A demonstration of generalization of performance across settings, materials, and motor responses for students with profound mental retardation.
Multiple exemplar training delivered in community settings can help students with profound ID generalize adaptive living skills across settings and materials.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Four students with profound intellectual disability joined the study.
Staff taught them adaptive living skills like setting a table or folding clothes.
Lessons used multiple exemplar training. That means they practiced each skill with different plates, towels, and rooms.
Teaching happened in real places around town: the school kitchen, a laundromat, and a group home.
What they found
Every student got better on at least one skill set.
All four used the skills with new objects and in new places without extra teaching.
Two students still showed the skills four to five months later.
How this fits with other research
Vassos et al. (2023) and Sivaraman (2017) ran almost the same training with children with autism.
They also saw skills move to new toys and people, proving the method works across diagnoses.
McMillan et al. (1997) looked like they disagreed at first. Their preschoolers with hearing loss only generalized after teachers added extra steps.
The difference is setting. E et al. taught in one quiet room. Lowe et al. (1995) started in many real places, so generalization was baked in.
Why it matters
You can copy this on Monday. Pick one life skill your learner needs. Practice it with three kinds of items in three rooms right away. If you can, leave the building. The extra places act like built-in generalization programming. You may skip extra phases and still see the skill stick months later.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Pick one adaptive skill and practice it with three different objects in three different rooms today.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
A treatment package, consisting of multiple exemplar training and community-based instruction, was evaluated for its effectiveness in teaching four students with profound mental retardation and multiple disabilities to participate in two sets of community-living tasks. All training took place in community settings, and each student demonstrated improved performance on at least one task set. In addition, all students demonstrated improved performance on a series of tasks selected to assess generalization of performance across settings, materials, and/or motoric responses required to complete the target task. Maintenance of performance over a 4- to 5-month period was assessed and achieved for two of the students. The results of this investigation are discussed in terms of the implications for programming for students with profound mental retardation.
Behavior modification, 1995 · doi:10.1177/01454455950191007