Disha Eshwar, Janani P, Neha Mary Abraham, Prerana Sharma, Riya Saji, Sneha George,
and Ezhil Meena
Women’s Christian College, Chennai
Pages:166-174
Intellectual and developmental disabilities include a diverse range of conditions
characterized by limitations in intellectual, emotional, and social functioning and behavior.
The study aimed to assess methods and teaching practices used to impart life skills
among 21 adults with moderate to severe intellectual and developmental disorders
at Ashraya School for Special Children in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. A nine-hour-long
intervention was implemented over the course of six days on the modules: Hygiene, Nonverbal communication, Sex education, Manners, Traffic rules, and Stress management.
Three post-intervention assessments were conducted to study the adherence and
retention of the learning. Results show that learning tends to decrease in the absence
of continuous repetition and reinforcement. While manners, hygiene, and traffic rules
are taught and reinforced regularly, the retention was higher than that of modules that
were not. Implications of this study are that the modules of sex education, non-verbal
communication, and stress management are not a part of the school curriculum, and
their retention was very minimal.