Apparatus and methods for training and controlling of, for instance, robotic devices. In one implementation, a robot may be trained by a user using supervised learning. The user may be unable to control all degrees of freedom of the robot simultaneously. The user may interface to the robot via a control apparatus configured to select and operate a subset of the robot's complement of actuators. The robot may comprise an adaptive controller comprising a neuron network. The adaptive controller may be configured to generate actuator control commands based on the user input and output of the learning process. Training of the adaptive controller may comprise partial set training. The user may train the adaptive controller to operate first actuator subset. Subsequent to learning to operate the first subset, the adaptive controller may be trained to operate another subset of degrees of freedom based on user input via the control apparatus.