Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of token economy and shaping on improving communication and living skills among adolescents with moderate adaptive functioning. The participants comprising 19 males and 26 females were drawn through purposive and convenience sampling technique from Therapeutic Day Care Centre, Abakpa, Enugu. Their ages ranged from 13-18 years with a mean age of 16.76 and a standard deviation of 1.38. They were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and a control group with 15 participants each. The independent groups factorial design was employed. Data were collected with the ratings on Vineland Adaptive Behavioural Scale (VABS) developed by Sparrow et al., (2008). Four hypotheses were postulated and tested. One- Way Between-Subject MANOVA statistics with SPSS version 17 was used for data analysis. Result showed that token economy significantly improved communication skill with the experimental group that received tokens scoring higher than the control group. Result also indicated a statistically significant improvement on both communication and daily living skills with the experimental group that received shaping scoring higher than the control group on both skills. However, result did not show a statistically significant mean difference between daily living skill of the experimental group that received tokens and the control group. Thus, indicating no significant improvement on living skill among the experimental group that received token economy. The findings of this study imply first, that adaptive behaviour is modifiable and factors such as observations, rehearsal, reinforcement or rewards can facilitate the process of learning especially for the intellectually disabled. It is then recommended that the focus of most special education centres be revisited in order to incorporate vocational and practical oriented courses that can be of more benefits to individuals with intellectual disability.