Association for Behavior Analysis International

Postsecondary education opportunities have a positive impact on individuals quality of life in adulthood with improved social problem-solving skills, independent and daily living skills, self-advocacy skills, self-esteem, academics, and self-determination skills. With increasing availability of federal financial aid (e.g., Federal Pell Grants) and the nationwide postsecondary education programs for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID), young adults with ID have more opportunities to receive a postsecondary education. In order for these learners to gain full benefits from participating in postsecondary education, educators must address the skill deficits of these learners. The symposium will include two experimental studies that focus on teaching young adult learners with ID the skills necessary to succeed in the postsecondary education settings. Study one focuses on teaching students the study skills using guided notes. Study two focuses on teaching students to use mobile apps that may improve functional life skills. We will present our findings and discuss the implications.

Guided note-taking is considered an effective intervention designed to improve learners recall and retention of information from lectures. It involves learners writing critical information on partially completed notes while listening to a lecture. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of teaching a four-step guided note-taking strategy (GRIP) on both immediate and delayed recall of information from the lecture for young adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) in a postsecondary education setting. Sixteen adult learners with ID participated in the study. During the pretest, all the students watched a recorded lecture with a copy of the traditional lecture notes. After the lecture, the students completed a multiple-choice quiz and an oral retell. Based on the pretest scores, we randomly assigned the students to either experimental and control groups. Students in the experimental group will receive four 45-minute GRIP strategy instruction. Students in the control group will attend the regularly scheduled classes. We will posttest all the students at the conclusion of the study. Students in the experimental group will use the researcher-prepared guided notes during the posttest. We will complete the study by the end of December, 2015.

Attending a postsecondary education requires independent living and self-management skills. However, individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) have a skill deficit in both areas. These learners may benefit from mobile technologies that can compensate for their skill deficits. We will present two studies investigating the effects of teaching adults with ID to use mobile apps that may improve functional life skills. In the studies, we will first teach students to use the mobile apps. After they reach the mastery criterion, we will teach generalization of the app use in real life situations. Study one focuses on the use Google Maps app and study two focuses on the Calendar app. Three young adults with ID enrolled in a postsecondary education program will participate in each study. We will use a multiple probe across the participants design and examine the effects of the intervention on (a) student acquisition of the steps to use the mobile app and (b) their functional use of the app in real life situation. We will complete both studies by December 2015.