The Trainee Performance Sample: Toward the Prediction of Habilitation Costs for Severely Handicapped Adults

Abstract

Severely handicapped adults have often been excluded from vocational rehabilitation programs because they were not seen as feasible for ultimate occupational success. Recent training and management research has demonstrated that these adults can be quite successful with appropriate training, and a practical basis for selecting and placing them in training programs is needed. For this reason the Trainee Performance Sample (TPS) was developed to predict time required for vocational training. Preliminary data on the TPS indicate high internal consistency, reliability, and stability of scores over time and trainers. Further, correlations between TPS scores and training time and trials were above .75 in four of seven samples. Although considerably more research is needed, the TPS does appear to be a potentially useful instrument in making client acceptance and placement decisions for severely handicapped adults.