Teaching the handicapped to eat in public places: acquisition, generalization and maintenance of restaurant skills.
This study examined classroom-based instruction in restaurant skills for handicapped persons. Three male students were taught each of four skill components in sequential order: locating, ordering, paying, and eating and exiting. Training was implemented in a multiple baseline design across subjects and consisted of modeling and role playing in conjunction with photo slide sequences and a simulated ordering counter. The use of a menu containing general item classes and a finger matching procedure for identifying errors in the delivery of change greatly reduced the reading and math skills necessary to enter and complete the program. Periodic probes were conducted in a McDonald's restaurant prior to, during, and up to one-year following the termination of training. In addition, two probes (overt and covert observation) were conducted in a Burger King restaurant to assess further generalization to a location different from the one depicted throughout training. Results showed that students' performance on restaurant probes improved as a result of training, generalized to novel settings, maintained over an extended period of time, and was comparable to that of a normative sample of nonretarded persons.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D004495:Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005793:Generalization, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012147:Restaurants; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012931:Social Environment; D014705:Verbal Behavior