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…

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…

The study identified eight environmental stimuli present during the training of two moderately retarded students (ages six and nine). Results demonstrated that by altering one stimulus at a time, correct responding continued. Implications of the findings for stimulus control and generalization training are discussed. (Author/DB)

Correspondence training (in which verbalized promises and accurate self reporting of their fulfillment were both reinforced) was used to improve the generalization of social skills training in three mentally retarded adult males. After correspondence training targeted behaviors increased in the generalization setting and this increase was…

Three adolescent boys with autism were taught to offer assistance to a person stating inability to complete a task. Generalization of skills in a variety of settings varied across youths, although all three boys showed some transfer of skills to all conditions. (Author/DB)

A review of 25 studies found that demonstrations of successful generalization of skills by persons with profound mental handicaps were characterized by: several trained exemplars, trained behaviors likely to be reinforced in natural settings by natural consequences, use of training stimuli common to the generalization setting, and training in…

Attempted to assess generalization from a child's school to a novel instructional setting by comparing training in single versus multiple rooms. Found that responses taught in school did not automatically generalize to a day care center but that four of the five boys studied demonstrated relatively high rates of responding. (CMG)

A procedure involving prompting, repetition of the correct response, and reinforcement was effectively used to teach three adults with profound mental retardation gestural yes-no responding. However, reliable generalization of the individuals' responses across settings or persons did not occur even after generality training. (Author/DB)

Fifteen students, age 13-21, with moderate to profound mental retardation received shopping skills training in either 1 or 3 department stores. A study of operational behaviors, social behaviors, number of settings in which criterion performance was achieved, and number of sessions required to achieve criterion found no significant differences…

Observation of four elementary grade learning disabled children about six months after a social skills training program found generalization of new skills by all subjects to new environments. Training included generalization training in the form of systematic attention by teachers and parents in the new environments. (Author/DB)

Interactional behavior of two groups (N=3 females per group) of elderly mentally retarded group home residents was measured in two generalization situations before, during, and after one group received social skills training. Among conclusions were that generalization to natural interactional situations may be delayed following training.…

A persistent problem in language skills programs for children is how to promote generalization so the child can use communication skills in almost any situation. Consideration of the manner in which stimuli are presented, the kinds of responses required, and the way reinforcement is dispensed may help to solve the difficulty in moving from…

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…

Twenty-four underassertive adults were randomly assigned to two treatment orders that included covert modeling and behavior rehearsal. No measurable difference in treatments was found, but participants preferred and had greater expectations of behavior rehearsal. Skill generalization to untrained situations occurred on 8 of 11 behavioral measures.…

Tactile cues were provided to a 19-year-old deaf, blind, and mentally retarded individual to guide her performance on packaging tasks. The tactile prompts effectively guided her on the training task and were also generalized to novel tasks and cues. Continued use of the cues was necessary to maintain performance. (Author/JDD)