Vocabulary (Facilitating Maintenance & Generalization; Chapter 10) Flashcards
Maintenance
Performance of the skill over time.
This means after you taught the skill and the student meets their behavioral objective that they can continue to perform the skill without a drop in accuracy.
Maintenance can also refer to maintaining what was learned over smaller periods of time. For example, maintaining what was learned prior to winter break on the return back to school.
Generalization
Performance of the skill in new conditions not previously taught.
This means the student is able to perform the skill in new settings, with different people present, at different times, with different materials, etc. that you did not previously teach. Like maintenance, generalization is a very important outcome for students.
Facilitating Maintenance
As teachers we must identify ways to help our students maintain skills. Facilitating maintenance refers to what we will do to help our students maintain skills.
Facilitating Maintenance Strategy: Skill Relevance
Make sure the skill is relevant to the learner, including that there are regular opportunities for the student to perform the skill in their daily lives.
Facilitating Maintenance Strategy: Overlearning
Overlearning is continuing to teach the skill for a set period after they initially meet performance criterion. This can be specified in the objective performance criterion (e.g., without errors for 5 consecutive opportunities).
Facilitating Maintenance Strategy: Natural Reinforcement & Schedules of Reinforcement
Pairing teacher delivered reinforcement with the natural reinforcement will help your student become intrinsically motivated to do the skill. This in turn will help them maintain the skill. Using a schedule of reinforcement such as a fixed ratio of 4 (only reinforcing very fourth independent response) will help the learner make the connection to natural reinforcement.
Probes
Probes are an assessment strategy. After your student meets their behavioral objective you should conduct periodic probes to ensure they are maintaining the skill. If the probe data shows a drop in performance, additional instruction should be provided.
Note: A probe can also be conducted during instruction to get a more true assessment of the students progress.
Facilitating Generalization
As teachers we must identify ways to help our students generalize skills. Facilitating generalization refers to what we will do to help our students maintain skills.
Stimulus and Stimuli
Stimulus is singular and stimuli is plural. A stimulus is the antecedent in the three term contingency: antecedent, behavior consequence. This is also referred to as the discriminative stimulus or SD for short.
In short, the stimulus signals reinforcement is available for a correct response. Through a history of consequences students learn what is the correct response.
Stimulus Class
This is a group of stimuli for which the correct response (i.e., the behavior) is the same. For example, regardless of what ring tone you use on your phone, the behavior of answering the phone when it rings is the same.
If you do the behavior correctly regardless of what ring tone you set, this is an example of stimulus class generalization.
Stimulus Class Generalization
Stimulus generalization is when your student can give the correct response (i.e., behavior) to a stimulus class.
Response Class
This is a group of responses that look different but serve the same purpose. For example, waving hello or saying “hi,” “hey,” etc. all serve the same purpose of a greeting.
Response Class Generalization
Response class generalization is when your student gives a correct response to an antecedent stimulus. The response (behavior) varies in the way it looks but is still correct.
What are some important conditions we should look at to assess and facilitate generalization?
- Individuals
- Materials
- Settings
- Times of Day
- Activities
Multiple Examplar Approach
Carefully select instructional materials to include different examples of materials that the student will commonly encounter.
Consecutive Model of Instruction
In this approach to facilitating generalization through the multiple examplar approach, you first teach the learner to do the skill with one example material. Once they have learned this skill you add in a new example material, first assessing if they can generalize. If not you proceed to teach again.
For example: You taught your student to use Google Chrome to search for information on their favorite sports team (leisure skill). You taught them using the computer in the classroom. After they learned this, you assess and see if they can do this skill in the public library. If they do not generalize you provide instruction in the public library
Concurrent Model of Instruction
n this approach to facilitating generalization through the multiple examplar approach, you simultaneously teach with multiple examples. For example if teaching a learner to use the microwave, you may teach them to heat up a variety of preferred food or drink items (e.g., hot pocket, cup of mac n cheese, hot cocoa).
This is the preferred method.
General Case Programming
This strategy for promoting generalization is to assess all the potential conditions for a given skill. For example if teaching crossing the street, there are many different types of crosswalk formats. You then select from all the potential crosswalk formats, a set number that represent the range of crosswalks that your student will encounter in their daily life and teach tese.
Simulation
Simulation is a strategy that can have serious limitations for generalization. Simulated conditions (e.g., role playing paying for a purchase in the classroom) should include any natural stimuli possible (e.g., real money) and should be followed up by in-vivo (real life) practice under the natural conditions. Simulation can help to supplement community-based instruction, but it should not be used without real opportunities to do the skill under the natural conditions.
