Preschoolers are assigned to a control group or a comparison group to examine the efficacy of a new intervention to teach the skill of engaging and pulling up a zipper.

Purpose: This pilot study compares the efficacy of a standard teaching zippering vest presented with general verbal prompts to a modified teaching zippering vest presented with a related story and vocabulary in the acquisition of zippering skills among typically developing preschoolers. Institutional Review Board approval and parent consent was obtained.

Design: An experimental two group pre-post test design was used. Setting: Research occurred in a local preschool. Participants: Participants were recruited from fifty 3.6-to 4.11-year-old preschoolers.

Intervention: Eligible children received 3 zippering practice sessions with either a standard zippering vest (control group) or a modified vest with added visual and language cues (comparison group).

The treatment protocol for both cohorts of participants was administered over a three-week time period to minimize the impact of normal development.

Inclusion Criteria: Child must be typically developing as assessed by the Developmental Assessment of Young Children 2 (DAYC-2) developmental screening.

Child must be between 42 and 60 months of age. Child must be unable to zip by a) parent report and b) three observed attempts to zipper -

Exclusion Criteria:

Child must meet inclusion criteria and be present at school during three researcher visits to the preschool within three consecutive weeks.

-

Preschoolers are not aware of whether they receive zippering instruction using a standard teaching zippering vest or the modified one. The parents were not aware which group their child was put in. All children received extra practice with zippering, in both groups.