A COMPARISON OF CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION, COMMUNITY INSTRUCTION, AND INDEPENDENCE INSTRUCTION ON ACQUISITION OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SKILLS BY RETARDED ADULTS

This study evaluated Classroom, Community, and Independence Instruction Procedures to teach public transportation usage skills to retarded adults. Twenty-seven individuals who resided at a facility for the mentally retarded participated. Nine subjects were randomly assigned to each treatment group. Subjects ranged in age from 17 to 59 years of age (x = 35.1) and were classified in the mild to severe range of mental retardation. Subjects were taught each of the components of locating, signaling, boarding and riding, and exiting a bus. Subjects in each treatment condition received 20, one hour instructional sessions.;A three groups by two repeated measures analysis of variance was used to determine if the treatment groups significantly differed in degree of acquisition of public transportation skills. A Scheefe t test was used where a significant F ratio was found in order to determine where the differences exist.;Chi-square was used to determine if differences existed between the three treatment groups in regard to the number of subjects who successfully completed the public transportation program.;Analysis of pretreatment, posttreatment, and pretreatment to posttreatment change scores for all subjects on the Public Transportation Inventory indicated a significant F ratio at the .025 level of confidence for the treatment by trials interaction. Results of the Scheefe t test indicated that improvement from pretreatment to posttreatment as a result of training was significant for all three treatment groups. The Independence Group showed the greatest degree of improvement with a mean change score of 6.62 steps per subject as compared to 5.75 steps for the Community Group and 4.50 for the Classroom Group.;Pretest, posttest, generalization probes, and daily data collection during training trials were recorded on the Public Transportation Inventory. Additionally, the number of training sessions required by each subject to complete the training program was recorded.;Pairwise chi-square comparisons indicated that at the .05 level of confidence, a significantly greater number of subjects in the Community Group (n = 7) successfully completed the public transportation program than subjects in the Classroom Group (n = 2). Six subjects successfully completed the training program in the Independence Group, however, this did not significantly differ from the other treatment groups.