Tom J. Clees’s research while affiliated with University of Georgia and other places

Interspersal Procedures (IP) represent a group of interventions that imbed, at varying ratios, requests for individuals to exhibit mastered skills before or within sequences of requests for target skills. Interspersal Procedures include numerous strategies, such as high-probability request sequences, pre-task requests, and high-preference strategies. Such arrangements can increase attempts to perform target or less preferred tasks. The purposes of this review include (a) an overview of terminology related to IP, (b) a discussion of the conceptual basis for using IP, (c) a description of the experimental literature that has used IP with individuals with disabilities, (d) a categorical summary of this literature, and (e) a discussion of pragmatic concerns and guidelines for deciding when to use IP.

Virtually all social skills training (SST) regimens incorporate live or video modeling to effect gains in the targeted skills; there seems to be an implicit assumption that a behavioral model must be shown. The experimental literature to date has not investigated the effects of presenting video-based stimulus exemplars in the absence of video-based response models. In the present study two concurrent, yet independent, experiments evaluated the effectiveness of two SST regimens on the compliance of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The first experiment represents the initial application of a video-based SST procedure, Discriminative Stimulus Social Skills Training (DS-SST). This intervention included multiple video-based exemplars of teacher requests within instruction designed to establish the requests as discriminative stimuli for individual responses that, collectively, were members of the response class, “compliance.” The second experiment evaluated the effectiveness of a novel, yet more traditional, SST approach on compliance. The Peer Assisted Social Skills Training (PA-SST) included peer modeling, imitation, role playing, and feedback/discussion and was included in the study as a nontechnological point of reference for DS-SST. Both experiments also evaluated the effects of treatment on on-task and talk-out behaviors. Results indicated a functional relation between DS-SST and compliance as well as on-task behaviors. The PA-SST experiment did not demonstrate a functional relation with compliance, but was associated with gains in on-task and a reduction in talk-out behaviors. A discussion is presented on the relationship between the DS-SST video-based elements and factors that promote generalization. Results also are related to the construct of stimulus control. Limitations and implications for future research are presented.

One principle of applied research is to design intervention programs targeted to teach useful skills to the participants (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968), while structuring the program to promote generalization of the skills to the natural environment (Stokes & Baer, 1977). Proficiency in community skills (e.g., community navigation and shopping skills) allows a person more opportunity to interact independently in his/her environment. For students with significant disabilities, community-based instruction has become a curricular focal point. The use of technology may be the answer to providing an effective and efficient strategy to teach students with disabilities functional skills, such as grocery shopping, when extensive community-based instruction is not available. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a CAI program to increase the percentage of correctly selected grocery store items by the four participants with moderate to severe disabilities to assess their ability to generalize to the natural setting. The dependent variables measured included the percent of correctly selected items, the duration to select each item, and generalization from the CAI to the natural environment.

Correspondence training involves modification of nonverbal behavior via changes in verbal behavior. The procedure has a long history of effectiveness with a wide range of learners, but its potential for use with young children with disabilities remains largely unrealized. In an effort to identify the most appropriate applications of correspondence training procedures for this population, the authors conducted a comprehensive overview of the existing literature base. The purpose of this article is to provide an in-depth, critical analysis of empirical research on the effectiveness of correspondence training. Thirty-three data-based articles are included in the review, which is organized into 4 categories, including: (1) early correspondence training research; (2) the role of the verbalization/content condition in correspondence training; (3) issues related to reinforcement; and (4) procedures to promote generalization.

There are a number of community adjustment and transition models that indicate individuals with disabilities will require instruction across numerous domains that represent skills such as community literacy, mobility, purchasing, social interactions, and safety. To accomplish the instruction of such skills, community-based activities have been increasingly employed to teach these transition skills. However, the amount of time and the number of community-based learning trials needed for students with moderate to severe disabilities to acquire targeted skills can be in excess of the fiscal resources allotted. To overcome many of the logistical and fiscal problems associated with community-based instruction, educators have developed simulated activities that involve training in non-target environments with materials that simulate the targeted, or natural, settings. These simulated activities may or may not be successful depending on the attention given to strategies that promote generalization. These strategies are well known and have been extensively discussed in the literature. One method of instruction that can potentially expose learners to numerous stimuli designed to promote generalization of learned functional skills is computer-based multimedia. The purpose of this article is to identify and discuss the salient features of multimedia instructional tools that may be able to provide students with more effective and efficient simulated instructional activities in the area of transition skills. Also presented is information related to a federally funded project designed to develop a multimedia environment for providing this type of instruction as well as a vision for developing a research agenda designed to test the effectiveness of such instruction.

ABSTRACT The present study used a multiple probe across subjects design to evaluate the effectiveness of a multimedia computer-based instructional program in establishing match-to-sample skills, as well as to evaluate the subsequent generalisation of those skills to the natural setting. Specifically, the program used photographs depicting target stimuli (i.e., cereal boxes as they appear on grocery store shelves) in an attempt to increase the likelihood that selection of specified cereal boxes would generalise to the grocery stores in the community. In vivo probes were conducted to evaluate any generalisation of the discriminations. Results indicated that the mean and median durations to find target cereals decreased concomitant with an increase in the number of cereals found. The results are discussed in relationship to using computer-based instruction to increase the degree to which learners' skills generalise to community settings.

A repeated-measures, alternating-treatments design was used to compare student performance in constructing writing samples under two experimental conditions: (a) typing tutor plus a computer-based word processor and (b) paper and pencil. Individual differences in the error rates for each student were noted and indicated varied improvements under each condition for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and complete sentences. Effects of the different conditions were noted on the general quality of the written products in each experimental condition. Of the 6 students’ written story lengths, 3 increased during the computer-based experimental condition. Participants included 6 elementary-age students with behavioral disorders. The implications for classroom instruction and further research are discussed.

Initial acquisition of social skills by high school students with mild mental retardation was measured during the social skills training game Stacking the Deck. Generalization probes were conducted outside of the training setting (immediately preceding and following training, and 6 weeks posttraining). Due to the high degree of dissimilarity between stimuli in and outside of the training setting, we hypothesized that generalization of skills to nontraining environments would be minimal. Two replications of an initial single-case study were conducted. Students demonstrated acquisition of social skills across game conditions. Immediate generalization of trained social skills did not occur. A possible "deferred generalization" effect was evidenced at 6 weeks posttraining. Results were discussed with respect to the "integrity of common stimuli" and opportunities to respond.

A seven-step model for developing, teaching, and evaluating social safety skills curricula for persons with intellectual disabilities is presented. The model is based on validated best practices, including those associated with ecological inventories, (near) errorless learning instructional procedures, and procedures for promoting generalization and maintenance of behavior change. (JDD)

Evaluated the effectiveness of 4 12-yr-old students' self-recording of their teachers' daily expectancies, measured by percentage of expectancies met. Three Ss had learning disabilities and 1 had behavioral disorders. Ss were given a schedule with headings for 3 general education classes, 1 special education class, and designated locker times. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to evaluate the effects of carrying schedules without self-recording and self-recording whether expectancies were met or not. Self-recording was effective in terms of increasing percentage of teachers' expectancies exhibited, while carrying the schedule without self-recording had no apparent effect. Maintenance was evidenced across students. Subsequent exploratory manipulations were made, including an abbreviated schedule on which key words replaced each expectancy. Applied implications, reactivity, stimulus control, and generalization are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)