Maintenance and Generalization

1
Maintenance and Generalization

• Making sure systematic instruction in life skills
  for students significant intellectual and or
  multiple disabilities sticks around for life.

2
Agenda

• Finish Data Activity
• Maintenance
• Dimensions of generalization and how to achieve
  it
• Deep Understanding of Reading
• Strategies for Generalization
• General case activity
• The LSI Model

3
Learning Objectives

• 1. Understand the concept of and be able to write
  a plan for assessing maintenance
• 2. Understand the dimensions of generalization
• 3. Understand how to teach generalization and why
  we need to.
• 4. Understand the general case model
• 5. Understand how to write a plan the
  incorporates generalization instruction

4
Maintenance

• Maintaining skills post initial instruction
• Maintaining skills post generalized instruction
• Criteria and success need to be defined for both

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Example LSI 1 Maintenance

• Once Hedda has accomplished her initial goal of
  using her communication system in the classroom,
  and reached mastery, she will monitored for
  maintenance. This will be done. using a
  maintenance probe of the data sheet I used for
  the initial acquisition of the skill. I will her
  every two weeks for 6 weeks. If on any of the
  probes she falls below criteria, re-teaching to
  the part of task she failed to maintain will
  occur. Since Hedda has history of loosing
  skills after break. One probe after each break
  during the school year will occur. With
  re-teaching as needed to support skill
  maintenance. The same procedure will be followed
  in teaching for generalization for each
  generalized setting (or context as it applies-
  you should be specific to your lesson- if it
  generalizing across people, then you should
  explain that, or if it was materials then say so
  etc.).

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Teaching for Generalization

• No one learns a generalized lesson unless a
  generalized lesson is taught (p.1-2 Baer, 1981)

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Dimensions of Generalization

• Across people
• Settings
• Times
• Objects/Materials/Technology
• Spontaneous Need

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Achieving Generalization What a Concept!

• Meaningful skills
• Positive Behavior Support
• Naturalistic Reinforces
• Multiple stimuli
• Multiple responses
• Use reinforces in naturalistic way and fade
  schedules- specific reinforces
• Use common stimuli
• Repeat skill in many different situations

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Deep Understanding of Wacker et al 1985

• Group A- What conclusions can you draw from
  Alice?
• Group B- What conclusion can you draw from Jason?
• Group C- What conclusion can you draw from Denny?
• Group D- What final conclusion did the
  researchers make and why?
• Group E- Explain some ideas that you think might
  be useful in assessing Maintenance
  Generalization? What procedures would be good to
  follow?

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Strategies for Supporting Generalization

• Typical Peers
• Self-Instruction
• Video instruction
• General Case
• Define instructional Universe
• Define the range of stimuli and responses
• Select examples for teaching and probes

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In your Book (p.207) is an example of the General
Case

• Pick a life skill to teach for generalization
  based on a student from someone's practicum site.
  Identify the domain and target skill area.
• For the student you identified your skill for
  teaching generalization, now complete an activity
  analysis of the different issues with
  generalization.
• Write an explanation of how you plan for
  generalized instruction based on that analysis
• Instructional universe
• examples of where you are going to teach
• range of possible responses and stimuli and how
  you are going to teach them
• how you would assess
• potential problems in the environment and what
  you plan to do about them,
• how teaching would occur

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What to Write for My LSI Generalization

• Define the Instructional universe
• Specify where you are going to teach
• Range of possible responses and stimuli and how
  you are going to teach them
• How you would assess
• Potential problems in the environment and what
  you plan to do about them
• How teaching would occur

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Generalization Example Sandwich Making

• 1. Instructional Universe- Steven needs to
  perform Make a sandwich both at home for a snack,
  on a picnic, and for at a work site.
• 2. Examples of different stimuli- there is a
  picnic, basket, and different knifes in each of
  the environments. Steve also has to make one as a
  snack when he his hungry, so awareness of that
  internal stimuli is important, and on the picnic
  he has to be sensitive to his friends needs and
  make sandwiches when they ask him. In different
  contexts he has different choices to make in
  terms of the kind of sandwich. At work he
  typically likes PBJ, so his choices are limited
  when he makes his sandwich during lunch (he
  prefers to make it fresh rather than pre-make
  it.) On the picnic he has several choices that
  include the availability of PBJ, mustard
  mayonnaise with 3 types of conducts and lettuce
  and tomatoes. At home he has the most choice, PBJ
  ingredients, a multitude of vegetables, 5
  condiments, and 6 cold cuts, two types of bread.
• 3. Examples of different responses while the
  actual making the sandwich is the same, when on a
  picnic with his friends Steve has to make the
  sandwich, and interact with people. He also has
  to cut with more pressure because he has a
  plastic knife. He need to ask people if the want
  only what kind of sandwich they want, and make
  choices about what belongs together, or if they
  would like less or more of a given condiment. He
  need to respond to them politely when a request
  is made. At home he needs to pick the correct
  type condiment and cold cut and apply it on the
  sandwich correctly.

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Generalization Example Sandwich Making

• 4. Where and with who Initial skill development
  will be in the school classroom. Generalization
  will be taught in each of the three environments.
  Staff will accompany him on CBI and vocational
  outings to support the skills. At home his
  parents and siblings will provide support. He
  will interact with general education peers on
  these outings twice per month.
• 5. Assessment- An initial baseline in
  generalization will be monitored. During baseline
  least to most prompting procedures will be used.
  The objective must be met at home, picnic, and at
  the work site outings before the objective is
  considered generalized for 3 consecutive data
  points in each setting. The data sheet will
  include natural cues and responses relevant to
  home, picnic, CBI (e.g., type of jelly jar used
  at home, and different requests from peers on,
  vocational site, and at picnics). At home a
  simplified data sheet will be used to make it
  family friendly.

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Generalization Sandwich Making

• 6. Potential Problems and addressing those
  problems I anticipate that Steve will have the
  most difficulty with responding to the different
  requests of multiple peers. Some practice with
  responding to peers will take place in the
  classroom. However, the bulk of the instruction
  will take place in the natural settings. A visual
  organizer of what various responses Steve needs
  to will be sued in the natural setting (e.g.,
  light on the mustard- there will be a reminder
  visual cue that represents less mustard on the
  sandwich.)
• 7. How to teach I would teach my student though
  use of modeling in the environment and a least
  to most prompting system. I would first
  incorporate video modeling of each of the
  situations. Videos would provide several example
  of different stimuli and response choices as
  described. I would use a visual task organizer to
  organize the steps with specific responses. I
  would also use peer modeling in the generalized
  environment to provide additional support in each
  of the settings.