The project addressed the discrepancy between research (documenting the vocational potential of severely handicapped adults) and current services (which include an expanding national program of nonvocational day activity centers) with five coordinated components designed to improve, implement, and evaluate vocational services. The first component, concerned with the development of improved habilitation procedures applied single subject research strategies to evaluate solutions to common habilitation problems. The second component, responsible for defining a total program model, prepared a detailed procedures manual and revised it during 3 years of field testing. The third component developed and/or investigated the applicability of six instruments for program evaluation efforts. The fourth component was responsible for implementing and field testing the model over a 3 year period in programs serving severely handicapped adults in four communities in three Western states. The fifth component, program evaluation, investigated the effects of the model on 63 severely handicapped participants. Participants learned a total of 43 different work tasks, and performed these at rates resulting in hourly wages more than twice the average for retarded adults in sheltered workshops and work activity centers. Participants also showed improvements in other aspects of adult living, including increased social responsibility and decreased maladaptive behavior. (Author/DB)