PICTURECOACH & POCKETCOACH: AN INTEGRATED MULTI-MEDIA TRAINING SYSTEM FOR VOCATIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL RETARDATION

THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL DEMONSTRATE THE APPLICATION OF AN INTEGRATED SYSTEM OF SELF-PACED VIDEO AND AUDIO TRAINING FOR TEACHING VOCATIONAL SKILLS TO MODERATE AND LOWER FUNCTIONING INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL RETARDATION. LONG-TERM OBJECTIVES ARE DEVELOP PICTURECOACH, A SELF-PACED VIDEO TRAINING DEVICE, AND POCKETCOACH, A COMPANION DEVICE TO PROVIDE SELF-PACED AUDIO TRAINING. SPECIFIC AIMS FOR PHASE I INCLUDE PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF THIS TRAINING SYSTEM. THE RESEARCH FOCUS IS ON FIELD TESTING THE PICTURECOACH AND POCKETCOACH PROTOTYPES TO ASSESS THEIR EFFECTIVENESS FOR INCREASING WORKER PRODUCTIVITY, IMPROVING QUALITY, AND REDUCING STAFF-TIME REQUIRED TO TRAIN AND MONITOR CLIENT-EMPLOYEES. THE PICUTRECOACH PROTOTYPE WILL BE BASED ON A VIDEO TASK TRAINING SYSTEM DEVELOPED BY MTC UNDER A PREVIOUSLY FUNDED NIDRR PROJECT THAT HAS BEEN USED SUCCESSFULLY TO TRAIN INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL RETARDATION HOW TO OPERATE AN AUTOMATED-TELLER MACHINE (ATM). THEREFORE, THE DEVELOPMENT EFFORT FOR THE PICTURECOACH PROTOTYPE WILL BE MINIMAL. MOST OF THE DEVELOPMENT EFFORT WILL BE TARGETED TOWARDS DEVELOPING A PROTOTYPE OF THE COMPANION AUDIO TRAINING DEVICE, POCKETCOACH. THESE TWO PROTOTYPES WILL BE FIELD TESTED AT A VOCATIONAL TRAINING SITE.