ABSTRACT
This article describes the development of a microcomputer-based videodisc assessment prototype for measuring children's social skills. The theoretical and empirical foundations for the content are described, and the contributions of interactive microcomputer-based video technology to assessment of children with handicaps are detailed. An application of Goldfried and D'Zurilla's "behavior-analytic" approach to development of the content of assessments is presented, and the related video and computer technology development is detailed. The article describes the conceptual foundations of the psychometrics of the assessment prototype as well as the psychometric methodology that was employed throughout the development process. Finally, a discussion of the potential applications and implications of the social skills assessment prototype is included.
Subject(s)
Microcomputers , Personality Assessment , Socialization , Videodisc Recording/instrumentation , Child , Female , Gender Identity , Humans , Male , Peer Group , Social Behavior , Sociometric Techniques , SoftwareABSTRACT
Ratings on the acceptability, intrusiveness, restrictiveness, and efficacy of 18 commonly used interventions for decelerating behaviors were obtained from 58 special educators of students with severe handicaps. Results indicated that consensually high and low mean ratings were obtained for restrictiveness, intrusiveness, and acceptability. Ratings of efficacy, however, were generally neither consensually high nor low, and demonstrated lower variability across the 18 interventions, and lower reliability across raters than did ratings on the other three dimensions. Additionally, ratings of restrictiveness were negatively correlated with ratings of acceptability, ratings of intrusiveness and restrictiveness were positively correlated, and ratings of acceptability and efficacy were positively correlated. We interpreted these results as suggesting that: (a) special educators may not be certain of the efficacy of interventions they use, despite previously reported use in classrooms, and (b) the constructs of restrictiveness and intrusiveness may not have discriminant validity at present. Implications for ongoing training for special educators were discussed.
Subject(s)
Attitude , Behavior Therapy/methods , Child Behavior Disorders/therapy , Disabled Persons/psychology , Education, Special , Punishment , Child , Child Behavior Disorders/psychology , HumansABSTRACT
The effects of verbal corrections on vocational training of severely mentally retarded individuals have not been clear because of lack of measures that are sensitive to differences in such persons' receptive-language skills. Using the verbal subscale of the Trainee Performance Sample, we identified trainees of high and low receptive-language skills. They were then randomly assigned to training conditions involving specific and nonspecific verbal corrections from experienced trainers. Results demonstrated that specific verbal corrections enhanced acquisition by learners with higher receptive-language skills but did not do so for learners with lower receptive-language skills. Implications of such an aptitude-treatment interaction were discussed.
Subject(s)
Education of Intellectually Disabled , Rehabilitation, Vocational/methods , Verbal Behavior , Adult , Humans , Intellectual Disability/psychology , Speech Perception , Teaching/methodsABSTRACT
The Trainee Performance Sample, an instrument designed to assess vocationally relevant skills of severely mentally retarded persons, employs brief benchwork tasks as content and uses a learning potential (instruction during testing) format. Our investigation of the validity of the Trainee Performance Sample for predicting subsequent training performance provided the opportunity to examine conceptual and methodological issues related to validation of such "learning potential" assessment paradigms. Results demonstrated that Trainee Performance Sample scores appear to be valid, useful predictors of the amount of training necessary for severely retarded individuals to master two prototype vocational tasks.
Subject(s)
Aptitude Tests , Intellectual Disability/rehabilitation , Rehabilitation, Vocational/psychology , Adult , Evaluation Studies as Topic , Humans , Intellectual Disability/psychology , Psychometrics , Psychomotor Performance , Sheltered WorkshopsABSTRACT
The Trainee Performance Sample, a vocational skills assessment instrument, was revised to enhance content validity and utility in making vocational skill learning placements for severely retarded individuals. The Trainee Performance Sample employs a process measurement approach; i.e., each of the 30 test items (a variety of benchwork tasks) includes both training and correction procedures within the item. To some extent, the examinee's ability to benefit from various training strategies is measured. Psychometric analyses demonstrated that the revised Trainee Performance Sample meets standard test development criteria. Thus, a dynamic approach to vocational skills assessment of severely retarded individuals--one that involves training while testing--has been shown to have both utility and psychometric adequacy.
Subject(s)
Aptitude Tests , Education of Intellectually Disabled , Intellectual Disability/diagnosis , Rehabilitation, Vocational , Humans , Motor Skills , PsychometricsABSTRACT
Most measures of adaptive behavior are derived from rating scales. There are only a few instruments that approach the measurement of adaptive behavior through direct testing. In the present study we examined the relative efficacy of rating and testing approaches for predicting criterion behavior. Three tests from the Social and Prevocational Information Battery were selected as a foundation for the development of analogous behavior-rating and applied-performance instruments. All three types of instruments were administered to the same subjects, mildly retarded adolescents, in order to estimate the validity of testing and rating approaches. Although both approaches were found to be valid, the testing approach appeared to be substantially superior. Implications of this finding were discussed briefly.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Education of Intellectually Disabled/standards , Educational Measurement/methods , Humans , Intellectual Disability/psychology , PsychometricsABSTRACT
Seventy severely retarded adults were taught a vocational assembly-skill task involving a difficult visual--motor discrimination. Comparisons of relative effects on trials-to-criterion were made among two types of verbal-correction procedures (general: "try another way" and specific: "flat side in") and three types of systematic physical-correction procedures (gesture, physical prompt, and repeated practice). Reliable differences in effects occurred only between the three systematic physical-correction procedures, with repeated practice the most effective, physical prompts next, and gestures the least effective. The results were interpreted as demonstrating the efficacy of trainer-related training procedures in relation to stimulus-related strategies, as well as relative efficacy among trainer-related correction procedures.
Subject(s)
Discrimination Learning , Intellectual Disability/rehabilitation , Intelligence , Rehabilitation, Vocational/methods , Adolescent , Adult , Cues , Humans , Imitative Behavior , Middle Aged , Motor Skills , Practice, Psychological , Teaching/methods , Visual PerceptionABSTRACT
The Social and Prevocational Information Battery, a series of knowledge tests developed for use with mildly retarded adolescents, was revised to facilitate assessment of moderately retarded persons knowledge in social and prevocational areas. In addition, the relationship between knowledge and applied performance in these domains was examined. Results indicated that the revised battery demonstrated adequate test and item difficulty and internal-consistency reliability and that mildly and moderately retarded persons' knowledge was substantially related to applied performance in these skill domains.
Subject(s)
Awareness , Cognition , Intellectual Disability/rehabilitation , Social Behavior , Activities of Daily Living , Humans , Intelligence , PsychometricsABSTRACT
The reliability and validity of the Social and Prevocational Information Battery (SPIB) for EMR individuals was evaluated with samples other than those on whom the battery was developed. Results substantiated initially reported reliability and validity indices and provided encouraging evidence for the general appropriateness of the SPIB for use with mildly retarded adolescents and young adults.
Subject(s)
Aptitude Tests , Intellectual Disability/diagnosis , Social Adjustment , Adolescent , Adult , Education of Intellectually Disabled , Humans , Psychometrics , Rehabilitation, VocationalABSTRACT
Fifty-one severely retarded adults were taught a difficult visual discrimination in an assembly task by one of three training techniques: (a) adding and reducing large cue differences on the relevant-shape dimension; (b) adding and fading a redundant-color dimension; or (c) a combination of the two techniques. There were significant differences between training conditions in both trials- and errors-to-criterion performance. These were attributed to differential establishment of stimulus control in the first phase of training, with the combined procedure being the most effective, the color coding/fading next, and the relevant-dimension cue-disparity method the least powerful. These results demonstrated that substantial differences may exist in the efficacy of various vocational-skill training procedures involving manipulation of stimulus features.
