Mr. Watkins wanted Jolene to use the skills she learned during VOISS across different school settings and activities. Jolene needed to use a respectful voice during core subject classes: math, history, English, and biology. Mr. Watkins decided this lesson would focus on setting generalization.

Mr. Watkins operationally defined two outcomes that indicated his generalization lessons were effective:

 

• When a teacher asks Jolene a question, Jolene will answer the question in an appropriate tone of voice without using the word “whatever” and without rolling her eyes on 9/10 opportunities.
• When asking a teacher a question, Jolene will speak in an appropriate tone of voice without using the word “whatever” and without rolling her eyes on 9/10 opportunities.

Next, Mr. Watkins chose an instructional setting for this lesson. Though Jolene didn’t go to a special classroom, like the resource room, for instruction, she did have 60 minutes a week of social skills instruction on her IEP. Jolene attended study hall and often finished her work with 20 minutes of extra time. Typically, students worked with other teachers during this class period. The IEP team decided that Mr. Watkins would work with Jolene in the hallway during the last 20 minutes of study hall three times a week.

Mr. Watkins decided to use direct instruction in a 1-1 setting to help Jolene learn to use a respectful voice.

 

• Instructional Setting: 1-1
• Instructional Method: Direct instruction

 

Mr. Watkins identified a generalization tactic that would help reinforce this skill. He recalled that Jolene had a token reinforcement system, and that a paraprofessional, Ms. Martínez, supported Jolene and several other students in academic classes. Using Jolene’s token reinforcement system, Ms. Martínez would prompt Jolene by pointing to visuals reminding her to use a respectful voice and avoid certain words / phrases. Mr. Watkins also decided that teaching multiple examples would be an ideal generalization tactic and pair well with the support strategies (prompting and visual supports).

 

• Generalization Tactic: Teach multiple examples
• Support Strategy: Prompting (verbal and visual), visual supports, reinforcement

Mr. Watkins’ Lesson on “How to Use a Respectful Voice”

 

Teaching Multiple Examples

Mr. Watkins wrote scenarios simulating situations Jolene might encounter in class. The scenario scripts included situations in which a teacher asked Jolene to respond, as well as situations in which Jolene asked the teacher a question.

Mr. Watkins began the 1-1 direct instruction lesson by explaining why having a respectful voice was important. He then read through several scenarios (to provide Jolene with multiple examples), and modeled respectful and disrespectful tones of voice. At first, Mr. Watkins explained why specific responses were respectful or disrespectful. Then he modeled several scenarios and asked Jolene to describe responses as respectful or disrespectful and explain why. When Jolene described a response as disrespectful, he asked her to give an alternative, respectful response. Finally, Mr. Watkins asked Jolene to both give answers and ask questions from the script in a respectful voice. Throughout the lesson, he gave immediate corrective feedback and praise.

Utilizing Visual Supports

Mr. Watkins also showed Jolene two visual supports printed on 2” by 2” squares. One visual had thin red lines crossing out an eye-rolling emoji and rude words / phrases Jolene typically used, like “whatever.” Jolene had shared with Mr. Watkins that kids used the head-bowing emoji to communicate respect to each other. Mr. Watkins printed out this emoji on its own 2” by 2” square. He explained the significance of these emojis to Jolene and said Ms. Martínez would prompt her by pointing to each of these visuals. Mr. Watkins also reviewed Jolene’s token reinforcement system, and told her that each time she spoke respectfully to a teacher, she would receive a token.

Recruiting Support from the Paraprofessional

Next, Mr. Watkins met with Ms. Martínez. He explained that Jolene was working on using a respectful voice in class. He showed Ms. Martínez the visuals and told her she could remind Jolene of respectful behavior by pointing to these visuals before Jolene spoke to teachers. For example, if Ms. Martínez sensed Jolene getting frustrated, she’d show Jolene the visual with the eye-rolling emoji to remind her not to behave disrespectfully. Mr. Watkins told Ms. Martínez she could also point to these prompts correctively, when Jolene had already engaged in a problem behavior. For instance, If Jolene rolled her eyes or said “whatever,” Ms. Martínez could show Jolene the visual with the head-bowing emoji to remind her to treat others respectfully.