Mr. Zamarrón wanted Brandy to demonstrate this skill across settings and people. In other words, Mr. Zamarrón was focused on response generalization. He defined an objective to determine setting generalization had occurred:

• When interacting with an acquaintance, Brandy will greet the acquaintance (e.g., say hi or bye), and she will ask the acquaintance about their day without asking them personal details about their life on 9/10 opportunities.

Mr. Zamarrón was ready to select an instructional setting and method that would best facilitate generalization. He knew that Brandy had acquaintances that were peers and adults, and he wanted Brandy to practice different interactions with acquaintances. He decided that role play would be most appropriate for this instruction because it would allow different peers to act out relevant scenarios. Because Mr. Zamarrón wanted the participation of peers that he could train specifically for the role play, he also decided small group instruction involving a group of two trained peers would be more effective than whole group instruction.

• Instructional Setting: Small Group
• Instructional Method: Role Play

Having determined objectives, instructional setting, and instructional method, Mr. Zamarrón needed to select a support strategy and generalization tactic to ensure instruction would be effective. He considered the range of people who should be considered acquaintances in Brandy’s life. Mr. Zamarrón wanted to make sure Brandy interacted appropriately with acquaintances across settings and various scenarios. Thus, he decided to teach multiple examples in the role play lessons.

Mr. Zamarrón needed a support strategy that would help Brandy generalize the skill without intrusive or awkward adult support. He decided he would provide Brandy with a simple visual support—a list of people who were considered acquaintances. Brandy could reference this list throughout her day to remind her of people with whom she should have only polite interactions.

• Generalization Tactic: Teach multiple examples
• Support Strategy: Visual supports

Mr. Zamarrón’s Lesson on “Maintaining Relationships”

Preparing the Role Play

Mr. Zamarrón wrote 20 different scripts to teach multiple examples during the lesson. Ten scripts involved interactions with friends, and ten involved interactions with acquaintances. These diverse examples would help Brandy prepare for and distinguish between a range of situations. Each script included an explicit setting and character descriptions. Mr. Zamarrón recruited two peers who were friends with Brandy, but he wanted these peers to also play the roles of acquaintances. Thus, Mr. Zamarrón also gathered a few props to help the peers play acquaintance roles. For example, he borrowed a mop for a peer to play a janitor role and an apron for a peer to play a cashier.

Carrying Out the Role Play and Providing a Visual Support

Mr. Zamarrón began the small group role play lesson by reviewing the overall objectives and purpose. He gave Brandy the visual support (the list of people considered acquaintances), and also wrote the list of acquaintances on the board. He also told the peers and Brandy what they were going to do. In each script, one peer played the acquaintance / friend and the other peer played an extra / speaking role. Half of the scripts included dialogue for Brandy. These scripts included either exchanging pleasantries for acquaintance interactions or deeper conversations for interactions with friends. The other half of the scripts did not include dialogue for Brandy; instead, these scripts required Brandy to distinguish between friends and acquaintances and determine the appropriate thing to say. 

First, Brandy participated in the ten fully-scripted role plays. Mr. Zamarrón provided descriptive praise for each role play and referenced the list of acquaintances on the board. Next, Brandy participated in the role plays that did not have established lines. Mr. Zamarrón prompted Brandy using the list on the board and provided immediate corrective or reinforcing feedback. After each role play, the peers and Brandy briefly discussed how they knew the person was an acquaintance or friend and the appropriate dialogue given this distinction. 

After the lesson, Mr. Zamarrón guided the peers and Brandy in thinking about different situations in which they would interact with an acquaintance. They described how they knew the individual was an acquaintance, as well as socially-appropriate ways to interact with them.