Examining Teacher Use of Praise Taught During Behavioral Consultation: Implementation and Generalization Considerations

In this study we examined the extent to which teachers implement and generalize a praise intervention learned during behavioral consultation. Four elementary teachers and 15 of their students (3–4 per teacher) participated in the study. In each classroom, 1 student was randomly assigned as the consultation target student, 1 as the generalization target student, and the remaining as nontarget students. Within a randomized multiple baseline across teacher-participants design, data measuring treatment integrity, the consultation process, teacher intervention behaviors, and student outcomes were collected across 4 conditions: baseline, intervention implementation, generalization prompt, and generalization training. Results indicated that teachers did not consistently implement or generalize the praise intervention as a result of the conditions of the consultation process. The major limitations of treatment integrity, student selection, and a possible mismatch in teachers' training/philosophy of behavior management and the proposed intervention are discussed. Implications of the findings for future research and practice are presented.