A Mobility Skills Training Program for Adults With Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

Abstract Twenty-nine adults with developmental disabilities were trained by an occupational therapist to use city buses for leisure outings to local shopping malls. Program evaluation was based on the number of times each program participant used his or her mobility skills to make an independent leisure outing. These data were collected for 1 year after each person left the program and were analyzed with the use of multiple regression procedures. The results revealed that the participants maintained their mobility skills for 1 year. Older women who shared common leisure interests as well as persons who were afforded more intensive individualized training were especially likely to use the city bus for leisure outings after the treatment program ended. This study demonstrates the long-term effectiveness of occupational therapy when specific treatment goals are matched with individualized training sequences for persons with developmental disabilities.