Functionality and Generalization in Training the Severely and Profoundly Handicapped

Abstract

Instructional development, particularly for the severely and profoundly handicapped, should stress the delineation of clearly stated functional goals and objectives and the use of systematic instructional strategies to facilitate the acquisition and generalization of target skills. A quality check of written goals and objectives should be conducted to assure their technical adequacy. Additionally, factors such as age, necessity of the target skills, and the appropriateness of teaching procedures need to be considered to assure that skills taught are functional Generalization strategies, such as training of sufficient exemplars, using a matrix paradigm, need to be developed and used to assure learned behavior transfers to people and settings in which training did not occur. These strategies should incorporate transfer procedures that can be carried out rapidly.