In this study two students with moderate mental retardation were taught to use a pocket calculator to make purchases. The study extended previous research by including progressive time delay and general case programming in the instructional package. Results indicated that purchasing behaviors generalized from the classroom training setting to two untrained community sites and from training examples to un-trained items. In addition, the newly acquired skills maintained over a four week period once training ended.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlbinR. W., & HornerR. H. (1988). Generalization with precision. In HornerR. H., DunlapG., & KoegelR. L. (Eds.), Generalization and maintenance: Life-style changes in applied settings (pp 99–120). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
2.
AlbertoP. A., & SchofieldP. (1979). An instructional interaction pattern for the severely handi- capped. Teaching Exceptional Children, 12, 16–19.
3.
BennettD. L., GastD. L., WoleryM., & SchusterJ. W. (1986). Time delay and system of least prompts: A comparison in teaching manual sign production. Education and Training of the Mentally Retarded, 21, 117–129.
4.
EdgarE., & LevineP. (1988). A longitudinal study of graduates of special education. Inter- change, 8(2), 3–5.
5.
GastD. L., AultM. J., WoleryH., DoyleP. M., & BelangerS. (1988). Comparison of constant time delay and the system of least prompts in teaching sight word reading to students with moderate retardation. Education and Training in Mental Retardation, 23, 117–128.
6.
HasaziS., GordonL., & RoeC. (1985). Factors associated with the employment status of handi- capped youths exiting from high school from 1979 to 1983. Exceptional Children, 51, 455–469.
7.
HornerR. H., & McDonaldR. S. (1982). Comparison of single instance and general case instruc- tion in teaching a generalized vocational skill. Journal of the Association for the Severely Handi- capped, 7(1), 7–20.
8.
KouryM., & BrowderD. M. (1986). The use of delay to teach sight words by peer tutors classi- fied as mentally retarded. Education and Training of the Mentally Retarded, 21, 252–258.
9.
MartinJ. E., RuschF. R., & HealL. W. (1982). Teaching community survival skills to mentally retarded adults: A review and analysis. Journal of Special Education, 16, 243–267.
10.
McDonnellJ. (1987). The effects of time delay and increasing prompt hierarchy strategies on the acquisition of purchasing skills by students with severe handicaps. The Journal of the Associa- tion for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 12, 227–236.
11.
MillerU. C., & TestD. W. (1989). A comparison of constant time delay and most-to-least prompt- ing in teaching laundry skills to students with moderate retardation. Education and Training in Mental Retardation, 24, 363–370.
12.
MithaugD. E., HoriuchiC. N., & FanningP. M. (1985). A report on the Colorado statewide fol- low-up survey of special education students. Ex- ceptional Children, 51, 397–404.
13.
NietupskiJ., WelchJ., & WackerD. (1983). Ac- quisition, maintenance, and transfer of grocery item purchasing skills by moderately and se- verely handicapped students. Education and Training of the Mentally Retarded, 18, 279–286.
14.
SchusterJ. W., GastD. L., WoleryM., & GuiltinanS. (1988). The effectiveness of a constant time-delay procedure to teach chained responses to adolescents with mental retardation. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 21, 169–178.
15.
SmeetsP. M., & KleinloogD. (1980). Teaching retarded women to use an experimental pocket calculator for making financial transactions. Be- havior Research for Severe Developmental Disabili- ties, 1, 1–20.
16.
StevensK. B., & SchusterJ. W. (1987). Effects of a constant time delay procedure on the written spelling performance of a learning disabled stu- dent. Learning Disability Quarterly, 10(1), 9–16.
17.
TawneyJ. W., & GastD. L. (1984). Single subject research in special education. Columbus: Merrill Publishing Co.
18.
WagnerM. (1988a, March). Making the transition to adult living: An overview of descriptive findings from the National Longitudinal Transition Study. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Coun- cil for Exceptional Children, Washington, D.C.
WehmanP., KregelJ., & SeyfarthJ. (1985a). Employment outlook for young adults with men- tal retardation. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 29, 90–99.
21.
WehmanP., KregelJ., & SeyfarthJ. (1985b). Transition from school to work for individuals with severe handicaps: A follow-up study. Jour- nal of the Association for the Severely Handicapped, 10, 132–136.
22.
WheelerJ., FordA., NietupskiJ., LoomisK., & BrownL. (1980). Teaching moderately and se- verely handicapped adolescents to shop in super- markets using pocket calculators. Education and Training of the Mentally Retarded, 15, 105–111.
