Problem‐solving skills training: Social validation and generalization

This study developed and evaluated a program for teaching a verbal problem‐solving strategy to mildly mentally handicapped adults. Six general areas were targeted for training: Community Awareness, Authority Figures, Peer Issues, Stating One's Rights, Emergencies and Injuries, and Safety. The program features response‐specific feedback, modeling, self‐monitoring, positive reinforcement, response practice, self‐correction, and individualized performance criterion levels. The experimental group (N = 3) received baseline, training, probes, and pre/posttraining generalization assessments, whereas the control group (N = 3) received only the pre/posttraining assessments. The generalization and probe assessments contained situations that were both similar and dissimilar to the training situations. The three month posttraining results revealed that the experimental subjects' problem‐solving skills had generalized to both types of situations, whereas the control group showed little overall change. Furthermore, the experimental group's three month scores were comparable to those of a group of nonhandicapped individuals. Issues related to these results and suggestions for future research are discussed.