IMPROVING PROSE MEMORY AND SOCIAL-INTERACTION USING QUESTION ASKING READING WITH ADULT DAY-CARE CLIENTS

A reading group activity at an adult day care center was implemented using Question Asking Reading (QAR). The QAR procedure utilizes a set of external prompts to socially distribute the task of reading and to facilitate individual comprehension of text. The QAR procedure was compared to the existing reading group activity for amount of social interaction during the activity and retention of information presented. The QAR procedure produced more social interaction, and the participants exhibited better comprehension and retention of the information. These results were obtained with both the experimenter and a day care staff member as group leaders and with clients possessing a wide range of disabling conditions and levels of orientation.