A compensatory counting system: academic skill training.

This article was acceptedjor publication April J2, J996 B asic counting skills are prerequisites to a variety of academic and vocational tasks as well as community survival skills (Baroody & Snyder, 1983; Spradlin, Corter, Stevens, & Friedman, 1974). Couming is often the only math skill required in jobs where persons with menral retardation seek employment (Chandler, 1978; Easterday, 1987). If persons with mental retardation can be taught some basic math skills, such as functional counring, they will have the competence necessary for wider job opportunities and greater independence in the community (Baroody, 1986b; Baroody & Snyder, 1983; ChanclJer, 1978; Spradlin et al., 1974). Sirlingron, Frank, and Carson (1992) found in their study of 142 young adults with mental retardation that one third to one half were competitively employed in the community in service and labor jobs after high school. In competitive employment, workers who cannot counr place hardship on their coworkers without disabilities; for example, the coworker without disability cannot ask, "How many... are there?"; "Could you bring me six of those "; or ''After you clean those three rooms, could you " The coworkers without disabilities have to adapt or complete the task themselves, thus increasing their workload. Occupational therapy practitioners can adapt th.e working environment, use adaptive equipment, and modifY th.e behavior of coworkers without disabilities to provide success for adults who have lower functioning. Occupational therapy practitioners can also use all these same adaptations in the school environmenr to teach Students with disabilities the academic skills they will need in the workplace. Education and transition individualized education programs should expand, not restrict, the range of occupational choices available to a student (Szymanski, 1994). Counting is a skill that enhances one's ability ro be useful and productive in any occupation. Counting typically requires the use of a series of symbols that depict abstractions that persons with mental retardation do not easily understand (Barena-Lorton, 1976). Object counring, as proposed by a number of authors (see review by McEvoy, 1989), is a complex process. It involves rote counring in correct sequence (i.e., one-roone correspondence between the number name and the counting object), recognizing that the last number named is the total, and remembering the objects that have been counted (Fazio, 1994). Developmenrally, it takes approximately 1 year from the time that a child begins to recognize number words to the time that he or she learns that number words refer to a meaningful counting concept (Wynn, 1992). Because counting is a complex process and demands