Utilizing Self-Management Procedures to Teach Independent Performance

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of a self-management training package on the work performance of a student with profound mental retardation within a community employment setting. The findings indicated that the self-management procedures, in conjunction with a changing performance criterion, increased the number of steps that the student was able to perform independent of external supervision. Maintenance probes indicated that the student was able to maintain his work behavior and the accuracy with which he self-managed his behavior. A four-step model for teaching persons with severe handicaps to manage their own behavior is suggested as a result of this investigation. These findings suggest further study of self-management procedures to promote independence.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agran

(1986). Observational reporting of work behavior. In Rusch

F. R.

(Ed.), Competitive Employment Issues and Strategies. (pp. 141–152) Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.

Bates

, Renzaglia

, & Clees

(1980). Improving the work performance of severely/profoundly retarded adults: The use of a changing criterion procedural design. Education and Training of the Mentally Retarded, 15, 98–104.

Browder

, & Shapiro

E. S.

(1985). Applications of self-management to individuals with severe handicaps: A review. The Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 10, 200–208.

Gifford

J. L.

, Rusch

F. R.

, Martin

J. E.

, & White

D. M.

(1984). Autonomy and adaptability: A proposed technology for the study of work behavior. In Ellis

N. W.

& Bray

N. R.

(Eds.), International Review of Research in Mental Retardation (Vol. 12). (pp. 285–318). New York: Academic Press.

Hartmann

D. P.

, & Hall

R. V.

(1976). The changing criterion design. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 9, 527–532.

Lagomarcino

T. R.

, Hughes

, & Rusch

F. R.

(1989). Utilizing self-management to teach independence on the job. Education and Training in Mental Retardation, 24, 139–148.

Morrow

L. W.

, & Presswood

(1984). The effects of self-control technique on eliminating three stereotypic behaviors in a multiply-handicapped institutionalized adolescent. Behavioral Disorders, 9, 247–253.

Rusch

F. R.

, & Kazdin

A. E.

(1981). Toward a methodology of withdrawal designs for the assessment of response maintenance. Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis, 14, 131–140.

Shapiro

E. S.

, Browder

, & D'Huyvetters (1984). Increasing academic productivity of severely multi-handicapped children with self-management: Idiosyncratic effects. Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 4, 171–189.

10.

Wehman

(1975). Behavioral self-control with the mentally retarded. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 6, 27–34.

11.

Wehman

, Schutz

, Bates

, Renzaglia

, & Karan

(1978). Self-management programmes with mentally retarded workers: Implications for developing independent vocational behaviour. British Journal of Social Clinical Psychology, 17, 57–64.

12.

Workman

E. D.

(1982). Teaching behavioral self-control to students. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.