The Training and Generalization of Social Interaction during Breaktime at Two Job Sites in the Natural Environment

Abstract

Four high-school age students with autism and severe handicaps were trained to initiate and sustain social interactions with nonhandicapped peers in a commonly shared breakroom at two community job sites. The generalization of social behavior to nontrained coworkers was probed in the same setting during natural breaktimes. A multiple-baseline across subjects design was used to assess the effectiveness of a training package based on concurrent training of chains of responses using systematic prompting and reinforcement of correct behavior. Generalization was promoted using a multiple exemplar strategy. The results showed that all participants acquired a chain of social break behaviors using one peer trainer. Two participants displayed generalization of social responses prior to the acquisition of the complete chain. Two participants required training with multiple peers prior to the occurrence of generalization.