Running Head: STRATEGIES FOR PROMOTING GENERALIZATION 1 [PDF]

literature review, three strategies defined by Stokes and Baer (1977) for promoting generalization - programming common

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Running Head: STRATEGIES FOR PROMOTING GENERALIZATION  

Strategies for Promoting Generalization: A Literature Review Alison J. Borden University of British Columbia

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Abstract When teaching new skills to any individual, it is important for the learner to be able to use the skills in the real world, beyond the setting and instructor in which learning occurred. This process is called generalization, and while it is a goal of most teaching programs, it is not always programmed for in the teaching process. In this literature review, there will be a discussion of ways to program for generalization through three strategies that Stokes and Baer (1977) categorized, and that Stokes and Osnes (1989) later re-categorized: programming common stimuli, training loosely and multiple exemplar training. The role of stimulus control in generalization, as well as studies that have intentionally programmed for generalization that had success in regards to social skills using the three strategies will be discussed. Goals for future research, particularly the area of applied research, will be provided. Keywords: generalization strategies, social skills, stimulus control, train loosely

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Strategies for Promoting Generalization: A Literature Review Introduction Generalization is a critical component of skill development and program planning when teaching new skills. In particular, generalization of social skills is critical for individuals to be able to manage social situations that occur multiple times per day in a variety of settings through their daily lives. According to Stokes & Baer (1977) generalization is “the occurrence of relevant behavior under different, non-training conditions (e.g., across subjects, settings, people, behaviors, and/or time) without the scheduling of the same events in those conditions” (p. 350). Generalization doesn’t typically occur unless it is specifically planned and programmed for, and thus the program of “train and hope” - training an individual in a skill and assessing but not planning for generalization – is not a strong solution. It is the teacher’s responsibility to actively ensure generalized outcomes. Generalization involves the transfer of stimulus control to a variety of people, places, times and stimuli. Stimulus control plays a key role in generalization of behaviour because stimuli that share similar physical characteristics with the controlling stimulus are likely to evoke the same behavior as the controlling stimulus. Generalization occurs when stimulus control is shared among all stimuli in a class, rather than one specific stimulus; unless stimulus control is transferred, only one specific stimuli (a time, a person, a place, a phrase) will evoke the behaviour, so it is critical that during teaching, the instructor integrates generalization training, and the transferring of stimulus control, rather than waiting until teaching is complete. In 1977, Stokes & Baer reviewed 270 studies on generalization and were able to categorize nine techniques for assessing and training generalization. The nine strategies were as follows:

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train and hope, sequential modification, introduce naturally maintaining contingencies, train sufficient exemplars, train loosely, use indiscriminable contingencies, program common stimuli, mediate generalization, and train to generalize. Many of these strategies are linked, and so 12 years later, Stokes & Osnes (1989) re-categorized the nine original strategies into three: exploit current functional contingencies, train diversely and incorporate functional mediators. In this literature review, three strategies defined by Stokes and Baer (1977) for promoting generalization - programming common stimuli, multiple exemplar training and training loosely – will be discussed, as well as the role that stimulus control plays in generalization, and guidelines for the promotion of generalization. Strategies for Promoting Generalization Exploiting Current Functional Contingencies When Stokes & Osnes (1989), re-categorized the original nine strategies for promoting generalization, programming common stimuli was renamed as exploiting current functional contingencies as it requires that in teaching the behaviour recruits and is in contact with natural consequences for the behaviour. Programming common stimuli involves including aspects of the generalization setting into the instructional setting (Stokes & Baer, 1977). This requires analysis of “relevant features” in the generalization setting. For example, when teaching social skills relevant features may include teaching in various common social settings, rather than in a secluded room; teaching may occur in a school, at the coffee shop, at the playground, and with various groups of people to interact with such as the learner’s peers, parents, cousins or community members. This strategy is effective in promoting generalization because it is transferring stimulus control to more than one aspect of the training (i.e. not just the instructor, room, or time). By allowing stimulus control to be transferred to a variety of stimuli that will

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likely be present in the natural environment, there is an increased probability of skill generalization during and after teaching. A study by Ducharme & Holborn (1997) involved the active implementation of sufficient stimulus exemplars and contacting natural consequences to successfully increase social interactions of preschool children. The study targeted three social behaviours – assisting, play organizing and sharing/cooperating – as they are key skills for preschool age students. In the second phase of treatment, generalization training was included by adding in new peers, new toys and new teachers to the training; these three sets of stimuli were varied randomly throughout the training, allowing stimulus control to be spread beyond one aspect of training (the specific persons involved in training) and to various individuals the learner would natural come in contact with. Results showed that with the addition of programming common stimuli and the use of natural contingencies to the treatment package (vs. treatment one with no generalization programming), there was a dramatic increase in the generalization of social skills for all five participants in the study. By exploiting current functional contingencies during training and intervention, there is an increased probability that generalization will occur. Train Diversely When Stokes & Osnes (1989) reviewed and then re-categorized the strategies that Stokes & Baer (1977) had labeled, they determined that both multiple exemplar training and train loosely “reflects the contribution of diversity in the exemplars of learning” and as such they fall under the same category: train diversely. Training diversely refers to the necessity for a variety of exemplars, instructions, instructors and settings to be used during training, to ensure stimulus control does not occur with only one specific set of stimuli. Multiple exemplar training. Multiple exemplar training involves teaching the learner to respond to a subset of all possible stimuli and responses (Stokes & Baer, 1977). In multiple

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exemplar training, an instructor must identify the full range of relevant stimuli that the person might encounter and select the most important stimuli from the universe that provide the best exemplars. For example, teaching a learner to response to various forms of greetings, rather than one standard greeting will increase the probability of them recognizing a greeting in a novel setting. Various greetings to be taught include “Hi,” “Hello,” “Howdy,” “Good morning,” and “Nice day, eh?”. They should also be taught non-examples such as “Watch out!,” “move please” and “see you later”. This strategy is effective for promoting generalization because teaching non-exemplars along side exemplars will sharpen stimulus control, by ensuring that the student can discriminate between stimuli that should and should not evoke the target behaviour. Over the past 20 years there have been a number of studies that have shown the effectiveness of multiple exemplar training. A study by Neef, Lensbower, Hockersmith, DePalma, & Gray (1990) involved the comparison of a single stimulus exemplar training program and a multiple exemplar training program for laundry skills, and showed that generalization was significantly better with sufficient examples of stimuli. By training the participants on five different laundry machines, rather than only one machine, participants were able to better generalize to two novel machines. A study by Hughes et al. (1995) showed the successful generalization of conversation interactions using peer-mediated multiple exemplar training. Hughes et al (1995) reviewed acquisition and generalization training of conversation skills – initiating and eye gaze duration – for three female high schools students. The conversation partners were varied, offering multiple exemplars; an average of 27 partners. A third study by Reeve, Reeve, Townsend & Poulson (2007) presented the effectiveness of multiple exemplar training when teaching helping behaviour to learners with autism. Through multiple exemplar training, the participants were

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able to generalize the helping behaviour to novel settings, instructors and stimuli/objects. Similar to Reeve et al. (2007), a study by Marzullo-Kerth, Reeve, Reeve, & Townsend (2011) implemented a multiple exemplar training strategy for teaching sharing skills for students with autism and results showed the successful generalization of sharing skills novel stimuli, peers and in novel settings. These four studies all demonstrate the importance of programming generalization and the effectiveness of using multiple exemplars in training to promote maintenance and generalization of skills post-training. By teaching with more than one stimuli in training, stimulus control is not specific to one individual, setting or stimuli, but rather it is spread to a variety of stimuli the learner may encounter in the natural environment. Train loosely. Similar to multiple exemplars training, train loosely means to have variety when teaching a new skill. The teacher should “randomly” vary noncritical aspects of the instructional setting within and across teaching sessions (Stokes & Baer, 1977) by making antecedents and consequences less discriminable (Stokes & Osnes, 1989). Training loosely is effective in promoting generalization because by including a large variety of noncritical stimuli during instruction, there is a strong likelihood that at least one stimuli from training will be present in novel, untrained settings (there will be better stimulus generalization). A study by Pierce & Schreibman (1997) involved training loosely. Their study was a replication of a previous study, and it was done to improve the generalization of social skills by varying the peer in training, rather than having only one peer, which was the case in the original study. The study by Pierce & Schreibman (1997) found that when varying the peers used in training, the participants’ social behavior generalized to a novel setting and novel training stimuli. By using multiple peers as trainers in the treatment phase and having those peers use

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different wording and not set scripts, all of the participants were able to generalize their maintaining conversation, initiating conversation and play skills to novel peers, as well as novel settings which did not occur in the original study. This study is important as it shows the effects that a slight alteration to an intervention plan – adding a generalization component – can have a large impact on the skills being taught, and their use by the learners posttreatment. Discussion The strategies that Stokes & Baer (1977) discussed, and that Stokes & Osnes (1989) categorized further have been shown to be effective for the promotion of generalization. The train and hope method, though still used at times, is not an effective strategy for promoting generalization and should be eliminated and replaced by one of the nine strategies that Stokes and Baer (1977) review. Although it may be viewed as an additional step for researchers and teachers to take on during intervention, without generalization the skills being taught are very limited in the functionality. Generalization is an important aspect of all programming, and needs to be actively planned for and assessed. Each of the studies discussed above offer ideas for ways to incorporate generalization planning within intervention programs, and the results that are produced when specific planning is done early on for generalization. Based on the studies presented in this paper, there are many viable ways to include generalization programs into various interventions. For example, the use of peers as trainers rather than being an instructor or recruiting other staff members to partake in training is a simple way to include multiple exemplars in training, as well as have the learner come in contact with natural contingences by programming common stimuli. For teachers this may be very relevant as they can enlist the student’s classmates to rotate taking turns being a “trainer” and working with the student on

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social skills such as play or aspects of conversation (initiating, maintaining etc). The concept of teaching loosely is a simple strategy to employ throughout the day, but can be important to specify; teachers and staff working with a learner can be more cognoscente of their variation in instructions, greetings and set up of activities. Randomly varying aspects of their interactions with a learner will increase the probability that they will be able to respond to future teacher’s instructions, greetings and activities. One of the most important aspects for planning for generalization is to not have a single set of stimuli when training; in the real world, learners will need to use the skills they have learned in a variety of novel situations, so providing multiple exemplars, non-exemplars, training loosely and programming common stimuli in training will greatly increase the probability of generalization. Future Research In the future research (applied or experimental) that is studying acquisition methodology should consider including generalization strategies from the onset of training. In order for skill acquisition to be successful, generalization (not just maintenance) must be demonstrated. It has been clearly demonstrated through many decades of research that the strategy of “train and hope” is not effective for generalization, and that it is not a suitable part of an intervention plan. Utilizing any of the three strategies mentioned in this review, or the additional six found in Stokes and Baer (1977) are essential for best practices in all skill acquisition programs. Conclusion Generalization should be actively measured in both applied and experimental research (Baer, Wolf & Risley (1968); Landrum & Lloyd (1992)) when it is relevant (i.e. not a new teaching procedure). Generalization is a well researched area, and has been shown to be a necessary aspect of skill acquisition, but more work needs to be done to ensure it is included in all

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intervention programming. Social skills development is a critical area for generalization to occur as social skills are used multiple times a day in multiple settings that can change every day. Research continues to show the effectiveness of the strategies originally categorized by Stokes & Baer (1977), and as more studies are published on the ways to include multiple exemplar training, training loosely and programming common stimuli, the more likely generalization programming using these three simple strategies will occur in every day settings by consultants and teachers.

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References Baer, D.M., Wolf, M.M., & Risley, T.R. (1968). Some current dimensions of applied behavior analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 91-97. Ducharme, D.E., & Holborn, S.W. (1997). Programming generalization of social skills in preschool children with hearing impairments. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 30, 639-651. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1997.30-639 Hughes, C., Harmer, M.L., Killian, D.J., & Niarhos, F. (1995). The effects of multiple exemplar self-instructional training on high school students’ generalized conversational interactions. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 28, 201-218. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1995.28-201 Landrum, T.J., & Lloyd, J.W. (1992). Generalization in social behavior research with children and youth who have emotional or behavioral disorders. Behavior Modification, 16, 593-616. Marzullo-Kerth, D., Reeve, S. A., Reeve, K. F., & Townsend, D. B. (2011). Using multiple-exemplar training to teach a generalized repertoire of sharing to children with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 44, 279–294. doi: 10.1901/jaba.2011.44279 Neef N.A., Lensbower J., Hockersmith I., DePalma V., & Gray K. (1990). In vivo versus simulation training: An interactional analysis of range and type of training exemplars. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 23, 447–458. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1990.23-447 Pierce, K., & Schreibman, L. (1997). Multiple peer use of pivotal response training to increase social behaviours of classmates with autism: results from trained and

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untrained peer. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 30, 157 - 160. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1997.30-157 Reeve, S. A., Reeve, K. F., Townsend, D. B., & Poulson, C. L. (2007). Establishing a generalized repertoire of helping behaviour in children with autism. Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis, 40, 123 – 136. doi: 10.1901/jaba.2007.11-05 Stokes T. F., & Baer D. M. (1977). An implicit technology of generalization. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10(2), 349–367. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1977.10-349 Stokes, T.F., & Osnes, P.G. (1989). An operant pursuit of generalization. Behavior Therapy, 20, 337-355.  

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