An evaluation of the efficacy of training people with learning disabilities in a virtual environment

Authors: Brouwers, E. P. M., Tiemens, B. G., Terluin, B., & Verhaak, P. F. M.
Year Published 2002
Publication Disability and Rehabilitation
Volume 24
Number 11
Pages 622-626
Publisher Informa Healthcare
Background

The majority of people with learning disabilities in the United Kingdom do not get the opportunity to work because they are often denied appropriate vocational training.

Purpose

To evaluate the efficacy of using a virtual kitchen for vocational training of people with learning disabilities.

Setting

The settings were schools for training in catering for individuals with disabilities in the United Kingdom.

Sample

The sample size included 24 catering students with learning disabilities.

Data Collection

Pre-test, post-test, and improvement scores were collected.

Control

Students were their own controls.

Findings

Virtual training was found to be as beneficial as really training and more beneficial than workbook training.

Conclusions

Vocational students with learning disabilities were able to use the virtual environment and were motivated to learn using this training method. Depending on the task being trained, virtual training had a more beneficial effect on real task performance than workbook training, even when the virtual kitchen was not modeled on the real training kitchen. (p. 622)

URL http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12182802
Disabilities Specific learning disabilities
Populations Male & Female
Outcomes Other
NIDILRR Funded No
Research Design Single group
Peer Reviewed Yes