011). Route learning and

shortcut performance in adults with intellectual disability: A Study with Virtual

Environments. Research in Developmental Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 32,

345–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2010.10.014

Rose, J., Saunders, K., Hensel, E., & Kroese, B. S. (2005). Factors affecting the likelihood that

people with intellectual disabilities will gain employment. Journal of Intellectual

Disabilities, 9, 9–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744629505049725

Ross, J., Marcell, J., Williams, P., & Carlson, D. (2013). Postsecondary education employment

and independent living outcomes of persons with autism and intellectual disability.

Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 26, 337–351.

Sohlberg, M. M., Fickas, S., Lemoncello, R., & Hung, P.-F. (2009). Validation of the Activities

of Community Transportation model for individuals with cognitive impairments.

Disability & Rehabilitation, 31, 887–897. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638280802356260

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US Census Bureau. (2013). Workers with a disability less likely to be employed. Retrieved

December 7, 2016, from http://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2013/cb13-

47.html
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Appendix A
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Appendix B
Travel Training Outline
Week Plan Skill(s)
Week 1 Introduce travel training/community access class goals; Introduction/
Discuss good observation and practice with a picture Observation
scavenger hunt around campus
Week 2 Crosswalks; Stop, Look, Listen, Walk; practice using both Pedestrian Safety;
controlled and non-controlled intersections on campus; Basics Basic Skills
to remember when traveling alone
Week 3 Travel kits; checklists and contingency plans; using university Contingency
shuttle; locate all university shuttle stops Planning, Shuttle
Stops, Travel Kits
Week 4 Take university shuttle; discuss schedules and time University
management when traveling; bus rules; Ride Systems Shuttles, Bus
Rules
Week 5 Classroom/ Campus day – Learning about Google Maps on Google Maps;
computer and smartphone, follow the GPS to new location in Technology
small groups; App day: Google Maps on phone, Nextbus, Ride
Systems, Area transit app
Week 6 Taking a city bus: what do you need to know; routes, Cue Bus, Route
schedules. Take city bus ride together. Maps/ Schedules
Week 7 Review of prior lessons to check for understanding; planning a Metro Safety
trip on the Metro; Metro safety (lesson at Metro station)
Week 8 Riding the Metro; group trip on metro; small groups work on Riding the Metro
skills
Week 9 Classroom day – Using Paratransit, scheduling trips, Paratransit
usefulness to the student, review safety and material; plan trip Scheduling
for next week (using Google Maps)
Week 10 Cue Bus trip to location planned in previous week, students Student-led trip
lead the trip
Week 11 Practice transferring buses to local mall, Ride university Transferring Buses
shuttle back to campus
Week 12 Group trip to introduce transferring metro lines Metro Train
Transfers
Week 13 No class ** University Break**

Week 14 Group lunch in city; review of all Travel Training lessons;

work on presentation for end of semester; finalize travel kits
Week 15 Assessments