Use of teacher prompts to increase social behavior: generalization effects with severely and profoundly retarded adolescents.

In a single-subject design with replication across subjects, teacher prompts were used in an attempt to increase the rate of social behavior of three severely and profoundly retarded adolescents who were legally blind. Training took place in the classroom on successive school days with the teacher prompting each subject to engage in positive social interaction with each peer. Observations for generalization effects immediately followed each training session. The remaining class members were brought into the room, and social interactions were observed in a free-play setting while the teacher was absent. During both phases, observers recorded the behavior of the three subjects for 5 minutes and recorded all units of social exchange that each subject initiated or responded to. Increased rates of social behavior were obtained for all three subjects during both training and generalization. Major factors that contributed to the generalization effects were discussed.