Increasing self-determination: teaching people with mental retardation to evaluate residential options.

Four adults with mild intellectual disability lived in a state facility. They had never chosen where to live.

The researchers used behavioral skills training. They taught each adult to ask questions, remember facts, and rate homes.

Sessions happened in the dayroom. Staff acted as landlords. Adults practiced until they could pick a home on their own.

Every adult learned the skills. They started asking things like 'How much is rent?' and 'Can I have a pet?'

They could recall details and say 'I like this place because...' or 'I don't like that one.'

In the end each person chose a community home and moved out of the facility.

Bhaumik et al. (2008) and Gormley et al. (2019) flipped the target. They trained staff, not residents, to support self-determination. The 1996 paper shows the resident side; the later papers show the staff side. Together they give you both halves of the equation.

Callahan et al. (2022) moved the same idea online. They used Zoom BST to teach virtual meeting skills to adults with NDD. The 1996 study did it in person for housing skills; the 2022 study proves you can now do it remotely.

Pierce et al. (1994) is a close cousin. Both papers use BST and multiple baseline designs with adults with DD. The 1994 team taught job-interview answers; the 1996 team taught housing questions. Same method, different life domain.

You can copy this package tomorrow. Write a simple role-play script: ask, remember, evaluate. Use a coworker as the landlord. Give praise and corrections until the learner leads the conversation. In a week you can hand the reins to the person who will actually live there.