A Goal Attainment Approach to Improve Completion of Project-Type Assignments by Adolescents with Learning Disabilities

While project-type assignments often provide students with choices and options that can generate opportunities for the student to infuse interests and strengths in the learning process, the decision-making and management skills involved in project-type assignments can place great demands on students with learning disabilities. This study explored the impact of a goal-attainment intervention related to the completion of project-type assignments on six students, ages 12 to 14, with learning disabilities. A multiple-baseline across-subjects design was employed and replicated once. Training in the goal-attainment procedures was effective in increasing the number of projects successfully completed and the quality of goal setting and goal actualization responses. All subjects had significant difficulty generating alternatives when given choices. Performance patterns indicated that some students readjusted the way they attacked the goal-setting process as they learned what they could actually plan for and accomplish during the goal-actualization phase.