This study was conducted to investigate the effects of behavioral skills training
on conversational skills in adults with developmental disabilities. Two adults
with developmental disabilities who had difficulties interacting with others due
to a lack of appropriate conversational skills participated in the study along
with one of their colleagues with appropriate conversational skills, who
participated as a norm. Behavioral skills training was implemented to improve
the conversation skills in the participants, and the effects of the intervention
were evaluated using a multiple baseline across participants design. The
experiment consisted of baseline, intervention, maintenance, and generalization
during each experimental condition. The results indicated that the
conversational skills of the participants were improved with the behavioral
skills training, and the acquired conversational skills were maintained even
after the intervention was removed. In addition, the generalization effect was
observed when talking to other who did not participate in the intervention. The
social validity evaluation by the participants, their parents, and their
supervisor showed very positive results, and two participants indicated a
similar or higher level of conversational skills than their colleague, which was
the norm.