Involving institutional staff in the development and maintenance of sign language skills with profoundly retarded persons.
Teach staff brief sign lessons and clients keep the skills for months, but add real-life practice to get signing outside structured drills.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Six adults with profound intellectual disability lived in a state institution. None could speak.
The researchers taught direct-care staff how to prompt and reward manual signs for common objects. Training took one afternoon. Staff then ran brief sessions on the living unit for up to 49 weeks.
What they found
All six residents learned at least six signs. They still used the signs almost a year later.
Most signing happened only when staff asked. Spontaneous requests outside these moments stayed low.
How this fits with other research
Skrtic et al. (1982) got the same result the next year. They embedded signing in daily routines instead of separate sessions. Both studies show staff can teach signs that last.
Burgess et al. (1986) added a twist. They first checked which spoken words each client already understood. Signs tied to those words were learned faster. Use their quick receptive test before you pick target signs.
Douglas et al. (2022) moved the idea into family homes. They coached parents to model an iPad system instead of signs. The pattern holds: train the everyday people, and communication grows.
Why it matters
You do not need a speech therapist on site. A short staff workshop plus weekly check-ins can give non-vocal clients a lasting voice. Run a quick receptive vocabulary probe first, then teach signs for items they already know. Finally, plan extra practice in real moments—meals, dressing, walks—so the new signs pop up when actually needed.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A program to involve institutional staff in developing manual sign language skills with profoundly retarded persons was evaluated. In Experiment 1, six direct care staff, with close supervision, taught a small repertoire of signs to six profoundly retarded residents who had not benefited from previous training in vocal language. Training was conducted in a group format using instructions, modeling, manual guidance, contingent reinforcers, and feedback. During training, all residents learned to identify pictures of objects with manual signs. Generalization observations during unstructured times on the residents' living unit indicated that staff used their signing skills with the residents in addition to their vocal interactions but the residents did not increase their signing or vocalizing. In Experiment 2, the residents' skills in signing with real objects on their living unit as opposed to pictures of objects were evaluated and provided with additional training where necessary. Results indicated that all participating residents learned to communicate with signing during structured interactions on their living unit, and the skills maintained during follow-up assessments ranging from 39 to 49 weeks. Results are discussed regarding the variable generalization effects noted as well as the general benefits and disadvantages of teaching manual signing skills to profoundly retarded persons.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1981 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1981.14-411