Assessment,Modification,and Generalization of Social Interaction among Severely Retarded,Multihandicapped Children

In order to maximize the development and generalization of social responses among two severely retarded, multihandicapped children and their classroom peers, a continuous observation system was used to select target responses according to their initiator-responder units (Strain, Shores, & Timm, 1977). Prompting and reinforcement tactics were implemented to increase the social responses of the subjects. The results demonstrate that social behaviors which previously occurred at extremely low rates could be significantly accelerated and maintained across time. Generalization of trained behaviors to a nontraining setting was documented and replicated across behaviors and subjects. The results point out the importance of target behaviors being selected on the basis of their consistency in setting the occasion for positive social behaviors by peers.