A Staff Manual to Help Developmentally Disabled Persons Improve Their Work Habits and Productivity

Abstract

In keeping with the new directions for Behavior Modification, this article presents a treatment manual that has evolved over the past dozen or so years from our research program on vocational habilitation with developmentally disabled persons. The manual presents staff-managed and self-management strategies for helping these people improve work habits and productivity in various settings. The manual was written for front-line staff working with developmentally disabled clients. Strategies are presented as a checklist, making it easy to select the most appropriate components for each client and work setting. The guidelines are supported by research. The manual has been used in numerous training seminars, and feedback has been positive. In a workshop at the 1990 Conference of the Florida Association for Behavior Analysis, for example, mean rating of the manual by participants was 4.5 on a 5-point scale.