Now that most persons with intellectual disabilities live in the community instead of in institutions, functional use of money has become an important special education priority. Lacking money skills, one does not have the means to purchase necessary goods and services independently of caretakers. To address this challenge, Praxis, Inc. has initiated an effort to develop a suite of software products designed to establish the behavioral prerequisites for independent functional use of money by persons with intellectual disabilities (e.g., autism, mental retardation, etc.). The first product, MERIT-1 (currently under development with SBIR sponsorship from NICHD) will establish readiness for instruction in money skills. The present application requests support to develop MERIT-2, the second (and most central) product of the suite -- the component that establishes equivalence relations among groups of coins and numerical values representing prices. To do so, Praxis, Inc. will take advantage of recent experience in developing computer programs for establishing equivalence classes and for combinatorial analysis of large, multi-component stimulus sets in applications with children with mental retardation, autism and other developmental disabilities. This fast-track application will address two aspects of computer-assisted instruction. In Phase 1, we will develop a product component for computer-managed instruction in which software will structure face-to-face interactions with a teacher; the software will generate the necessary teaching sequences, manage teaching sessions, structure data collection, and make certain data-based decisions regarding the content of subsequent teaching sessions. This Phase 1 activity will also set the stage for Phase 2, in which a true expert system will be developed for independent, computer-based money equivalence training and practice. In each phase of product development, field tests will evaluate product efficacy and ease-of-use by our intended consumers.
