A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Forward and Backward Chaining Procedures with Retarded Children

Abstract

The problem. Very little experimental evidence is available to indicate the conditions under which backward chaining procedures are most effective. This study compared the effectiveness of backward and forward chaining procedures with retarded children on a telephone dialing task. Procedure. Four retarded children were taught to dial telephone numbers using forward and backward chaining procedures. The number of errors made by subjects as a function of the chaining condition was compared. Findings. Two subjects performed better under the forward chaining conditions, one subject performed better under the forward chaining condition and another subject did not show a change in performanoe as a function of the chaining conditions. Conclusions. The results were inconsistent with previous studies which indicated that forward chaining was more effective than backward chaining for all subjects studied. Recommendations. Further research should be conducted to investigate the generality of the findings across subjects and tasks.