Though during targeted VOISS lessons, Dylan showed understanding as to why these rules of etiquette were important, Ms. Jones was concerned that Dylan would not demonstrate appropriate etiquette in real-world situations. She wanted to make sure Dylan said “excuse me” and “thank you” across school settings. In other words, Ms. Jones wanted to focus on setting generalization. 

She operationally defined two objectives to measure Dylan’s generalization skills:

• After she burps, Dylan will say “excuse me” without laughing on 9/10 opportunities.
• When someone does something nice for Dylan (e.g., opens a door, serves her lunch, lends her a pencil), Dylan will say “thanks” or “thank you” on 9/10 opportunities.

Unlike other self-care skills, saying “thank you” and “excuse me” involved interactions with other people. Ms. Jones considered teaching these skills in a small group setting using role play. However, she wanted to make sure she gave Dylan many examples of when to say “thank you” and “excuse me,” and was concerned that role play would make this type of instruction less efficient. Ms. Jones also noted that Dylan’s peers were not working on similar etiquette skills, so she decided it would be inappropriate to include peers in these lessons. Ultimately, Ms. Jones decided she would use direct instruction in a 1-1 setting.

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

For Dylan to learn to say “thank you” across appropriate circumstances, Ms. Jones would need to teach multiple examples of when “thank you” was appropriate. She would teach Dylan different examples of when to say “thank you,” and would intersperse examples of when saying “excuse me” was appropriate. As Ms. Jones did not think that the natural consequences for saying “thank you” and “excuse me” were sufficiently reinforcing, she decided she would use Dylan’s token reinforcement system to support generalization.

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

Ms. Jones’s Lesson on “Knowing the Basic Rules of Etiquette and When Needed”

Preparing Multiple Examples

Before beginning instruction, Ms. Jones wrote out several hypothetical scenarios in which Dylan would be required to say “thank you” or “excuse me.” To teach Dylan multiple examples of using these phrases appropriately, Ms. Jones prepared five scenarios for instructional purposes. These scenarios briefly outlined a situation and described an appropriate response (i.e., “thank you” or “excuse me”). Ms. Jones also wrote 15 scenarios without providing an appropriate response. These scenarios would be used for independent and guided practice.

Delivering Direct and Reinforced Instruction

Ms. Jones began the 1-1 direct instruction lesson by explaining to Dylan that there were specific situations when saying “thank you” or “excuse me” was necessary to be polite. She told Dylan she should say “excuse me” whenever she burps, and she should say “thank you” whenever someone does something nice for her. Together, they read the five instructional scenarios and talked about why “thank you” or “excuse me” was appropriate. 

Next, Ms. Jones asked Dylan to read through the remaining 15 scenarios. She provided guidance and prompting to help Dylan select the correct answer, and she provided immediate feedback and verbal reinforcement for Dylan’s responses. After the lesson, Ms. Jones asked Dylan to brainstorm other situations that might occur at school. They talked about why saying “thank you” or “excuse me” was appropriate. Ms. Jones also explained Dylan’s token reinforcement system. She told Dylan that she would receive one token for each occasion she said “thank you” or “excuse me” appropriately.