Daily living skills are critical to community independence. To maximize effectiveness of instruction in daily living skills, teachers need procedures that are applicable to small group instruction, that promote generalization, and that can be replicated across skills. In the present study, moderately mentally retarded adults acquired and generalized daily living skills through a combination of instructions in reading instruction booklets and using the booklets to perform the tasks. The training package included time delay and an application of the Premack Principle for sight word reading and instruction on using the booklet with step-by-step prompting and praise. Procedures were effective for sets of food preparation, laundry, and telephone skills.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlbertoP., JobesN., SizemoreA., & DoranD. (1980). A comparison of individual and group instruction across response tasks. Journal of the Association for the Severely Handicapped, 5, 285–293.
2.
BrowderD. (1981). A comparison of a stimulus prompt and a response prompt with four fading procedures to teach sight words to the moderately and severely retarded. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Virginia.
3.
BrownL., Branston-McCleanM. B., BaumgartD., VincentL., FalveyM., & SchroederJ. (1979). Using the characteristics of current and subsequent least restrictive environments in the development of curricular content for severely handicapped students. AAESPH Review, 4(4), 407–424.
4.
CrnicK. A., & PymH. A. (1979). Teaching mentally retarded adults in independent living skills. Mental Retardation, 17, 13–16.
5.
CuvoA. M., JacobiE., & SipkoR. (1981). Teaching laundry skills to mentally retarded students. Education and Training of the Mentally Retarded, 16, 54–64.
6.
CuvoA. J., LeafR. B., & BorakoveL. S. (1978). Teaching janitorial skills to the mentally retarded: Acquisition, generalization, and maintenance. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 11, 345–355.
7.
EtzelB. C., & LeBlancJ. M. (1979). The simplest treatment alternative: The law of parsimony applied to choosing appropriate instructional control and errorless learning procedures for the difficult-to-teach child. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 9, 361–382.
8.
HalleJ. W., MarshallG. M., & SpradlinJ. E. (1979). Time delay: A technique to increase usage and facilitate generalization in retarded children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 12, 431–439.
9.
HornerR. D., & BaerD. M. (1978). Multiple-probe techniques: A variation on the multiple baseline. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 11, 189–196.
10.
HuppS., & MervisC. (1981). Development of generalized concepts by severely handicapped students. Journal of the Association for the Severely Handicapped, 6, 14–21.
11.
JohnsonB. F., & CuvoA. J. (1981). Teaching cooking skills to mentally retarded persons. Behavior Modification, 5, 187–202.
12.
KittlesonE. & CertoN. (1975). Teaching orthopedically handicapped adolescents to secure selected products and services from their community through functional use of the Yellow Pages and telephone. In BrownL., CrownerT., WilliamsW., & YorkR. (Eds.), Madison's alternative for zero exclusion: A book of readings (pp. 195–251). Madison, WI: Madison Public Schools.
13.
MartinJ. E., RuschF. R., JamesV., DeckerR., & TrytolK. (1982). The use of picture cues in the preparation of complex meals. Applied Research in Mental Retardation, 3, 105–119.
14.
MatsonD. L., DiLorenzoT. M., & Esveldt-DawsonK. (1981). Independence training as a method of enhancing self-help skills acquisition of the mentally retarded. Behavior Research and Therapy, 19, 399–405.
15.
MulliganM., GuessD., HolvoetJ., & BrownF. (1980). The Individualized Curriculum Sequencing Model (I): Implications from research on massed, distributed, or spaced trial training. Journal of the Association for the Severely Handicapped, 5, 325–336.
16.
MurphyR. J., & BryanA. J. (1980). Multiple baseline and multiple probe designs. Practical alternatives for special education assessment and evaluation. The Journal of Special Education, 14, 325–335.
17.
RisleyR. & CuvoA. J. (1980). Training mentally retarded adults to make emergency telephone calls. Behavior Modification, 4, 513–525.
18.
Robinson-WilsonM. A. (1977). Picture recipe cards as an approach to teaching severely and profoundly retarded adults to cook. Education and Training of the Mentally Retarded, 12, 69–73.
19.
SchalockR. L., & HarperR. S. (1978). Placement from community-based mental retardation programs: How well do clients do?American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 83, 240–247.
20.
SmeetsP. M., & StriefelS. (1976). Acquisition and cross modal generalization of receptive and expressive signing skills in a retarded deaf girl. Journal of Mental Deficiency Research, 20, 251–260.
21.
SmithM., & MeyersA. (1979). Telephone skills training for retarded adults: Group and individual demonstrations with and without verbal instruction. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 83, 581–587.
22.
SnellM. E. (1982). Teaching bedmaking to severely retarded adults through time delay. Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 2, 139–155.
23.
SnellM. E. (1983). Systematic instruction of the moderately and severely handicapped (second edition). Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill.
24.
SnellM. E., & GastD. L. (1981). Applying delay procedures to the instruction of the severely handicapped. The Journal of the Association for the Severely Handicapped, 6, 3–14.
25.
StokesT. J., & BaerD. M. (1977). An implicit technology of generalization. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10, 349–367.
26.
StriefelS., WetherbyB., & KarlanG. (1976). Establishing generalized verb-noun instruction following skills in retarded children. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 22, 247–260.
27.
Sulzer-AzaroffB., & MayerG. R. (1977). Applying behavior analysis procedures with children and youth. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
28.
TerraceH. S. (1966). Stimulus control. In HonigW. K. (Ed.), Operant behavior: Areas of research and application (pp. 271–344). New York: Appleton Century Crofts.
29.
TouchetteP. E. (1968). The effects of graduated stimulus change on the acquisition of a simple discrimination in severely retarded boys. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 11, 39–48.
30.
ZeamanD., & HouseB. J. (1963). The role of attention in retardate discrimination learning. In EllisN. R. (Ed.), Handbook of mental deficiency (pp. 159–223). New York: McGraw-Hill.
