Four elementary age moderately disabled students were taught to use a picture-prompt prosthetic to make vending machine purchases. All students reached criterion on the vending machine use task, demonstrated partial generalization to untrained machines, and three Ss exhibited maintenance as much as six weeks beyond the termination of instruction.…

Two strategies for teaching elementary students to distinguish relevant from irrelevant material are described. The word associates strategy provides students instruction in writing or stating a generalization that expresses the criteria for relevance. The defending a point of view strategy provides instruction in developing relevant arguments to…

Three elementary students with mental retardation used a computer-based instructional package to practice purchasing skills and the dollar plus strategy. The instructional package utilized video footage and a constant time delay procedure to facilitate skill acquisition. Skills did not generalize, although changes in purchasing behavior in the…

The project described in this report explored the effectiveness of a collaborative effort of parents and school personnel in the training and generalization of social skills for socially deficient children. Five students (aged 8-11), classified as behaviorally handicapped or learning disabled, served as subjects and were grouped with…

Two children, aged six and nine, with moderate mental retardation were taught syntactic rules for combining known and unknown words into two-word utterances. The use of receptive teaching with imitation of the target phrase facilitated both generalized receptive learning and transfer to production in both subjects. (Author/JDD)

This study found that a videotape instructional package (involving viewing videotapes, on-site prompting, and reinforcement) was effective in helping 3 children (ages 8-9) with autism to acquire and generalize grocery purchasing skills in community settings. Skill acquisition was rapid and transferred to other settings. (Author/JDD)

This study demonstrated that 4 students (ages 6-12) with mental retardation or behavior disorders learned to treat abrasions, as indicated by pretest-posttest generalization probes conducted using nontrained injuries on the participants and another person. Skill acquisition data were roughly equivalent across two training programs (social modeling…

Two short-term strategy training programs were used to teach learning disabled 9- to 12-year-old students (N=42) to use an organizational strategy for a memory task. A three-rule program stressing the acquisition of specific strategy content showed a greater transfer of learning than a six-rule program teaching both specific strategy content and…

Eight mothers of developmentally disabled children (ages 2-11) were individually trained in eight skill domains (e.g., preparation, complete communication, clarification, consensus, feedback) to enhance their communication skills with professionals. Each parent acquired the targeted skills during simulated conferences, and correct responding…

Three elementary-aged students with multiple severe disabilities acquired basic communication and motor skills within cooperative-learning activities conducted in their general education classrooms and later generalized skills to other situations. Students without disabilities in the cooperative-learning groups achieved targeted academic…

A study explored leadership behavior of 58 gifted elementary learners working in small groups. Using videotape analysis and a model of transformational leadership, the study diagnosed leadership needs of gifted learners and created successful instructional interventions to enable students to transfer skills developed in a teacher-directed lesson…

Storytelling scenarios are suggested for teaching basic first-aid skills to children (ages 4-9) who have mild to severe disabilities. The method involves four steps: assembling materials; identifying skills and conducting task analyses; teaching the skills; and assessing discrimination among different types of injuries, generalization to new…

Peers with mild intellectual disabilities taught first aid skills to 4 students (ages 7-11) with moderate intellectual disabilities. Results suggested that the peer teaching program resulted in acquisition of first aid skills, and the participants' skills generalized to the home, to novel simulated-injury locations, and to new trainers.…

The effects of social skill training on social behavior was assessed, using a structured learning model with 3 children with behavioral disorders, ages 7-14. Results showed an increase in frequency for most skill areas, an inverse relationship across negative behaviors, maintenance over time, and moderate levels of generalization to nontreatment…

This study evaluated the transfer of decoding skills from a code-emphasis program that used a controlled text to a literature-based basal reading series consistent with the whole language approach. Participants were 11 elementary students with learning disabilities who received reading instruction in a resource program. Results found students…