Using video modeling to teach a domestic skill with an embedded social skill to adults with severe mental retardation

We assessed whether three adults with severe mental retardation would acquire a domestic skill (making coffee) with an embedded social skill (serving coffee to and sitting down beside a peer) via video modeling procedures. Training was conducted in a classroom in the participants' day treatment setting. The intervention consisted of (i) watching a video of an adult with a developmental disability making coffee and initiating a social interaction with a peer; and (ii) receiving verbal praise for each step of the task that was performed correctly. All three participants mastered the task and demonstrated generalization across settings, stimuli, and people. Two participants performed with 100% accuracy on maintenance probes conducted 1 month following mastery, and one participant did so following booster training. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.