Research on the difference between generalization and maintenance in extra-therapy responding.
Many authors have reported that the development of programs for producing durable extra-therapy responding lags behind the development of programs for producing initial behavior change. In Experiment I, responding was recorded continuously in both the therapy and extra-therapy settings. The results showed that one child did not generalize to the extra-therapy setting, but that other children did. However, for the children who generalized, extra-therapy responding was not maintained. Therfore, in Experiment II two variables affecting the durability of extra-therapy responding were assessed and found to be influential: (a) the use of partial reinforcement schedules in the original treatment environment; and (b) the presence of noncontingent reinforcers in the extra-therapy environment. The results suggest that there are two distinct parameters of extra-therapy responding: generalization and maintenance. A technology for producing durable extra-therapy responding is discussed in terms of different treatment procedures required for different deficits in extra-therapy responding.
D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000628:therapy; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D002648:Child; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D005794:Generalization, Response; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D008297:Male; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012106:Research