Mr. Watkins focused on setting generalization. Archie needed to keep school materials organized for his core classes: English, prealgebra, science, and social studies. Rather than monitor Archie after each class period, he decided he would check Archie’s backpack at the end of the school day. This would make data collection more feasible and would be a reliable indicator of Archie’s organization during the school day. 

Mr. Watkins operationally defined two objectives to determine if generalization had occurred: 

• Archie will place 90% of percent of his paper assignments, notes, and independent work in the appropriate folder on 10/10 consecutive school days.
• Archie will place all of his writing utensils in his pencil bag on 10/10 consecutive school days.

Mr. Watkins then considered the appropriate instructional setting. As in prior lessons, organizing materials for class does not require peer interaction, making small or whole group lessons unnecessary. Mr. Watkins decided that he would use direct instruction in a 1-1 setting to explicitly teach the skill.

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

Next, Mr. Watkins determined a generalization tactic and support strategy. He considered creating a contrived mediating stimulus, but thought Archie might need more support during initial generalization lessons. Because Mr. Marquez provided support for groups of students in Archie’s core classes, Mr. Watkins decided he would train him to prompt and reinforce Archie to organize his materials. Additionally, Mr. Watkins decided he would use color coding as visual prompts for placing materials in appropriate locations, and he would use Archie’s token reinforcement system to reward him for organized materials at the end of each day. Mr. Watkins hoped that the visual prompts would help Archie organize materials, so Mr. Marquez would only need to provide minimal support.

• Generalization Tactic: Train others to prompt and reinforce
• Support Strategy: Reinforcement, prompting

Mr. Watkins’s Lesson on “Preparing for Class”

 

Creating Visual Prompts

Mr. Watkins prepared visual prompts for the lesson by color coding Archie’s materials. He assigned each core subject a color and gave Archie corresponding colored notebooks and colored folders for each class. Additionally, he marked each page of Archie’s notebooks with a thin colored line. This would help Archie know what folder to put these papers in if he removed them from the notebook or used them to complete assignments he needed to turn in to teachers. Mr. Watkins also wrapped a thin piece of blue tape around all of Archie’s pens and pencils. This would remind Archie to put his writing utensils back into his pencil bag, which was also blue.

Carrying Out Direct Instruction and Explaining the Reinforcement System

Mr. Watkins began the 1-1 direct instruction lesson by showing Archie the color-coding organization scheme. Together, they sorted through the loose papers in Archie’s backpack and put them into the appropriate folders. 

Then, Mr. Watkins explained the reinforcement system. He told Archie that he would check his backpack at the end each day, and he would receive a token if an appropriate amount of papers and writing utensils were put away in proper locations. Because Mr. Watkins collected baseline data and found that only 50% of Archie’s papers and writing utensils were typically put away at the end of the school day, he decided to reinforce successive approximations of the target skills. At first, Archie would receive a token for having 70% of his papers and writing utensils put away. After Archie met the 70% criterion for five consecutive school days, he would be required to put 80% of papers and pencils away for five consecutive school days to receive a token. Finally, when Archie met the 80% criterion, he would have to put away 90% of papers and writing utensils to earn token reinforcement.

Recruiting Support from the Paraprofessional

After the lesson, Mr. Watkins trained Mr. Marquez to prompt and reinforce Archie’s organizational skills. He explained the color-coding system and told Mr. Marquez that Archie had learned to put papers and writing utensils away. He told Mr. Marquez that Archie knew how to organize his materials, but might need reminders. He encouraged Mr. Marquez to observe Archie at the end of each class. If Archie organized materials appropriately, Mr. Marquez would provide verbal praise. Mr. Marquez could also prompt Archie to put papers and pencils away correctly by reminding him of the token reinforcement system or pointing out any items Archie simply dumped into his backpack.