Effectiveness of social problem solving instruction program on individuals with intellectual disability

The aim of this study is to reveal whether the curriculum that teaches social problem solving process is effective in solving the problems faced by individuals with intellectual disabilities in their daily lives. Nine students between the ages of 16 and 19 diagnosed with intellectual disability participated in the study. The independent variable of the research is the social problem solving instruction program. The social problem solving instruction program has been prepared based on the stages of problem orientation, problem definition and formulation, generation of alternative solutions, decision making and solution implementation and verification. The dependent variable of the research is that the subjects participating in the research solve the problem by learning the steps in the social problem solving instruction program. In the study, the multiple probe design with probe session across subjects model, is one of the single subject designs, was used. The practise process has been completed in five phases, base line, instruction, probe, monitoring and generalization sessions. The research data were collected using prepared data collection tools. Efficacy data of the study were analyzed and presented visually through graphical analysis. In the effectiveness findings of the research, it was seen that the social problem solving instruction program was effective in all nine subjects participating in the study. In the generalization findings, it was determined that six subjects were able to generalize the stages they learned to different problem situations, while the other three subjects were successful in the problem solving part of the social problem solving model, but they were not successful in the solution part. From the social validity findings, it was concluded that the subjects and their teachers gave a positive opinion about the research.