Training generalized receptive prepositions in retarded children.
Teach one preposition exemplar with prompts and praise and watch the child follow brand-new requests right away.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three children with intellectual disability learned to follow preposition requests like "put the car in the box."
The trainer used prompts and praise. They started with one example of each preposition. Then they tested if the kids could follow new, untrained requests with the same word.
What they found
After mastering the first item, every child started getting brand-new requests right. The generalization showed up inside the same group (in, on, under) and across groups.
No extra teaching was needed. Prompts and reinforcement alone made the skill spread.
How this fits with other research
Waite et al. (1972) came first. They taught autistic children to say prepositions, not to follow them. They also warned to begin with clear objects (bowl for "in") so the word sticks. Tracey et al. (1974) later showed that once the word sticks receptively, kids generalize without more drills.
Leaf et al. (2018) repeated the same magic four decades later. Preschoolers with ASD learned receptive labels and still generalized. The 1974 paper planted the seed; the 2018 paper proved the seed still grows in modern DTT.
Feinstein et al. (1988) used a lab task but told the same story. After a few trained links, adults picked the right picture without further teaching. Stimulus classes form in kids and grown-ups alike.
Why it matters
You do not need endless trials on every toy and cup. Train one solid exemplar with clear prompts and strong praise, then probe. If the learner gets new "in" requests right, you saved hours of drill time. Move on to the next concept and let generalization work for you.
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Join Free →Pick one clear item for "on," teach it with prompts and praise, then immediately test five untrained "on" arrangements before adding more exemplars.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
THREE RETARDED CHILDREN WERE TRAINED, USING PROMPTING AND REINFORCEMENT PROCEDURES, TO RESPOND CORRECTLY TO THREE CATEGORIES OF PREPOSITIONAL REQUESTS: "put the-next to the-", "put the-under the-", and "put the-on top of the-". Training sessions were alternated with probe sessions throughout the study. During training, a child was trained to respond to one request (e.g., "put the doll next to the cup"); during probing, the child was tested for generalization of this training to untrained requests. Responses to untrained requests were never prompted nor reinforced. The results showed that, as requests from one category were trained, the children's responses to the untrained requests of that category became increasingly correct. As discriminations among two or more categories were trained, the children's responses to the untrained requests of those categories also became increasingly correct. Thus, the methods employed appear to be successful in training generalized receptive discrimination among prepositional categories and possibly can be utilized in training other generalized receptive language skills.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1974 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1974.7-611