The Relationship of Cognitive Development Level to Outcome of Self-Instructional Training in Behaviorally Disordered Children

Abstract

This study assessed the impact of self-instructional training on 41 preoperational, transitional, and concrete operational children in a psychoeducational day treatment program. The youngsters received tow sessions of training using a directed discovery, Socratic dialogue approach. Though hypothesized interaction effects were not obtained, within-group comparisons indicated partial support for the role of cognitive level. On the training task (MFF20), the concrete operational and transitional groups committed significantly fewer errors after training, while on the generalization task (a perceptual perspective-taking task) only the concrete operational group improved. Similarities between these results and those of comparable studies using nonclinical samples are discussed. Possible implications for the design and implementation of self-instructional programs with behaviorally disordered youngsters, based on the suggestive contribution of cognitive developmental level as an individual difference factor, are offered.