Growth in Cognitive Diagnosis of Intellectually Disabled Young Adults’ Interpersonal Skills

• In Event: Innovations in Psychometrics Modelings, and Methodologies

Abstract

Interpersonal skill determines student employment rate to some extent, especially for students with disabilities. The study aims to provide cognitive diagnostic analysis on students with severe intellectual disabilities’ improvement on interpersonal skills through transition diagnostic classification model (TDCM). The study sample are students participating a college-based transition program. The findings indicate that students’ listening skill is the most improved through time, whereas giving response skill has highest probability of transitioning from non-mastery at pre-test to mastery at post-test. Understanding body language is the least skill that students could maintain mastery at post-test. The study provides rich information for future teaching, training, and intervention to improve intellectual disabled students' interpersonal skills and employment opportunities.

Authors

• Huaiyue Zhang, University of Alabama

• Kagendo Mutua, University of Alabama

• Amy M. Williamson, University of Alabama