Reviewed is research concerned with the vocational habilitation of severely and profoundly retarded adults, particularly ways to train the requisite job skills and increase performance of existing skills to appropriate rates. Noted are reports of training programs in which severely retarded Ss were taught complex skills such as assembling a 25-piece bicycle brake. Practical teaching techniques (such as shaping, physical priming, and modeling) are explained. Techniques for supervising production levels using both token and social reinforcement are also described. It is stressed that if the vocational difficulties of severely handicapped adults are viewed as skill deficits rather than deficits in individual potential, then improved vocational training for the severely handicapped should ensue. (DB)