Many individuals with mental retardation have significant limitations in their ability to direct their lives. This study was designed to determine if the use of certain self-management techniques can increase the ability of adults with mental retardation to self-direct daily living activities. Subjects were nine adults with moderate to mild mental retardation. The subjects were divided into two groups. Members of one group received only instructions and training in self-recording while subjects in the other group were trained to use several self-management techniques. All subjects in both groups improved their performance in task completion. These results indicate that self-management techniques may help individuals with mental retardation direct their lives. Further, self-recording alone may be an effective technique in improving task completion of daily living activities.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BaerD., WolfM., & RisleyT. (1968). Some current, dimensions of applied behavior analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 91–97.
2.
BirkimerJ., & BrownJ. (1979). A graphical judgmental aid which summarizes obtained and chance reliability data and helps assess the believability of experimental effects. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 12, 523–533.
3.
BornsteinP., & QuevillonR. (1976). The effects of a self-instructional package on overactive preschool boys. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 9, 179–188.
4.
BrowderD., & ShapiroE. (1985). Applications of self-management to individuals with severe Handicaps: A review. Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 10, 200–208.
5.
BrownL., FalveyM., VincentL., KayeM., JohnsonF., Ferrara-ParrishP., & GrunewaldL. (1980). Strategies for generating comprehensive, longitudinal and chronological age-appropriate individual educational plans for adolescents and young adult severely handicapped students. Journal of Special Education, 1, 199–215.
6.
ColeC., GardnerW., & KarenO. (1983). Self-management training of mentally retarded adults with chronic conduct difficulties. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin.
7.
CooperJ. (1974). Measurement and analysis of behavioral techniques. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill.
8.
GrossmanH. (1983). Classification in mental retardation. Washington, D.C.: American Association on Mental Deficiency.
9.
KanferF. H. (1980). Self-management methods. In KanferF. H. & GoldsteinA. P. (Eds.), Helping people change (2nd ed., pp. 334–389). New York: Pergamon.
10.
KazdinA. E. (1984). Behavior modification in applied settings (3rd ed.). Homewood, IL: The Dorsey Press.
11.
LakinK., BruininksR., & SigfordB. (1981). Deinstitutionalization and community adjustment: A summary of research and issues. In BruininksR. H., MeyersC. E., SigfordB. B., & LakinK. C. (Eds.), Deinstitutionalization and community adjustment of mentally retarded people. Washington, D.C.: American Association of Mental Deficiency.
12.
LibertyK., & MichaelL. (1985). Teaching retarded students to reinforce their own behavior: A review of process and operation in the current literature. In HaringN. (Principal Investigator), Investigating the problem of skill generalization (3rd ed.). Seattle, WA: University of Washington, College of Education.
13.
LovittT. (1973). Self-management projects with children with behavioral disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 6, 138–150.
14.
MankD., & HornerR. (1987). Self-recruited feedback: A cost-effective procedure for maintaining behavior. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 8, 371–388.
15.
MarholinD., SigelL., & PhillipsD. (1976). Treatment and transfer: A search for empirical procedures. In HersenM., EislerR. M., & MillerP. M. (Eds.), Progress in behavior modification (Vol. 3). New York: Academic Press.
16.
MeyersC. E., NihiraK., & ZetlinA. (1979). The management of adaptive behavior. In EllisN. R. (Ed.), Handbook of mental deficiency: Psychological theory and research (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
17.
MicklerM. (1984). Self-management skill training for EMR persons. The Journal of Special Education, 18(2), 143–149.
18.
RosenbaumM. S., & DrabmanR. S. (1979). Self-control training in the classroom: A review and critique. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 12, 467–485.
19.
ShapiroE., & KleinR. (1980). Self-management of classroom behavior with retarded/disturbed children. Behavior Modification, 4, 83–97.
20.
SnellM. E., & BrowderD. M. (1986). Community-referenced instruction: Research and issues. Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 11(1), 1–11.
21.
StokesT. F., & BaerD. M. (1977). An implicit technology of generalization. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10, 349–367.
22.
VogelsbergR., AndersonJ., BergerP., HaseldenT., MitwellS., SchmidtC., SkowronA., VrettD., & WilcoxB. (1980). Programming for apartment living: A description and rationale of an independent living skills inventory. Journal of the Association for the Severely Handicapped, 5, 38–54.
23.
ZegiobL., KlukasN., & JuningerJ. (1978). Reactivity of self-monitoring procedures with retarded adolescents. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 83, 156–163.
