Ms. Rao was pleased George had generalized these directions to different environments, but she wanted to make sure George could follow a variety of multi-step directions. In other words, Ms. Rao wanted to focus on response generalization. She operationally defined a single objective:

• When an adult gives George a direction consisting of 2-3 steps, George will follow the direction on 9/10 opportunities per direction across 20 different directions.

Ms. Rao also needed to determine an appropriate instructional setting. She knew the skill involved an interaction between an adult and George. She also knew the skill did not require peer interaction. Thus, she decided instruction would be most efficient in a 1-1 setting. She also decided that direct instruction would allow her to provide immediate feedback and give George ample practice opportunities. Direct instruction also paired well with the generalization tactic.

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

• Generalization Tactic: Teach multiple examples
• Support Strategy: Reinforcement

Ms. Rao’s Lesson on “Following Multiple-Step Directions”

Preparing the Direct Instruction Lesson

Ms. Rao prepared for the lesson by identifying 40 one-step directions she believed George could follow. She probed each of these one-step directions to ensure George could follow them prior to her 1-1 direct instruction lessons.

Teaching Multiple Examples

Ms. Rao began her lesson by randomly combining one-step directions to form two-step directions, and provided George immediate corrective and reinforcing feedback. This allowed George the opportunity to practice with multiple examples. When George did not follow a direction correctly, Ms. Rao repeated the direction and prompted George to follow all or part of the direction he had missed. Ms. Rao provided token reinforcement every time George followed two two-step directions correctly. Sometimes she provided token reinforcement after George correctly followed one two-step directions, and sometimes she provided it after George followed three two-step directions. She took data on George’s performance. When George followed 90% of all two-step directions correctly, Ms. Rao began working on three-step directions.

Ms. Rao used the same procedures she used with two-step directions to teach three-step directions. However, because three-step directions are more challenging, Ms. Rao provided token reinforcement on a denser schedule. She provided tokens every time George followed a three-step direction correctly. Ms. Rao determined response generalization had occurred when George followed 90% of all three-step directions independently and correctly.