Improving Home Programme Compliance of Children with Learning Disabilities

Non‐compliance of children with learning disabilities with occupational therapy home programmes is an all too familiar problem. Although therapists are generally quite accurate in estimating compliance, they are often unsure how to improve this. While most paediatric compliance research investigates compliance of children with medical regimens, the findings have relevance to occupational therapy. In this article the compliance literature is reviewed: methods of measuring and more importantly, improving compliance, are discussed. Factors to be considered when prescribing home programmes are presented, and methods used by occupational therapists are noted. A programme involving contingency contracting and token reinforcement is outlined.