Vocational Tasks Research Articles

THE DIRECT AND GENERALIZED EFFECTS OF SELF INSTRUCTIONS AND PICTURE PROMPTS ON VOCATIONAL TASK PERFORMANCE

We evaluated the effects of self instructions and picture prompts on vocational task performance of three workers with mild to moderate mental retardation. The workers were asked to perform a packaging task that changed daily. Picture prompts were always present. In the verbal training phase, workers learned self instructions regarding the use of picture prompts to cue their performance on the packaging task. In the verbal and task training phase, workers learned to use the self instructions and picture prompts together to guide their task performance. The results showed that verbal training was sufficient for one worker, but that the other two workers required the combined verbal and task training to improve their task performance. For all subjects, there was evidence of generalization of the self management strategies and task performance and maintenance of both over time.

Programming for efficiency: The effects of motion economy on vocational tasks for adults with severe and profound mental retardation

Principles of motion economy were assessed with two vocational tasks for two adults with severe to profound mental retardation. Study 1 assessed task acquisition by comparing two tasks (collating three pages, bagging three ribbons), one task trained using the standard job site task analysis, the other trained using a motion economy-based task analysis (requiring less total distance movement to task completion) in two alternating treatments designs. Study 2 assessed task fluency by examining the effects of the motion economy-based task analysis on collating and bagging separately across the same two adults in four reversal designs. Neither task analysis was superior overall in acquisition (Study 1), but once each task was mastered, the motion economy-based task analysis enhanced fluency across both tasks for both participants (Study 2). The use of distance movement as a parameter of response efficiency is discussed when targeting job performance, productivity, and preference.

Comparing Productivity in Greenhouse Tasks of Individuals with and without Mental Disabilities

Many studies have described the ability of individuals with mental disabilities to learn vocational tasks commonly performed in greenhouses, and a survey of horticulture employers reports a favorable perception toward the work habits of these individuals. Productivity data are not available from these studies, however. We sought to quantify productivity of individuals with and without mental disabilities performing entry-level greenhouse tasks. Information on ten tasks was compiled from surveys of four vocational centers with greenhouse production and six commercial greenhouses. Individuals with mental disabilities produced at rates of 46% to 192% of corresponding commercial rates, with seven often skills performed. above 75% of the commercial rate. The results from this pilot study suggest that individuals with mental disabilities can achieve satisfactory productivity in real work settings. While significance was not achieved due to limitations of the study, the results provide a baseline for further study by other researchers. The practical significance of these findings can be judged by trainers and employers.

Effects of self-monitoring and subsequent fading of external prompts on the on-task behavior and task productivity of elementary students with moderate mental retardation

This study investigated the effectiveness of self-monitoring on the on-task behavior and vocational production rates of 5 elementary students with moderate mental retardation during biweekly pre-vocational workshop sessions. They were taught to use a recording form to monitor their behavior and were cued to monitor by audiotaped tones. A multiple-baseline design across tasks was used to demonstrate a functional relationship between self-monitoring and both on-task behavior and task productivity. Once this relationship was demonstrated, the monitoring form and audiotape were withdrawn through fading procedures. Results indicated that (a) self-monitoring increased both on-task behavior and vocational task production rates, (b) performance gains maintained while cues and monitoring forms were withdrawn, and (c) gains maintained over several weeks in the absence of prompts (i.e., forms and tones).

Careers in a Cultural Context

This article gives an overview of research on Super's theory across cultures within the United States as well as internationally. Research indicates that the theory has some cross‐cultural validity, yet there seem to be measurement concerns. The article also discusses two areas for future investigation: development of ethnic identity as a vocational task and research on developmental contextualism (Vondracek, Lerner, & Shulenberg, 1986).

Workstation Robotics: A Pilot Study of a Desktop Vocational Assistant Robot

Rehabilitation robots are increasingly being viewed as an appropriate assistive technology interface for persons with disabilities. The Desktop Vocational Assistant Robot (DeVAR) system is a voice-controlled robotic workstation designed to enable persons with severe mobility impairments to function independently in a work environment. This study examined the overall efficacy of the DeVAR system, the level of expertise required for therapist and support personnel, routine maintenance requirements, and the readiness of the device for a multicenter evaluation. Two precommercial DeVAR workstations were installed at selected sites. The pilot study spanned 8 months in which staff members and four subjects with high-level quadriplegia evaluated the systems extensively. Responses were generally favorable regarding ease of use and overall training process. Subjects recommended modifications, including incorporation of a noise cancellation microphone, more effective use of workstation space, and addition of vocational tasks. All respondents thought that if the recommended changes were implemented, DeVAR would have potential as a vocational assistant. The small number of subjects was due to the limited subject pool available for the study. On the basis of pilot results, the Veterans Administration Rehabilitation Research and Development Service, Baltimore, Maryland, is conducting a national multicenter evaluation to determine the overall utility and commercial readiness of the DeVAR system.

Computer–assisted interactive task guidance: Facilitating the performance of a simulated vocational task

Compensatory systems can be helpful for Individuals with traumatic brain injuries whose functional skills do not Improve in response to other types of treatment. An interactive computer–assisted compensatory cuing system, designed to assist brain–injured patients with the performance of functional skills, is described. By using this system, two of four patients Improved their performance of a simulated janitorial task. The advantages and disadvantages of interactive cuing systems are discussed, including their use as a pragmatic intervention for patients who benefit from successful experiences while they are learning at a much slower pace.

Memory checklists: A method of teaching functional skills to brain‐damaged adults

AbstractThree head‐injured clients had difficulty performing vocational tasks and routine activities of daily living. Memory checklists, which consisted of a task analysis for each activity, were introduced. All three clients were immediately able to perform the tasks.

Effects of visual cues upon the vocational task performance of students with mental retardation

Abstract Numerous studies demonstrate that visual cues combined with trainer instruction enable individuals with mental retardation to complete simple to complex tasks. The actual effect of the visual cues upon target behavior is unclear. Few investigators have used picture reading pretests to determine initial picture reading skills prior to the introduction of trainer instruction. In this study we compared the effects of trainer demonstrations to four visual cue conditions across easy, moderate, and difficult task performance of secondary‐aged students with mental retardation. The results indicated that photographs and line drawings were more effective than demonstrations with mild and moderate mental retardation groups working complex tasks. There were no differences between visual cues and demonstration conditions across task levels for students with severe and profound mental retardation.

Evaluation of the generalized effects of a peer-training procedure with moderately retarded adolescents.

The use of peer-training procedures by moderately mentally retarded adolescents was evaluated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, 2 students received instruction on peer-training skills to teach a vocational task to 7 classmates. Following instruction, both peer trainers were successful in teaching their classmates to perform the target task and a second untrained (generalization) task. In Experiment 2, 1 peer trainer taught 3 peers to use picture prompts to complete one or two complex vocational tasks. Following instruction by the peer trainer, the trainees independently used novel pictures on novel tasks. The results of both experiments indicate that peer training with moderately handicapped students can be an effective instructional procedure, with generalization occurring for both the trainers (Experiment 1) and the trainees (Experiment 2).

Vocational hypothesis testing in career decision-making

The purpose of the two experiments reported in this article was to examine vocational hypothesis testing, which has been described as an important feature in career exploration and career decision making. Both experiments applied Snyder's (1981, Social cognition: The Ontario Symposium, Vol. 1, pp. 277–303, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum) hypothesis-testing research paradigm to a vocational task in which subjects were asked to evaluate the appropriateness of a specific occupation for themselves. In Experiment 1, the influence of objective occupational information and occupational relevance (relevant or irrelevant in relation to the subjects' career plans) on vocational hypothesis testing was examined. In Experiment 2, the influence of expert occupational information and three levels of occupational relevance (relevant, irrelevant, or moderately relevant) on vocational hypothesis testing was examined. Neither type of occupational information influenced the way that subjects evaluated vocational hypotheses. Subjects tended to exhibit confirmatory hypothesis-testing strategies when relevant occupations were considered or disconfirmatory strategies when irrelevant occupations were considered. An absence of a bias was found only when the subjects considered moderately relevant occupations. The results were related to current theory and research in career development.

Supported Employment

For many years, it has generally been recognized that persons having severe developmental disabilities could learn vocational tasks and perform these tasks productively in work settings. Techniques for developing vocational skills and related work behaviors are now widely available, yet most adults having severe disabilities remain without employment. Recent federal activities, including the passage of the Developmental Disabilities Act of 1984, have focused attention upon creating employment options for persons regardless of their level of disability. This article examines the emerging features of “supported employment,” a framework for employing persons normally served in segregated day activity and work activity centers.

TEACHING JOB INDEPENDENCE AND FLEXIBILITY TO MENTALLY RETARDED STUDENTS THROUGH THE USE OF A SELF‐CONTROL PACKAGE

We examined mentally retarded individuals' use of picture cues and self-monitoring to initiate a series of tasks of varying type and order. Four severely to moderately retarded high school students participating in a vocational training program were trained to use a picture-cue system. The system consisted of photographs of vocational tasks that were inserted in the assigned order in a photoalbum sheet; self-management was accomplished by marking off each photo after its corresponding task was completed. Students were assigned seven tasks from a pool of 13 each day. Results indicated that the students quickly learned to use the picture-cue system to change tasks throughout their workday without trainer prompts and that performance was maintained as trainer feedback and presence were decreased. At the end of the study, two students who were exposed to novel photographs were able to initiate independently after only minimal training, suggesting that the use of the picture-cue system had become a generalized skill.

A Rehabilitation Workshop for Severely Brain-Damaged Veterans in Israel

This paper describes the philosophy and activities of a vocational rehabilitation workshop for severely brain-damaged veterans which was set up to expose multiple-disabled and handicapped persons to a series of graduated psychosocial and vocational tasks. The assumption that in an environment requiring autonomous responses, basic human needs most clearly emerge and therefore can be satisfied, underlay this systematic use of graduated tasks. The workshop's principle aim was the moderate goal of creating a sheltered environment that is sufficiently challenging to provide opportunities for satisfying a number of the severely brain-damaged person's basic human needs, and hence improving the quality of life of these veterans and their families.

Construction and validation of a physician career development inventory

The development and psychometric characteristics of the Medical Career Development Inventory (MCDI) are described. The MCDI represents the initial construction of a career maturity measure for a homogeneous population of adults who encounter a common set of vocational development tasks. The inventory is intended to measure both degree of vocational development and readiness to cope with the developmental tasks encountered in a physician's career. The MCDI includes 35 items that address coping behaviors germane to dealing with the vocational tasks constituting the career development continuum of physicians. Initial evaluation of the MCDI's psychometric properties with a sample of 160 student-physicians supported the content validity of the items, construct validity of the scales, and criterion validity of the inventory.

Effects of picture prompts on the acquisition of complex vocational tasks by mentally retarded adolescents.

The effects of using picture prompts on the acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of complex vocational tasks were evaluated within a multiple baseline design across subjects and tasks. Five moderately and severely mentally retarded adolescents were first trained to use picture prompts to guide their performance on one or more complex tasks. Following training, posttesting with and without the picture prompts was conducted to evaluate the effects of training and to determine maintenance effects over a 2- to 4-week interval. Generalization of performance across tasks was assessed with three of the students who were provided novel tasks (with and without picture prompts) without training. Results indicated that picture prompts can be successfully used to promote both acquisition and generalization of performance, and that subsequent training time on a novel task was reduced when the use of picture prompts had been previously trained.

An Alternative Approach to Prescribing in Selected Cases of Presbyopia

Unilateral near spectacle additions may be presented for selected presbyopic patients able to tolerate some degree of unilateral blurred vision for distance or near. This prescription offers some advantages of convenience and may be more acceptable for some vocational tasks than conventional multifocal spectacles, five successful case histories of patients with this prescription are reviewed.

A Device to Provide Immediate Feedback for On-Task Behavior

Keeping students on-task is a major problem in educational programs. In this study, a woman with a long past history of off-task behavior was trained to attend to a vocational task through the use of an inexpensive feedback device with accompanying back-up reinforcers.

Clarifying vocational maturity during adolescence and implications for mid-life

Westbrook [10] defines vocational maturity as the ability to cope with vocational developmental tasks. Super's Career Development Inventory (CDI) [8] was chosen to measure vocational maturity for several reasons. First, it is derived directly from his theories of vocational development and maturity. Second, it assesses both attitudinal and cognitive aspects of vocational maturity. Third, and most importantly for this study, the three scales cover the full range of vocational developmental tasks and behaviors which occur during the Exploration stage of vocational development. This enables us to infer whether or not a career development program has a differential impact on the vocational maturity of adolescents who are in different substages of the Exploration stage. Forrest [8] examined the content, criterion and construct validity of the CDI and all were found to be acceptable.

Teacher Perceptions of Basic Mathematics Skill Needs in Secondary Vocational Education

Mathematics teachers, as well as specialists in other subject-matter areas, are confronted by the need to assist students in understanding the importance of their subject to different areas of application. It is necessary, therefore, to articulate learning within the objectives of a particular course sequence to other courses, educational experiences, or vocational tasks to which the learning is a requisite. This helps the learning of specific content become something more than an isolated academic exercise in “getting the correct answers.”