GENERALIZATION OF STUDENT QUESTION ASKING FROM SPECIAL CLASS TO REGULAR CLASS SETTINGS

This study investigated the use of videotaped exemplars taken from a regular education mathematics class to teach generalization of question asking. Three mildly handicapped fourth-grade students who asked few questions in the regular education class served as subjects. Measures of the frequency of question asking and percentage of accuracy on assignments were obtained in the regular class. Treatment included showing the videotapes to the subjects, structuring opportunities for rehearsing question asking, and providing feedback. The results showed training procedures implemented in the learning resource room were effective in increasing the level of participants' question asking and in improving their scores on assignments in the regular mathematics class.     

OVERVIEW OF SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT

This article traces the emergence of supported employment as a result of philosophical changes in expectations for persons with disabilities, based on scientific developments that challenged traditional service-delivery models. Supported employment program characteristics also are reviewed, and the influence of applied behavior analysis is outlined. Finally, areas for future research in supported employment are discussed.     

TEACHING BETWEEN-CLASS generalization OF TOY PLAY BEHAVIOR TO HANDICAPPED CHILDREN

In this study, young children with severe and moderate handicaps were taught to generalize play responses. A multiple baseline across responses design, replicated with four children, was used to assessthe effects of generalization training within four sets of toys on generalization to untrained toys from four other sets. The responses taught were unique for each set of toys. Acrossthe four participants, training to generalize within-toy sets resulted in complete between-class generalization in 11 sets, partial generalization in 3 sets, and no generalization in 2 sets. No generalization occurred to another class of toys that differed fromthe previous sets in that they produced a reaction tothe play movement (e.g., pianos). Implications for conducting research using strategies based on class interrelationships in training contexts are discussed.     

THE GENERALITY AND SOCIAL VALIDITY OF A COMPETENCY-BASED SELF-CONTROL TRAINING INTERVENTION FOR UNDERACHIEVING STUDENTS

We evaluated the effectiveness, generality, and social validity of a modified version of a competency-based self-control package developed by Stevenson and Fantuzzo (1984). Three underachieving fifth-grade students were trained to use this intervention to increase their arithmetic proficiency. Results indicated that the intervention produced improved arithmetic performance. Moreover, all possible classes of generalization were evidenced for the participants. Social validity data showed that the children's arithmetic performance either surpassed or approached the mean performance of their higher achieving classmates. Additionally, teachers reported that the intervention was effective, appropriate for classroom use, and easy to implement.     

Saying and doing: A commentary on a contingency-space analysis

This article addresses the contingency-space analysis (Matthews, Shimoff, & Catania, 1987) of the verbal regulation of behavior. From an applied perspective, the conceptualization of the relationship between saying and doing Matthews et al. present may be more complex than is necessary. The central issue in correspondence investigations is a simple one: does correspondence between what people say and what they do occur? The focus of this paper is on the applied and clinical importance of the relationship between verbalizations and relevant behavior and the implications for future research.     

TEACHING SOCIAL/VOCATIONAL SKILLS TO RETARDED ADULTS WITH A MODIFIED TABLE GAME: AN ANALYSIS OF GENERALIZATION

In this study, a social skills training program for institutionalized mildly or moderately retarded adults was extended to include skills relevant to vocational settings. Target behaviors involving a verbal action or reaction within six skill areas were taught using a commercially available board game, Sorry, and a specially designed card deck. The training program featured response specific feedback, self-monitoring, individualized reinforcers, and individualized performance criterion levels. Using a multiple baseline across two groups (n = 3 per group), the game contingencies increased social/vocational skills in all targeted areas. Generalization was assessed in two settings: a simulated workshop in which pre and post measures were taken and in the institutional workshop where the residents worked. The posttraining simulated workshop results revealed that the residents' newly learned skills had generalized. However, repeated generalization measures of the residents' social interactions in the institutional workshop were equivocal as were measures of their productivity.     

ESTABLISHING GENERATIVE YES/NO RESPONSES IN DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED CHILDREN

We evaluated the effects of two procedures for teaching four developmentally disabled children to respond yes/no appropriately. During baseline, tutoring was conducted in which five known items were individually presented with the question, “Is this a_____?”, followed either by access to requested items or by remedial prompting contingent on responding. When tutoring did not improve performance, instruction was embedded in the regular classroom activities. In this condition, items requested by students were either presented or withheld on the basis of their response to the question, “Do you want ______?”. Increases in correa responding were confirmed by a multiple-baseline design across all four students and were maintained with the introduction of new items. However, generalization to “Is this a_____?” questions did not occur in the tutoring setting until specifically programmed. Subsequently, students also demonstrated appropriate yes/no responding to questions involving actions, possession, and spatial relations.     

Accuracy versus speed in the generalized effort of learning-disabled children

Reinforcement of effortful performance in a given academic task has been found to increase the subsequent performance of other academic tasks. The learned-effort hypothesis assumes that individuals learn which dimensions of task performance are correlated with reinforcement of high effort, and generalize across tasks. Therefore, reinforcement of increased effort in a given dimension of one task should result in greater generalized effort in the same dimension of transfer performance than in another dimension. In accord with this view, preadolescent learning-disabled students who received points for high reading accuracy subsequently produced more accurate drawings and stories than did students whose points had been based upon high reading speed or upon mere completion of the reading task. Students who received points for high reading speed subsequently constructed stories more quickly than did children whose points had been based upon high reading accuracy or upon reading-task completion. Consistent with the more explicit and frequent feedback for accuracy than for speed in most academic tasks, generalized accuracy was much more durable than generalized speed.     

The pigeon's perception of saturation.

Three experiments used similar methods to investigate the pigeon's perception of saturation of monochromatic lights. This trial-wise procedure consisted of brief presentations of positive and negative stimuli in random sequence. Pecks to the positive stimuli were occasionally reinforced on a low fixed-ratio schedule. The first study determined absolute thresholds for "white" and monochromatic lights by establishing a discrimination between lights of various radiances and a dark key. Experiment II investigated generalization from a white light to various monochromatic lights under conditions that minimized the use of luminance as a cue. The third experiment examined discrimination of various monochromatic lights along a colorimetric purity continuum; responses to white light were reinforced, while responses to lights that combined white and monochromatic lights in various proportions were not. The results indicated that lights of different wavelength differ in saturation, but that all are discriminable from white. Wavelengths between 550 and 600 nm are least saturated for the pigeon, and saturation increases markedly as wavelength decreases below this region of the spectrum.