A Comparison of Generalization Strategies to Support Parent Training

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine how effective three different parent generalization support strategies (annotated books, log keeping or simple book-giving) are in getting parents to maintain a trained behavior. Method: Fifteen parents of preschool children with a diagnosed speech or language disorder completed three book readings and a training on dialogic reading. During the first book reading, parents were asked to read to their child as they normally would. Parents then participated in a twenty-minute training on five dialogic reading strategies called CROWD prompts. During the second book reading parents were asked to use the prompts they had just learned. One of three generalization support strategies was then implemented depending on which group the participant was assigned to. Groups were decided using an algorithm and were assigned in the order participants signed up for the study. At the end of the five weeks, parents completed a third book reading to determine how well they had maintained the CROWD prompts. The number of total prompts used and the number of different prompts used operated as our dependent variables. Results: On average, parents in the annotated and book only groups used a larger total number of prompts than parents in the log keeping group.On average, parents in the annotated and book only groups used a wider variety of CROWD prompts than parents in the log keeping group. Conclusions: Short-term training can increase parents' dialogic reading behaviors. However, some support strategies promote generalization and maintenance better than others.