Behavioral skills training (BST) (Parsons et al., 2012) is a common intervention for training staff and caregivers to engage in various important behaviors. However, BST is labor intensive, costly, and often requires extensive involvement from a supervisor or experienced trainer (DiGennaro Reed & Henley, 2015), which may not always be…

The current study compared the use of serial and concurrent methods to train multiple exemplars when teaching receptive language skills, providing a systematic replication of Wunderlich, Vollmer, Donaldson, and Phillips (2014). Five preschoolers diagnosed with developmental delays or autism spectrum disorders were taught to receptively identify…

Given that more paraprofessionals are hired to deliver one-on-one intervention to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) under the auspices of behavioral health agencies, it is important that these paraprofessionals receive adequate supervision to support their implementation of high quality intervention while often working alone without…

In this review, the authors include 23 studies where researchers experimentally evaluated training for teachers of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Authors summarized qualitative information on study and participant characteristics. Next, variables related to teacher practice and student learning targets were categorized based on…

Four autistic and severely handicapped children (ages 9-13) were taught to recruit or set the occasion for praise from an adult. After the structured instruction, the children used these behaviors in all generalization settings and were frequently successful in recruiting praise. (Author/DB)

The study examined the unsupervised responding of 20-year-old male with profound handicaps and a lifelong history of dependency. Two objectives were pursued: establishment of independent unsupervised task responding with a stimulus and reinforcer fading procedure; and generalization of unsupervised performance across tasks and settings. (Author/DB)

The study compared the efficacy and setting generalization of sensory extinction and overcorrection in suppressing self-stimulation in two autistic children (ages 7- and 12-years-old). Results indicated that sensory extinction significantly decreased self stimulation in the structured setting but did not generalize to other settings.…

This study, with a young autistic child and a young adult with profound mental retardation, demonstrated the effectiveness of a gradual, changing criterion process of stimulus shaping in training subjects to independently perform tasks with relatively high task requirements. (DB)

A script fading procedure was effectively used to teach 4 children (ages 9 and 12) with autism to initiate interactions with peers. Increased initiations (to within normal levels) generalized to a different setting, and for three of the children were maintained at two-month follow-up. (Author/DB)

Techniques for training a severely retarded blind client to exit his living unit during a fire drill used a combination of negative and positive reinforcement. Following a shaping procedure, the client learned to leave his living unit from any internal point through generalization training and subsequent test probes. (Author/CL)

Findings indicate that the effects of assertion training generalized to novel teacher, parent, and student situations and to the in vivo test. Structured learning training with teacher trainers produced more assertive behavior in teacher situations. Performance was differentially affected by type of participant. (Author)

Treatment of a woman with severe mental retardation with the Self-Injurious Behavior Inhibiting System (SIBIS) resulted in significant reductions in SIB behavior which generalized to the natural environment and the brief follow-up sessions. (Author/DB)

Six mildly mentally retarded adults (ages 21 to 39), equally divided into two treatment groups, were provided with individualized social skills training programs. Results indicated that treatment was effective for virtually all behaviors across all Ss, improvements occurred for both training and generalization scenes, and behavioral performance…

Two adults with severe mental retardation were assessed for correct pointing responses to line drawings of required eating utensils. Following tact intervention, mands for two of three utensils emerged. Results suggest transfer from tact variables to the conditioned establishing operation may be facilitated by cultivating a minimal mand…

A forward graduated guidance procedure was used to increase the independent dressing skills of two profoundly multihandicapped adolescents living in a noninstitutional environment. One subject reached criterion and treatment gains generalized to other settings. The other subject failed to reach criterion but required fewer prompts after training.…