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| Generalization and Maintenance of Training Effects |
| Tuesday, June 1, 2004 |
| 10:30 AM–11:20 AM |
| Beacon A |
| Area: TBA |
| Chair: Jan S. Weiner (California State University, Fullerton) |
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| Generalization and Maintenance of Positive Behavior Support: Training Effects After Graduation |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| JAN S. WEINER (California State University, Fullerton), Doreen J. Ferko (California State University, Fullerton) |
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| Abstract: The necessity for outcome data from graduates of professional personnel preparation programs is required to determine the efficacy of training. This session will present outcome pilot data collected on 4 teacher/masters candidates one to three years after completing a course in Positive Behavior Support grounded in Applied Behavior Analysis at California State University, Fullerton. The course focuses on preparation of personnel in the field of special education with emphasis on mild to severe disabilities as well as early childhood. The class objectives include basic concepts of applied behavior analysis and the application of those concepts in the public school setting. Preliminary data suggest that candidates who successfully completed the class (SPED 522, indicated by a grade of B or better) were able to generalize and maintain course content during their first years of employment as a teacher. Candidates were asked to collect frequency data on the application of course objectives such as antecedent modifications, use of shaping and fading to generate behavior, use of functional communication training in developing functional equivalents, etc. Candidates were also given a survey reflecting their application of the course material before taking the course and after completing the course. |
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| A Systematic Approach to Generalization: Training and Data Collection |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| MARIELA VARGAS-IRWIN (Children's Evaluation Center) |
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| Abstract: Over thirty tears of research in the application of behavioral principles to the education of individuals with developmental disabilities have produced a technology that guides the design of programs to help students acquire important language, social, and adaptive skills. Despite our success in teaching children with autism in tight stimulus control conditions, a comparable technology to generalize skills to the natural environment is yet to be developed. The present case study proposes a systematic, data-based approach to generalization that examines the transfer of stimulus control of language and social skills from discrete trial training to the natural environment. The subject, a 7-year old student with autism, has participated in intensive instruction based on the principles of applied behavior analysis since she was three years old. Despite having acquired important social, language, and adaptive skills, inclusion in a regular education classroom is hindered by limited generalization of skills acquired through discrete trial training to natural environments. A detailed training protocol for behavioral tutors, parents, paraprofessionals, and non-ABA trained specialists (speech pathologists, teachers, and occupational therapists) is presented, along with a model generalization data collection system. Finally, a comparison between generalization/maintenance data collected before and after the training is presented. |
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