Application of the "generalization map" to a self-control intervention with school-aged children

Area of Science:

• Applied Behavior Analysis
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Generalization is a key focus in applied behavior analysis.
• Assessing intervention generalization is crucial for real-world effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the generalization of a comprehensive self-control intervention.
• To assess the impact on an underachieving student's math performance in a regular classroom.

Main Methods:

• Employed an ABAB research design with follow-up.
• Assessed generalization across behavior, setting, subject, and time, following established frameworks.
• Intervention integrated multiple self-management skills.

Main Results:

• The intervention successfully produced generalization across multiple dimensions including subject, behavior, setting, and time.
• Specific generalization effects observed were subject, behavior, subject-behavior, setting, subject-setting, behavior-setting, subject-behavior-setting, time, subject-time, setting-time, subject-setting-time, and subject-behavior-setting-time.
• Generalization was not achieved for behavior-time, subject-behavior-time, and behavior-setting-time.

Conclusions:

• The comprehensive self-control intervention was effective in improving math performance and demonstrated significant generalization.
• The study highlights the potential for such interventions to yield widespread positive effects in educational settings.
• Factors contributing to the intervention's generalization success are discussed for future research.