This guide will help researchers design and implement impact studies in education so that the findings are more generalizable to the study's target population. Guidance is provided on key steps that researchers can take, including defining the target population, selecting a sample of schools--and replacement schools, when needed--managing school…

This issue of "FOCUS" discusses external validity and what rehabilitation researchers can do to help practitioners answer the question "How far can we generalize this finding-- is it applicable to other clients/patients, with different characteristics, in dissimilar settings treated by other clinicians?," which clinicians and…

This guide presents information and clinical tools to implement the Anger Coping Program, an empirically supported intervention for students in grades 3-6. Practitioners are taken step by step through setting up treatment groups, teaching vital skills for reducing aggression and disruptive behavior, and building strong partnerships with teachers…

Resource teachers can help learning disabled students generalize skills to a mainstream setting with three types of procedures: transfer activities; self control procedures (in which a behavior contract is developed and contingencies for self reinforcement are specified); and cooperative planning (in which resource teachers and regular teachers…

Teaching exceptional children to use verbal cues to control nonverbal behaviors is suggested as a procedure for establishing adaptive behaviors and as a self-management strategy for ensuring generalization and maintenance of new responses. (Author/CL)

This article presents a matrix model to train individuals with severe handicaps to use language skills in spontaneous language situations. The model takes into account listener preparatory behaviors and contextual variables. The model suggests procedures for efficient training for generalization. (DB)

General case programing can enhance generalization in individuals with severe disabilities. Making the procedure effective involves: considering activities appropriate for general case programing, selecting examples for teaching and probe testing, determining order of presentation of examples, and determining location of instruction. A list of…

This booklet discusses the importance to adolescents and adults with mental retardation of learning how to respond correctly to the many variations in home, work, and community activities in order to be successful in integrated settings. The difficulties individuals with mental retardation have in generalizing skills learned in one situation to a…

The authors propose a system for determining which goals and target behaviors are of highest priority for handicapped students. In a meeting of the interdisciplinary treatment team, goals are set forth and ranked according to answers to a series of questions: (1) will acquiring the behavior increase the probability of the client living, being…

The main features of a multiple site, structured case study design are presented. The nature of explanatory patterns, how case study investigators pursue and recognize valid patterns, and how an analyst can apply the same logic to cross-site analysis are discussed. (Author/BW)

The paper examines cognitive and metacognitive teaching practices in relation to theories of motivation, showing how and why they may inadvertently impede the learning disabled trainee's strategy of generalization. Ways for teachers to counteract such practices as well as implications for research needs are discussed. (Author/CL)

The first section of this book presents an overview and history of the problem of skill generalization among students with severe handicaps. Researchers review empirically based strategies proposed to remedy the problem, discuss the characteristics and foundations of decision rules which can be used to determine which strategy will work best in a…

Instructional development, particularly for the severely and profoundly handicapped, should stress the delineation of clearly stated functional goals and objectives and the use of systematic instructional strategies to facilitate the acquisition and generalization of target skills. (Author)

The FORCE strategy was designed as a simple, step-by-step procedure to assist learning-disabled adolescents in preparing for tests. The steps are find out, organize, review, concentrate, and examine early (pretest). The article discusses application of the strategy and issues relating to generalization of the strategy to other subject areas. (JDD)

This article reviews general classes of variables which help to maintain aberrant behavior including attention seeking, sensory and perceptual consequences, and access to materials or activities. Suggestions for a methodology providing a comprehensive functional analysis are offered which include descriptive analysis, hypothesis forming,…