Ms. Jones wanted to focus on response generalization to teach Arturo different responses to meet his needs. Arturo needed to learn to apologize to peers, as well as use different word choices to make polite requests.

Ms. Jones operationally defined two outcomes that indicated her generalization lessons were effective:

• Arturo will politely ask for assistance from an adult using five different phrases across 10 requests.
• When Arturo makes a mistake that warrants an apology to a peer (e.g., accidentally shoulder bumping a peer), Arturo will respond with five different appropriate responses across 10 opportunities.

Ms. Jones considered small group instruction, but she noted the targeted skills (apologizing and making requests) only involved Arturo and one other person. She also wanted to make sure Arturo had ample examples of appropriate requests and apologies. She decided direct instruction in a one-on-one setting would best facilitate explicit and efficient instruction.

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

Ms. Jones then chose a generalization tactic to best support these instructional strategies. She knew that in order for response generalization to occur, Arturo needed ample examples of different responses. Therefore, she decided to teach multiple examples for generalization.

Because the majority of Arturo’s opportunities to make polite requests or to apologize occurred during his academic classes, Ms. Jones asked general education teachers to complete a simple checklist at the end of class. The checklist included items relating to appropriate requests and apologies. When Arturo received a certain number of satisfactory checklists, he could exchange these for an item from his reinforcer menu.

• Generalization Tactic: Teach multiple examples, Train others to prompt and reinforce
• Support Strategy: Reinforcement

Ms. Jones’ Lesson on “Displaying Manners- Apologizes, Requests Respectfully”

Preparing Vignettes for Direct Instruction

Prior to the lesson, Ms. Jones prepared vignettes of a variety of situations where apologies are necessary. Vignettes included a range of apology methods and phrases (e.g., saying “My bad,” asking to help, remedying the situation).

She also prepared vignettes involving making requests to adults. The vignettes included different, appropriate ways to make a request.

Ms. Jones also wrote vignettes in which the request or apology was not scripted. She would use these vignettes for Arturo to practice the skills independently.

The use of vignettes allowed Ms. Jones to teach multiple examples.

Recruiting Help from Arturo’s Teachers

Ms. Jones also met with each of Arturo’s teachers and explained the purpose and content of the checklist. She described the target behaviors on the checklist and explained that Arturo would help remind them to complete the checklist at the end of class.

Ms. Jones only asked willing teachers to complete the checklist. It was important that the checklist be completed with integrity to ensure that Arturo was reinforced for the target behavior.

Direct Instruction with Arturo

Ms. Jones met with Arturo for the 1-1 direct instruction lesson. She read through several vignettes and explained why she was apologizing or making a request in a certain way. Next, she asked Arturo to read through the vignettes and explain why the given apology or request was appropriate. Finally, Arturo read through vignettes that did not include the appropriate way to make a request or apology. Arturo explained how he might make a request / apologize in each situation and why that response was appropriate. Ms. Jones gave Arturo immediate feedback throughout the lesson.

Following the lesson, Ms. Jones showed Arturo the checklists and told him which teachers had agreed to fill them out. She told Arturo that when he received 10 checklists with at least one “yes” marked for appropriate behavior and zero “no’s” for inappropriate behavior, he could earn an item from his reinforcer menu. Checklist items were yes/no question for making a polite request and another for apologizing appropriately. Each question was listed five times each because Arturo may have multiple opportunities to request or apologize within one class period.

Ms. Jones gave Arturo copies of the checklists in case his teachers did not readily have their copies available. She told Arturo that if the teachers did not remember to fill out the checklist, it was okay for him to remind them at the end of class.