Telephone-skills training for retarded adults: group and individual demonstrations with and without verbal instruction.

Effects of telephone-skills training delivered to institutionalized retarded adults in group and individual demonstrations, both with and without verbal instructions, were examined. The trials effect was significant for four telephone tasks and for the sum of the four tasks. Persons in all conditions, including the practice control condition, significantly improved skill performance. These findings indicate that, for skill development tasks with retarded adults, demonstration and verbal summaries may add little to the practice experience and that group delivery of training procedures appears to be cost-effective.