Providing a more appropriate education for severely handicapped persons: increasing and validating functional...

Area of Science:

• Special Education
• Applied Behavior Analysis

Background:

• Severely handicapped individuals often have limited involvement in functional educational tasks.
• Effective teacher training and supervision are crucial for improving educational services.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a teacher training and supervision program designed to increase the engagement of severely handicapped adolescents and adults in functional educational tasks.
• To assess the generalization and maintenance of program effects.

Main Methods:

• A program involving in-service training, supervisory prompts, and feedback was implemented in three classrooms.
• Social validation surveys were conducted with relevant individuals and experienced clinicians to define functional tasks.

Main Results:

• Large increases in functional task involvement were observed in targeted classroom settings.
• Generalized increases in functional tasks occurred during nontargeted times and were maintained for 44-45 weeks.
• Experts validated the criteria for functional tasks, deeming them more useful for severely handicapped individuals.

Conclusions:

• The teacher training and supervision program effectively increased functional task engagement for severely handicapped students.
• The program demonstrated sustained and generalized positive effects, indicating its practical utility.
• Functional classroom tasks are integral to providing appropriate educational services for severely handicapped students.