Group Instruction with Persons Who have Severe Disabilities: A Critical Review

This paper reviews the published research on group instruction with persons who have severe disabilities. It is concluded that group instruction can be effective and efficient with these individuals; however, considerably more research is needed before specific group instruction programs should be regarded as scientifically validated methods of training persons with severe disabilities. A number of areas are discussed in which future research is needed, with particular emphasis on the teaching of a wider variety of skills and in a greater variety of training situations, more comprehensive evaluations of group instruction parameters, and delineation of conditions in which different methods of group instruction are most effective and efficient.