PROGRAMMING FOR EFFICIENCY - THE EFFECTS OF MOTION ECONOMY ON VOCATIONAL TASKS FOR ADULTS WITH SEVERE AND PROFOUND MENTAL-RETARDATION

Principles of motion economy were assessed with two vocational task fo r two adults with severe to profound mental retardation. Study I asses sed task acquisition by comparing two tasks (collating three pages, ba gging three ribbons), one task trained using the standard job site lar k analysis, the other trained using a motion economy-based task analys is (requiring less total distance movement to task completion) in two alternating treatments designs. Study 2 assessed task fluency by exami ning the effects of the motion economy-bared task analysis on collatin g and bagging separately across the same two adults in four reversal d esigns. Neither task analysis was superior overall in acquisition (Stu dy I), but once each task was mastered, the motion economy-based task analysis enhanced fluency across both tasks for both participants (Stu dy 2). The use of distance movement as a parameter of response efficie ncy is discussed when targeting job performance, productivity and pref erence.