Strategies to Promote Maintenance and Generalization of Skills for Children with Autism

Transcription

1 Strategies to Promote Maintenance and Generalization of Skills for Children with Autism Sarah E. Pinkelman, M.S., BCBA University of Oregon

2 OBJECTIVES Understand the importance of programming for maintenance and generalization Define maintenance Describe strategies to promote maintenance Fading prompts Thinning reinforcement schedule Naturally occurring reinforcers Additional considerations Define generalization Describe strategies to promote generalization Recommendations from Stokes & Baer (1977) General case programming

3 Some content of this presentation was adapted from chapter 8 in: Barton, E. E. & Harn, B. (2012). Educating young children with autism spectrum disorders. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

4 THE LEARNING CONTEXT Goal of instruction is to produce behavior change outside the training context Over time Across persons, settings, stimuli, etc. Spread to related behaviors (Stokes & Baer, 1977) Once a child learns a skill, it is important they Maintain the skill over time (maintenance) Perform the skill in different contexts (generalization)

5 CHILDREN WITH AUTISM Maintenance & generalization often occur without explicit training for typically developing children Young children with autism Have a propensity for repetitive behaviors, predictability, & routine Often have difficulty maintaining skills & generalizing to new contexts (National Autism Center, 2009) Generalization & maintenance should be an essential aspect of the curriculum for children with autism (Dawson & Osterling, 1997; National Research Council, 2001)

6 MAINTENANCE The child can perform a response over time, even after systematic applied behavior procedures have been withdrawn (Alberto & Troutman, 2013, p. 405) Cannot be assumed Particularly true for children with autism, who often display deficits in maintaining previously acquired skills (Harris & Weiss, 2007)

7 STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE MAINTENANCE: FADING PROMPTS Prompting is commonly used to teach children with developmental disabilities 3 main prompting methods physical, visual, and verbal A continuum of support Prompts must be systematically faded as efficiently as possible Temporary teaching tool, not end result Prompt dependency When a child becomes dependent on the prompt for correct responding (Maurice, Green, & Luce, 1997) Not uncommon for children with autism When stimulus control from the prompt to the naturally occurring cue does not occur

8 FADING PROMPTS, CONT D Most-to-least prompting Begin with a more supportive/intrusive prompt, and fade to a less supportive one Fade in a gradual & systematic manner E.g., full physical è partial physical è gestural è verbal Least-to-most prompting Begin with less supportive prompt & increase support as needed E.g., verbal è gestural è physical One child responds correctly with prompt, fade support over time (begin mostto-least) Disadvantage: high number of errors

9 FADING PROMPTS, CONT D Stimulus shaping (LeBlanc & Etzel, 1979) Extra-stimulus & within-stimulus prompting (Schreibman, 1975) Extra-stimulus An additional cue is presented Child attends to 2 stimuli: prompt & training stimulus Fading procedure: most-to-least Within-stimulus exaggeration of the relevant component of the training stimulus (p. 91) Child attends to 1 stimulus: the training stimulus Fading procedure: gradually fade exaggerated feature

10 FADING PROMPTS: EXAMPLES Least-to-most prompting TBD Extra-stimulus prompting TBD Within-stimulus prompting TBD

11 SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT Positive reinforcement (S R+ ): presentation of a stimulus after a response that increases the future probability of that response Continuous schedule of reinforcement (CRF) Every response is reinforced Useful when: Teaching a new skill A behavior occurs at low frequency Limitations: Increases likelihood of satiation Does not promote maintenance

12 SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT, CONT D Ratio Schedule Reinforcer delivered after a certain number of responses Fixed: After a specific number of responses (FR) Variable: After an average number of responses (VR) Interval Schedule Reinforcer contingent on the first response after a certain amount of time as passed Fixed: First response after a specific number of minutes (or seconds, etc.) have passed (FI) Variable: First response after an average number of minutes (or seconds, etc.) have passed (VI)

13 SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT, CONT D Time Response Fixed Fixed interval Fixed ratio Variable Variable interval Variable ratio

14 SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT: EXAMPLES 1. Students get 1 point for each correct math problem. 2. Students get to go to recess after a correct group response at the end of a 90 min. period. 3. A student receives verbal praise about every 5 responses (range 2-7). 4. A student receives peer attention for talking out about every 5 min (range 3-8 min). 5. Sally receives money about every 35th time she pulls a lever on a slot machine (range 1-50). Horner, 2011

15 STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE MAINTENANCE: THINNING S R+ SCHEDULE When teaching a new skill, it is often necessary to initially reinforce behavior more frequently that what would be typical in the natural environment In teaching situations, a CRF may be used But in the natural environment, a VR schedule may be in place Need to bridge the gap between teaching situation & natural environment Dense (teaching situation) Thin (natural environment) Otherwise, EXT will occur when the behavior is emitted in natural environment Extinction (EXT): when a previously reinforced behavior is no longer reinforced & subsequently, the occurrence of that behavior decreases Pinkelman & Barton (2012)

16 THINNING S R+ SCHEDULE, CONT D Thinning schedule of S R+ S R+ gradually becomes available less often (Alberto & Troutman, 2013) S R+ contingent on greater amounts of responding S R+ must be gradually & systematically thinned E.g., CRF è VR 2 è VR 4

17 TBD THINNING S R+ SCHEDULE: EXAMPLES

18 STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE MAINTENANCE: NATURALLY OCCURRING REINFORCERS It is sometimes necessary to initially use reinforcers that don t occur in the natural environment Once the child acquires the skill, reinforcers should be introduced that will maintain the behavior in the natural environment Extrinsic reinforcers fulfill two objectives: To initially teach the skill Condition natural consequences as reinforcers (Horcones, 1992)

19 TBD NATURALLY OCCURRING REINFORCERS: EXAMPLES

20 STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE MAINTENANCE: OTHER CONSIDERATIONS Frequency of skill How often does the student have the opportunity to perform the skill? Naturally occurring cues Cue in teaching situation should resemble cue in natural context Maintenance checks Build into part of child s program Probe performance every 2 days, week, 2 weeks, etc. Pinkelman & Barton (2012)

21 GENERALIZATION Stimulus generalization Train a response under 1 set of stimuli The response occurs in the presence of different (but similar) stimuli Response generalization Train a response under 1 set of stimuli In the presence of the training stimuli, if the trained response is no longer reinforced, the student engages in a new response Common description of generalization When a skill it is taught under one set of conditions and the child is able to apply the same skill with different people, in a new place, and using other materials (Anderson, Jablonski, Thomeer, & Knapp, 2007) Is this stimulus or response generalization?

22 EXAMPLES Stimulus generalization TBD Response generalization TBD

23 PROGRAMMING FOR GENERALIZED OUTCOMES Generalization cannot be assumed Children with autism have difficulty generalizing newly learned skills to settings that differ from training conditions (Maurice, Green, & Luce, 1996) Stokes and Baer (1977) Train and hope versus explicitly programming for generalization Sequential modification Naturally maintaining contingencies Train sufficient exemplars Train loosely Use indiscriminable contingencies Program common stimuli Mediate generalization Train to generalize General case programming (Horner, McDonnell, & Bellamy, 1986)

24 SEQUENTIAL MODIFICATION Teach under conditions in which generalization is desired Training settings are generalization settings Teach in the natural environment E.g., teaching hand-washing

25 NATURALLY OCCURRING CONTINGENCIES Use reinforcers that occur in the natural environment In natural settings, what reinforcer is contingent on the behavior? Perhaps the most dependable of all generalization programming mechanisms (Stokes & Baer, 1977, p. 353) Previously mentioned in programming for maintenance Increases likelihood the skill will generalize to other settings, where that reinforcer is available

26 MULTIPLE EXEMPLARS Provide multiple examples of the concept you are teaching Without an adequate array of examples The child may stipulate on irrelevant features of the training stimuli Concept will not generalize to other stimuli E.g., teaching the color red

27 PROGRAM COMMON STIMULI Arrange the training setting to resemble natural environment Increases likelihood of generalization from training to natural setting E.g., teaching hand-washing

28 MEDIATE GENERALIZATION Student provides report of their attempts to generalize Might need to teach students how to accurately self-monitor and report on their behavior Reinforcement contingent on student reporting that they engaged in the generalized response E.g., teaching a student to join in a conversation with a group of peers

29 TRAIN TO GENERALIZE When a generalized response occurs throughout the school day, reinforce it! Especially when unprompted, or not instructed to do so Reinforcement contingent on generalized response Only generalized response E.g., Teaching play Teaching requests for attention

30 PROMOTING GENERALIZATION: GENERAL CASE PROGRAMMING Teach behaviors that (Horner, McDonnell, & Bellamy, 1986) 1. Are performed across the full range of appropriate stimulus conditions encountered by the student (p. 290) 2. Are not performed in conditions when the behavior is inappropriate 3. Endure over time Stimulus condition: everything a student is exposed to at a given point in time (e.g., objects, sounds, colors, movements, etc.) Instructional universe (Becker, Engelman, & Thomas, 1975) Select and sequence teaching examples so students learn to perform skill across all appropriate stimulus conditions

31 GENERAL CASE PROGRAMMING: 5 STEPS 1. Define instructional universe 2. Select teaching and test examples 3. Sequence teaching examples 4. Teach 5. Test (Horner, McDonnell, & Bellamy, 1986)

32 1: DEFINE INSTRUCTIONAL UNIVERSE 1. Define instructional universe Operationally define stimulus conditions where the skill needs to be performed Will vary depending on skill, student, & environment Capture the range of variation of stimulus conditions (Horner, McDonnell, & Bellamy, 1986)

33 2: SELECT TEACHING & TEST EXAMPLES 2. Select teaching and test examples Select set of examples that sample the range of variation in stimulus conditions Define stimulus that should occasion response Examine how that stimulus changes across different stimulus conditions Criteria for example selection: 1. Positive examples are similar only with respect to relevant stimuli. Irrelevant stimuli should be as different as possible. 2. Positive examples sample the range of stimulus variation in which the learner is expected to respond. 3. Negative examples should include those that are maximally similar to the positive examples (Horner, McDonnell, & Bellamy, 1986)

34 3: SEQUENCE TEACHING EXAMPLES 3. Sequence teaching examples Use multiple examples within a teaching session. Don t train easy-to-hard. Student will likely learn generalization errors. Within a teaching set: 60% easy, 20% intermediate, 20% hard examples. Juxtapose maximally similar positive & negative examples. Aids in teaching fine discriminations Review examples used in previous teaching session (Horner, McDonnell, & Bellamy, 1986)

35 4: TEACH 4. Teach! Teach following the lesson plan you carefully planned! Incorporate effective teaching techniques that you typically use Reinforcement, prompting, fading, pacing, etc. (Horner, McDonnell, & Bellamy, 1986)

36 5. TEST 5. Test Test with a new set of examples Probe student performance in a novel situation, with new materials, etc. To see if student responds correctly in generalization-type situations Provides information for how to adjust additional instruction (Horner, McDonnell, & Bellamy, 1986)

37 GENERAL CASE PROGRAMMING: EXAMPLES TBD

38 CONCLUSION Educating children with autism can be complex! Often, the goal of instruction is to produce behavior change outside the training context. Programming to ensure maintenance and generalization of skills is an essential component to a student s curriculum. Explicitly teaching maintenance and generalization requires additional planning.

39 CONCLUSION, CONT D Research provides some guidance on how to increase the likelihood skills: Maintain over time Fading prompts Thinning reinforcement schedule Use naturally occurring reinforcers Consider: frequency of skill use, naturally occurring cues, maintenance checks Generalize to stimulus conditions other than the training setting Train in generalization setting Incorporate naturally occurring contingencies Train sufficient exemplars Use stimuli present in generalization setting Self-monitor & report on generalized attempts Reinforce generalized responses Use general case programming

40 REFERENCES Alberto, P. A., & Troutman, A. C. (2013). Applied behavior analysis for teachers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Anderson, S. R., Jablonski, A. L., Thomeer, M. L., & Knapp, V. M. (2007). Self-Help Skills for People with Autism. Bethesda, MD: Woodbine House. Becker, W., Engelmann, S., & Thomas, D. (1975). Teaching 2: Cognitive learning and instruction. Chicago: Science Research Associates. Catania, A. C. (2007). Learning. Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY: Sloan Publishing. Dawson, G. & Osterling, J. (1997). Early intervention in autism: Effectiveness and common elements of current approaches. In Guralnick (Ed.) The effectiveness of early intervention: Second generation research. (pp ) Baltimore: Brookes. Etzel, B. C., & LeBlanc, J. M. (1979). The simplest treatment alternative: The law of parsimony applied to choosing appropriate instructional control and errorless learning procedures for the difficult-to-teach child. Journal of Autism and Development Disorders, 9, Horcones. (1992). Natural reinforcement: a way to improve education. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 25, Horner, R. H., McDonnell, J., & Bellamy, G. T. (1986).Teaching Generalized Skills: General case instruction in simulation and community settings. In R. Horner, L. Meyer & H. D. Fredericks (Eds), Education of Learners with Severe Handicaps (pp ).Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

41 REFERENCES, CONT D Fisher, W. W., Kodak, T., & Moore, J. W. (2007). Embedding an identity-matching task within a prompting hierarchy to facilitate acquisition of conditional discriminations in children with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 40, Harris, S. L., & Weiss, M. J. (2007). Right From the Start: Behavioral treatment for Young Children with Autism. Bethesda, MD: Woodbine House. Maurice, C., Green, G. G., & Luce, S. C. (1996). Behavioral intervention for young children with autism: A manual for parents and professionals. Austin: Pro-ed. National Research Council (2001). Educating children with autism. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Pinkelman, S. E. & Barton, E. E. (2012). Evidence-based strategies for maintenance, generalization, and self-management. In Barton, E. E. & Harn, B. Educating young children with autism spectrum disorders. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Schriebman, L. (1975). Effects of within-stimulus and extra-stimulus prompting on discrimination learning in autistic children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 8, Stokes, T. F. & Baer, D. M. (1977). An implicit technology of generalization. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10,

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