Generalization in the word means using the goals taught in the natural environment without the help of others. If the behavior that has changed or is newly created continues in temporal and spatial situations other than the child's learning environment and location, generalization has occurred. In the practice of generalization, we are faced with two situations, one is the place and position of education and the other is the position of generalization. The training situation is the situation in which the behavior changes and the generalization situation is the situation to which the learned behavior is generalized. For example, when a goal is learned in a speech therapy session, in the second situation, the behavior should continue naturally outside the treatment area. In these situations, generalization has taken place. In generalization from the first to the second position, the similarity between these two physical positions is very effective, but with all these conditions, there are many children who do not automatically use the behavior taught in the first position in the natural environment. Include a variety of children with autism. To alleviate this problem, the following steps can be taken.
Activities that can be used to facilitate generalization:
Use of child-centered therapeutic approaches
These methods try to reduce as much as possible the coach's coercion in imitating the target behavior by the child. In other words, in these approaches, the coach acts at the child's request and waits for the child to show interest in one aspect of the environment or a particular game. It is after the coach enters the action, plays with the child, and while playing Implements its educational purpose The point that is important in these methods is that the instructor in these methods pretends to be playing with the child, so the child should not be punished or encouraged during these activities. Because this treatment is taught in a more natural context and the child is in a situation similar to everyday life, the process of generalizing education to the natural environment requires less and the generalization takes place during the activity itself.
Use more natural stimuli
It is better to move towards real objects and more realistic activities during the training after using the images. You can even use real objects from the beginning instead of using images that are more unnatural stimuli.
Training in different environments
In this method, we change the intervention environment. In this way, we teach things to the child and then try to use the same educational context in an environment outside the clinic, home or even the park. In general, it can be said that training with new people takes place in new places and with more practical activities.
Distance reinforcement
Intermittent or interval amplification is another important generalization tool. The point to be noted is that in the early stages of training in order to stabilize the trained behavior, reinforcement should occur frequently, but once our desired behavior has been established, this behavior can be reduced with the help of The amount of reinforcements generalized to the natural environment.
Increase the amount of practice and use of misleading items
The use of misleading items and excessive practice of a tissue in different situations will enable the child to become better at exercises and be able to use them in other situations and places.
Use self-control and correct adult mistakes
It is necessary to encourage the child to be his own teacher and to always think and reconsider the structure he has used. This method is very suitable for older children, especially primary school children who have higher cognitive levels. Sometimes, after teaching a language behavior, therapists misuse that behavior and wait for the child to correct their mistake. This method is used in children with higher cognitive ability and in addition to helping to generalize the educational behavior. It also makes the treatment environment a happy and fun environment in which learning is facilitated.
Change the type of encouragement
Reinforcement or encouragement has different types. One type of reinforcement is external type and includes social, immediate and token reinforcement. In social reinforcement, after the correct performance of the exercise by his child, he is verbally encouraged by the parents or the therapist, such as (Afarin, etc.).
In immediate encouragement after receiving a response from the child, the educator quickly encourages the child by giving him or her a snack or a toy. In token reinforcement, the therapist first encourages the child to count the number of responses. (Such as drawing a star) and after these encouragements have reached a certain number, the child will be given the main prize.
Another type of reinforcement is the natural type, which is a natural reinforcement for the organism and, like water or food, depends on its survival. In general, it can be said that reinforcement in these methods is done in response to the child's expressive goal. The best incentives are to use the natural type of reinforcement, in which the child receives the result of his / her communication naturally and the generalization is done during the treatment without any other intervention.
