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Teaching Self-Control Procedures to Individuals Who Are Mentally Retarded

Will (1984) has stated, &dquo;Joblessness, rather than employment, is the norm among persons who have disabilities&dquo; (p. 15). Wehman (1984) has indicated that, according to a 1983 report issued by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 50 to 75% of individuals with handicaps are unemployed. In addition, it is estimated that people who have severe handicaps earn pitifully low wages (i.e., average of $414 per year) (U.S. Department of Labor, 1977). Furthermore, recent data suggest that people who are mentally retarded do not move to more independent and lucrative work situations. Bellamy, Sowers, and Bourbeau (1983) reported that less than 3% of people served by work activity centers in the United States moved to regular workshop programs. Further, a report by the U.S. Department of Labor study (1977) indicated that only 11% of people served by regular workshop programs and 7% of those served by work activity centers were placed into competitive employment. The report also suggested that 75% of the individuals who were placed into competitive employment were placed within their first year (one-third within the first 3 months); the others became permanent workshop clients. Failure to maintain and generalize work behaviors acquired in training environments may directly impede people who are mentally retarded from making transitions to progressively less restrictive and more lucrative work situations and may set them up for ultimate work failure. Recently, reports of research examining the effects of self-control training on the maintenance and generalization of newly acquired behavior have appeared in the work behavior literature (Agran, Salzberg, & Stowitschek, 1985; Gardner, Cole, Berry, & Nowinski, 1983; Gifford, Rusch, Martin, & White, in press; Rusch, Morgan, Martin, Riva, & Agran, in press; Shapiro & Ackerman, 1983; Zohn & Bornstein, 1980). Gifford et al. (in press) and Wehman (1975) have suggested that the inability of many individuals who are mentally retarded to sustain employment may be associated with their lack of self-control. Implied in self-control training is the idea that people who are mentally retarded can be taught skills that will allow them to be less dependent on others and potentially increase their independence across work settings (Shapiro, 1981). Because the intent of self-control training is to achieve internal control via external control procedures (O’Leary & O’Leary, 1976), this training may promote independence and self-direction for people who are mentally retarded. Williams, Vogelsberg, and Schutz (1985) have indicated that a focus of secondary-level programs for students should be on reducing individual dependence on others. Self-control