Generalization
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Generalization is a student's use of a learned skill in new settings, with new people or materials, and without the original teaching supports.
Topic: Measurement and data collection
In plain terms
A skill learned at a table with one adult is not fully learned until it shows up elsewhere: in a different room, with a peer, with new examples, or without the picture card used in teaching. Generalization rarely happens on its own. It is planned by teaching with varied examples, practicing in real settings and involving different people.
How it shows up in an IEP
Goals can build generalization into the condition or the mastery criteria: "across two settings and two adults." Data should be collected in the generalization setting too, not only in the teaching room.
Example
A student learns to ask "can I play?" with an SLP. The goal requires using it at recess with two different peer groups, so a recess aide records opportunities on the playground.
Not the same as Carryover
Carryover is the speech-language term for using a target skill in everyday talk outside therapy. Generalization is the broader term across any skill. Read the definition of Carryover.
Related terms
- CarryoverCarryover is using a skill learned in therapy, such as a corrected speech sound, automatically in everyday settings and conversation.
- Mastery criteriaMastery criteria state how consistently a student must reach a goal's criterion, such as on three consecutive probes, before the goal counts as met.
- Condition (in a goal)The condition in an IEP goal describes the circumstances under which the student will perform the skill, such as materials, setting or level of support.
- Prompt fadingPrompt fading is the planned, gradual reduction of help so that a student performs a skill independently and does not come to depend on adult prompts.
- Community-based instructionCommunity-based instruction is teaching skills in the real places a student will use them, such as stores, banks, bus stops and workplaces.
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