It’s important to teach our learners new skills. It’s just as important to make sure previously mastered skills are generalized and maintained. In this episode we cover the best ways to incorporate generalization and maintenance into our learners’ programming.
Skill Generalization and Maintenance
Generalization is the ability to show the same skill under different conditions, which includes different people, materials, places, and more. Maintenance is the ability to utilize that skill over time once it’s been mastered.
Sometimes, we get very specific about the skill we’re teaching, but we forget to diversify the situations so our learners can generalize those skills. Right from the start of a program, we should include variety to instill generalization as soon as possible. We discuss some real-world examples of generalization and helpful techniques to include in your practice. We also talk about stimulus and response generalization, how maintenance ties into generalization, and how to encourage maintenance once a program is mastered.
Implement Generalization and Maintenance Procedures
When a student learns a skill, it’s important to communicate this with parents so that you can all work together to generalize the skill to other environments and maintain that skill over time. Get our free communication log below to start communicating effectively!
What’s Inside:
- The importance of diversifying situations when teaching skills to learners.
- Examples of stimulus and response generalization.
- How to encourage maintenance after the end of a program.
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How To Incorporate Natural Environment Teaching in ABA
Working with Parents as a BCBA
