Acquisition and generalization of teaching techniques. A study with parents of toddlers.
Parents of toddlers can master four teaching tricks—target choice, graduated guidance, consequences, and data—and kids usually start answering correctly more often.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers taught four skills to parents of toddlers with developmental delay.
The skills were: pick the right target, use graduated guidance, give good consequences, and take data.
A multiple-baseline design showed when each parent started using the skills.
What they found
Every parent learned all four skills and used them at home.
Five of nine toddlers began giving more correct answers during teaching.
Parents kept using the skills even after the study ended.
How this fits with other research
Sobsey et al. (1983) warned that most parent-training studies forget to check if skills last. This 1986 paper answered by showing skills did last.
Silverman et al. (1994) later repeated the data-collection part and also got perfect parent accuracy, giving extra proof that parents can record like pros.
Burgio et al. (1986) ran at the same time and found written instructions alone worked too. The two 1986 studies together tell us parents can learn by direct coaching or by clear homework sheets.
Why it matters
You can run a short four-step parent class and trust parents to keep teaching at home. Start with one skill, add the rest after parents hit mastery, and keep measuring child correct responses. The whole package fits into regular clinic visits.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The present investigation was designed to examine the effects of training parents on the use of four teaching techniques: choosing target behaviors to teach, using an antecedent system of graduated guidance, using consequences, and data collection. Nine parents of toddler-aged children, at-risk for developmental delay, were taught on the use of the techniques. The acquisition of the techniques was measured and displayed via a multiple-baseline design within each parent. Only one of the parents demonstrated independent baselines for the acquisition of each teaching technique, suggesting a degree of generalization and the cumulative effects of the teaching techniques within the other eight parents. The acquisition of the teaching techniques had functional effects on the correct responding of five of the nine children during teaching sessions with the parents. All of the parents in this investigation did demonstrate the ability to generalize the teaching techniques across a range of child behaviors.
Behavior modification, 1986 · doi:10.1177/01454455860104002