Acquisition and generalization of social skills by high school students with mild mental retardation

Initial acquisition of social skills by high school students with mild mental retardation was measured during the social skills training game Stacking the Deck. Generalization probes were conducted outside of the training setting (immediately preceding and following training, and 6 weeks posttraining). Due to the high degree of dissimilarity between stimuli in and outside of the training setting, we hypothesized that generalization of skills to nontraining environments would be minimal. Two replications of an initial single-case study were conducted. Students demonstrated acquisition of social skills across game conditions. Immediate generalization of trained social skills did not occur. A possible "deferred generalization" effect was evidenced at 6 weeks posttraining. Results were discussed with respect to the "integrity of common stimuli" and opportunities to respond.