The comparison of effectiveness and efficiency of direct instruction and problem solving approachs in teaching of social skills for children with mental retardation

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of direct instruction and problem solving approachs in teaching social skills to children with mental retardation.?Adapted Alternating Treatment Design? which was one at the single subject designs, was used as a research design.The subjects of the study consists of 1 girl and 1 boy between the ages of 11 and 13 who are mentally retarded.In order to collect the data, a teacher interview form, a social skills checktlist, criterion-referenced tests and data record sheets to use during direct instruction and problem ? solving approachs, efficiency form, procedural reliability forms and social validity form were developed and used. Direct instruction and problem solving approachs instruction plans were developed and used. Direct instruction and problem solving approachs instruction plans were prepared and applied by the investigator.According to the results, direct instruction approach was more effective than problem solving approach in teaching social skills to first subject. In acquasition of thank to someone and sharing skills direct instruction was more efficient than in terms of total training time and training errors through criterion than problem solving approach. Maintanence and genaralization data were showed that students maintained the social skills 5 and 35 day after the teaching and the skills were generalized to different locations, tools and individuals. Regarding these results, both strategies in maintanence and generalization at the social skills were found to have similar effectiveness.