Improving the Work Performance of Severely/Profoundly Retarded Young Adults: The Use of a Changing Criterion Procedural Design.

This study demonstrated the viability of using a changing criterion procedure for increasing the work production rates of three severely/profoundly retarded workers. In all three studies, the workers' production rates increased from unacceptable levels to performance levels well above minimum rates for sheltered employment. Additional aspects of interest in these studies included the utilization of a self-ad ministered reinforcement system, improvements in task attention, and enhanced work production quality. The three experiments presented in this article provide a demonstration of program control through multiple replications of a changing criterion design. Task analysis and systematic instruction have been used successfully in demonstrating that severely/moderately handicapped adolescents and adults can acquire the skills necessary to perform complex manual tasks (e.g., Crosson, 1972; Levy, Pomerantz, & Gold, 1976). How ever, in order to maintain employment within community vocational settings, a worker must produce at an adequate rate. Therefore, once task performance has been mastered, production rate becomes a focal point. Slow or inconsistent work rates are com mon characteristics of severely and pro foundly handicapped workers in vocational training programs. Several investigators have demonstrated that manipulating reinforcing consequences has significantly increased work production rates of handicapped work ers. Token reinforcement systems (Screven, Straka, & Lafond, 1971; Zimmerman, Stuc key, Garlick, & Miller, 1969), social praise, tangible reinforcers, and monetary rewards adminstered frequently and consistently have resulted in increased production rates of severely handicapped workers (e.g., Bellamy, Peterson, & Close, 1975; Brown, Johnson, Gadberry, & Fenrick, 1971). However, with few exceptions, this body of research has not empirically evaluated such methods with pro foundly retarded populations. Recently several investigators have sug gested the use of a changing criterion design for demonstrating experimental control with behaviors that can be modified in a stepwise manner (Hartman & Hall, 1976). The use of a changi g criterion enables gradual incre mental hanges in problem behaviors. Ac celeration problems for which stepwise in creases, in frequency or rate, are program goals would easily lend themselves to evalu ation with a changing criterion design. Frequently, work production rates of severely/profoundly retarded workers are very slow because of well established patterns of excessive competing behaviors and/or lethargic motor movements. Therefore, the changing criterion design seems particularly suited for modification of work production rate. By gradually increasing the require ments on production, stepwise increases in work rate should result, enabling a slow in cremental shaping of on-task work behaviors. The present three experimental studies Improving Work Performance / 95 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.11 on Tue, 18 Oct 2016 05:26:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms demonstrate the usefulness of a changing criterion design for increasing the work production rates of severely/profoundly re tarded workers. Furthermore, the effects of increases in work rate on "off-task" com peting behaviors and accuracy of task per formance are examined.