Effects of Instrumental Enrichment on the psychoeducational development of low-functioning adolescents

Instrumental Enrichment, an intervention program for low-functioning adolescents, consists of some 400 cognitive exercises devoid of curriculum content and contrasts with more conventional general enrichment, which focuses on direct help in school subjects. The 2 approaches were compared under field conditions in Israel over a 2-yr period with 57 matched pairs of 12-15 yr old Ss. 24 pairs from residential and 33 from day centers. Treatment (Instrumental Enrichment vs General Enrichment) by Setting (residential vs day center) analyses of covariance yielded main effects favoring Instrumental Enrichment on intellective and nonintellective criteria and favoring residential settings on some intellective measures. Few interactions were obtained. Results indicate that (a) mediating basic deficiencies in problem solving can produce better results than do tutorials in school subjects and (b) positive intervention can be conducted with adolescents who are failing in school. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).