Instruction and self-regulation in mentally retarded adults in a vocational setting

Abstract

The effects of self-instructional and external instructional training procedures on the performance of mentally retarded adults in a sheltered workshop situation were compared. In addition, the influence of several subject variables (general verbal and performance abilities, and specific linguistic and memory skills) on task behavior was examined. Forty-four workers were trained to perform a complex sorting task. During training, which utilized modeling, feedback, and social praise procedures, instructional control was gradually transferred to clients in both intervention conditions. Results indicated that positive changes in performance of self-instructionally trained individuals was not found to be significantly better than that of externally instructed individuals. The hypothesis that self-instruction would be more effective with subjects who were linguistically deficient was not supported. The results suggest that ceding of instructional control, not self-verbalization, may be the critical factor producing performance improvement in self-instructional training programs. Analyses of the relationships between subject ability characteristics and task behavior suggest that performance abilities were more important than verbal abilities in producing effective task performance. The implications of the results for future research are discussed.