Social Inference Training of Retarded Adolescents

Abstract

With the educable retarded adolescent's social cue decoding deficit as the focus of experimental remedial concern, five classes of retarded pupils in junior high school special education classes and six classes of institutional resident retarded pupils were used in development and evaluation of prevocational units designed to improve social comprehension and social functioning. Overall, significantly greater gains in social cue decoding were associated with use of the experimental lessons than with use of contrast lessons, audiovisual supplement to ongoing programs, or nonsupplemented programs. Test of Social Inference scores were significantly associated with ratings of social adequacy. Differences were not noted between subjects treated with experimental and comparison programs with respect to gains in social functioning.