Student will independently wash his hands after using the restroom with 100% accuracy in all bathrooms in school, at home, at friends/other people's homes as well as in public areas. The student should be taught this skill set in various settings. Teachers will initially prompt student to wash his hands after using the restroom in the classroom as well as other bathrooms in the school, and then provide reinforcement. Prompts should then be faded once criterion is met. Parents should provide similiar prompts and require student to wash his hands at home, at family/friends' homes as well as in public areas. Reinforcement should be provided and prompts should be faded as criterion are met.
Another important aspect of generalization involves langauge generalization. Students must be able to express their basic wants and needs not only to parents and therapists, but to other family members, peers, and many other people in all environments. An example of this is, student will independently request a drink when thirsty with 100% accuracy with parents, therapists, teachers, caregivers as well as in public areas, friends homes, restaurants, etc. The student should be taught this skill of requesting a drink in all mentioned areas by providing prompts and then reinforcing the student with the requested drink item.
Both teachers, therapists as well as parents should practice this skill across environments. When the child indepedently initiates the request it should always be reinforced by giving the student the requested drink. To put it simply, a skill is not truly acquired unless it can be mastered/utilized in many different settings and with many different people. What is the benefit of a child being able to wash their hands after using the restroom only at school? How can a child be considered able to communicate their basic wants and needs if they can only request a drink with therapists at home? Generalization is an extremely important outcome to consider when teaching all skills to all learners.
