Generalization and maintenance of treatment gains of behaviorally handicapped students from resource rooms to regular classrooms using self-evaluation procedures.

McGee et al. (1983) taught six students with behavior challenges to rate their own behavior in a small resource room. The kids practiced self-evaluation daily, then the researchers tracked if the good behavior moved with them into their regular classrooms.

Four of the six students kept high levels of appropriate behavior in gen-ed after the switch. Two kids needed a tweaked version of the plan to stay on track. The study shows most kids can carry self-management skills across settings with little extra help.

Herrnstein et al. (1979) did something similar four years earlier. They first taught self-monitoring in a quiet lab, then saw the gains hold in class for up to a year. Their early work set the stage for the 1983 classroom-first approach.

Einfeld et al. (1995) built on both studies. They added small token rewards to self-evaluation and got even bigger boosts in social behavior. The pattern shows each team refined the last step: start in lab, move to resource room, then add rewards.

Sulu et al. (2023) recently repeated the logic with Turkish kids who have ADHD. Self-monitoring alone still worked in inclusive classrooms, proving the core idea travels across cultures and diagnoses.

You can teach self-evaluation in your small-group table and expect most kids to keep the skills at their desks. Start with simple daily rating sheets. If a student slips, add brief adult checks or tiny rewards like the 1995 team did. The forty-year chain of studies says self-management is a cheap, portable tool that keeps working.