Generalization of verbal abstraction strategies by EMR children and adolescents

The effectiveness of strategy-training programs that differed in the degree of subject self-management required on the verbal abstraction performance of 37 female and 43 male EMR children and adolescents was compared. In terms of acquisition, all three training conditions, irrespective of the degree of self-management required, were superior to the control condition. At maintenance, the two self-managing conditions (self-instruction and modeling) were superior both to more traditional instructor-controlled training (relevant attributes) and the control condition. All three training conditions were more effective in promoting generalization when compared to the control condition.