Although an important part of adult life, individuals with significant disabilities experience low rates of gainful employment. The purpose of this review was to summarize and analyze the literature on teaching vocational skills to individuals with significant disabilities. Sixty-two articles (with 75 experiments) included in this review were…

The paper reviews problems in the sheltered workshop concept and proposes a change of focus in the provision of occupational life preparatory services for individuals with severe disabilities. Among problems cited are a lack of efficient production and training technologies, a lack of trained community placement personnel, and a general lack of…

The efficiency of training severely retarded adults in sheltered workshops with frequent changes of specific jobs can be increased through an "operations" approach. The approach focuses on teaching workers to respond correctly to cues frequently used in vocational training, such as modeling or priming the response, or providing match to sample…

Reported are data regarding the work performance and production data of three institutionalized severely and profoundly retarded adults who were taught to perform small parts assembly work. (CL)

The paper criticizes the practice of providing sheltered occupational environments to severely handicapped individuals and considers ways in which public school programs and adult service systems can be arranged to maximize vocational functioning. Following an operational definition of meaningful work, the chapter analyzes reasons for the…

Reported are four studies on methods to increase the production rates of severely and profoundly retarded adults in the sheltered workshop setting. It is explained that all four Ss had undergone intensive training on a complex task, were able to perform the task at a reasonably high rate, but did not usually maintain a high rate in the production…

Intended for teachers of deaf/blind and severely handicapped students, the manual focuses on teaching skills to meet the requirements for sheltered and transcommunity employment. The first section presents two approaches to teaching independent living skills (including grooming and self care). Section 2 describes orientation and mobility skills…

Seven papers examine issues in vocational education for the moderately to severely handicapped. The first paper, "Introduction: Perspectives on Vocational Education" and "Rehabilitation for the Handicapped" by C. Hansen and N. Haring sets out terms and definitions and provides an overview for the text. C. Hansen's second paper,…

The prevocational skills checklist is designed to be used as a continuous recordkeeping instrument on a severely handicapped student. Objectives of the checklist are to identify student competency level in prevocational skills; to identify areas where the student is lacking in basic vocational competencies; to provide educators with a competency…

A study was conducted to determine (1) the entry level skills that are required for admission to selected North Dakota programs for the vocational education of the severely handicapped; and (2) the articulation, if any, between nationwide prevocational training programs' exit requirements and the North Dakota programs' entry requirements. Using a…

A resource guide to assist inservice personnel to establish vocational education programs for severely handicapped individuals is presented. Section 1 summarizes issues in vocational services and training for severely handicapped persons. Section 2 contains brief descriptions of national agencies and organizations that relate in some way to the…