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ESE668: EVIDENCE-BASED INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS FOR STUDENTS WITH MILD TO MODERATE DISABILITIES

Instructor Guidance

Week 6

Congratulations! Welcome to the final week of ESE 668: Evidence-Based Instructional Methods for Students with Mild to Moderate Disabilities. Please be sure to review the Week Six homepage for this course to see:

· The specific learning outcomes for the week.

· The schedule overview.

· The required and recommended resources.

· The introduction to the week.

· A listing of the assessments.

Next, be sure to read this entire Instructor Guidance page.

Overview

This week, we will discuss one final component needed in EBP methods for students with mild to moderate disabilities: Maintenance and generalization of skills. Now is the time to reflect upon all you have learned and experienced in this course. In Week Six, you will prepare your Final Project consisting of the requirements in the guidance. 

Intellectual Elaboration

Stages of Skill Development and Learning When a student is presented with a new skill, there are four stages of learning they will go through (Young, West, Howard, & Whitney, 1986):

1. Acquisition.

2. Fluency.

3. Maintenance.

4. Generalization.

As educators, our initial aim is acquisition. Goals and objectives must be written using S.M.A.R.T. for this express purpose of skill acquisition. What about the other stages? Is it enough for a student to be able to perform a skill in the classroom? What about their efficiency in doing so? Fluency involves accuracy and speed. If a student can add numbers when provided a problem on paper, is it enough that she is successful in doing so in 30 minutes per problem? Probably not. We also need to consider writing goals to ensure fluency of skills. Maintenance of Skills Now what about maintenance? Will skills be helpful for our students if they are able to fluently complete the skill in the classroom when it is taught, but a week later cannot perform the skill as a prerequisite for the next stage of the task? What about if a student was able to complete math facts fluently in 5th grade, but did not maintain the skill after secondary school? Goals must be explicitly written to consider maintenance of skills. One way to do this is to align goals and objectives with CCSS as we discussed in Week Four of this course. When we have long-term goals that build upon the previously mastered skills, we promote maintenance of acquired skills over time. Technology of Generalization in Special Education

“Generalization refers to

the transfer of what is learned in one setting or situation

to another setting or situation

without explicit teaching or programming in the second transfer setting.”

--Autism Ontario, 2011, pg. 35

One of your required readings this week is a seminal article discussing the technology of generalization, which is often a missed step in the education process. We cannot assume that all students with passively generalize the skills they have learned in the classroom to other people, environments, situations, or stimuli. We as educators must specifically implement strategies that teach generalization and incorporate generalization technology into our S.M.A.R.T. goals and objectives (Stokes & Baer, 1977): Putting It All Together: Evidence-based instructional methods for students with mild to moderate disabilities Well, you did it! We have explored six weeks of evidence-based instructional methods for students with mild to moderate disabilities from many facets of development and implementation of instruction. It is now time to look toward demonstrating what you have learned by compiling and composing your Final Assignment: Huang’s IEP.

Assessment Guidance

This section includes additional specific assistance for excelling in the discussions for Week Six beyond what is given with the instructions for the assessments. If you have questions about what is expected on any assessment for Week Six, contact your instructor using the Ask Your Instructor discussion before the due date. Both the Discussion and Final Project are opportunities for you to further demonstrate mastery with the four course learning outcomes, which are noted on the course Syllabus. Discussion: Promoting Maintenance & Generalization In this final discussion, you will choose only one of two optional topics on maintenance and generalization of skills to reflect upon and discuss with your classmates. Use what you have learned about scholarly searches in Week Five to guide you in finding additional information to support your discussion.  Final Project: The Individualized Education Program (IEP) For this final assignment, you will be assuming the role of a special educator and will create an IEP for Huang, a student in Mr. Franklin’s class. Using the IEP rubric provided complete the IEP Template and reflection for Huang. You may use components have personally developed throughout this class (i.e. PLAAFPs, Goals & Objectives, Accommodations & Modifications, S.M.A.R.T. goals) to complete the corresponding sections of the IEP template. Review all feedback that was provided and make any needed changes before including them in your IEP document. Be sure to complete all sections of the rubric. As well, in a second document you will provide a narrative detailing the EBP strategies you would recommend for implementing Huang’s IEP, as well as a reflection on the relevancy of this IEP process to your current or future professional goals.

References

Autism Ontario. (2011).  Ideas for promoting generalization of social skills (Links to an external site.) . Social Matters. Toronto, ON: Author. Retrieved from https://autismontario.novosolutions.net/default.asp?id=108 Burns, M. K., Egan, A. M., Kunkel, A. K., McComas, J., Peterson, M. M., Rahn, N. L., & Wilson, J. (2013). Training for Generalization and Maintenance in RTI Implementation: Front-Loading for Sustainability. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice (Wiley-Blackwell), 28(2), 81-88. doi:10.1111/ldrp.12009. Osnes, P. G., & Lieblein, T. (2003). An explicit technology of generalization. The Behavior Analyst Today, 3(4), 364-374. doi:10.1037/h0099994 Stokes, T. F., & Baer, D. M. (1977). An implicit technology of generalization. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10(2), 349-367. doi:10.1901/jaba.1977.10-349 Young, K.R., West, R., Howard, V., & Whitney, R. (1986).  Acquisition, fluency training, generalization, and maintenance of dressing skills of two developmentally disabled children (Links to an external site.) . Education and Treatment of Children, 9 (1), 16-29. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42898943