Generalization and Maintenance

Abstract

Generalization and maintenance is a key tenet to our work as behavioral practitioners. This is highlighted in our work with children with autism spectrum disorders who require additional support to learn new behaviors and then use them across people, settings, stimuli, responses, or time. In a review of the last 5 years of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, less than half of the research actively planned for generalization and less than a quarter reported maintenance data. Strategies to promote generalization are reviewed with a focus on stimulus generalization and Stokes and Baer’s (J Appl Behav Anal 10:349–367, 1977) nine categories. It is imperative that the planning for generalization and maintenance is built in at the beginning of all programs. We conclude with an example of a generalization planner that we have found to be helpful in our clinical work, to ensure that the skills we teach our learner can be used anywhere, anytime, and with anyone.