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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 1982)
‘Generalizing’ University researchers study learning disability By Sandy Johnstone OtttwEnwrakt The man stands helplessly in Safeway, staring at the array of items and the busy shop pers around him He has al ways shopped at Albertson’s before, and Safeway has ever ything arranged differently He stands alone, confused and bewildered about how to begin his shopping The man is an example of someone who has trouble learning "generalization" — the ability to transfer learning of similar tasks in different si tuations The University Research In stitute for the Study of Gener alization with Severely Han dicapped Students was creat ed recently by a $1 5 million contract for the next five years The nrnfnpcn rc anH /tr'as'li eralized rules that will allow teachers to teach hand icapped students specific skills that can be translated into generalized skills and maintained for a long time For example, they have developed a method to teach severely handicapped students who are working for Tektronix to generalize about the skill The students crimp capaci tators, but with about 400 dif ferent styles it is impractical to teach specific skills Horner says that by selecting three capacitators, students are able to generalize about all 400 "The same basic rules can be useful in teaching how to act in a grocery store," he says "The advantage of our research is it will build rules Photo by Bob Baker Robert Homer is one of the University researchers studying the problems of generalization' among the severely handicapped student "We have a good idea of what will work, and we are mainly testing things, ' he says "All teachers, to a large specific areas and make up packages, which explain how to teach generalization in specific areas such as tele phone use. shopping or they already had enough ex perience to "deliver the product" Four other groups were awarded similar con tracts, and they will coordinate students working for the insti tute will conduct research on generalization skills and the severely handicapped, who often have problems with generalization Robert Horner, one of the professers working within the institute, says the problem is that instructors can teach specific skills much better than generalized skills It's easy, for example, for a teacher to explain to severely handicapped students how to cross the street at one par ticular place But when the students have to cross at a different intersection they may become confused Horner and his colleagues, who have been doing research in this area for more than two years, are searching for gen types of skills It will develop something that can be used across the country " The $1.5 million con tract will allow the insti tute to widen the scope of their research The institute's initial re search will focus on the theoretical rules that can help teach generaliza tion skills for a spectrum of needs "The first few years it will be very much real science' with controlled and systematic exper Finding the Future teachers They also will conduct long-term studies of individuals to see how the skills are learned and maintained during a five-year per iod The contract, which the Department of Education awarded to the University jointly with the University of Califor nia in Santa Barbara, specifies what is to be done with the money Horner and his col leagues spent about three weeks, working “We have the research technology now that allows us to do research without making the situation so artificial that it is of no use to the individual extent, do research to prove things they already know will work." The project's second phase will apply the research in iu-mvui uayo, ikj pic^dic the contract proposal. “It was a lot of work, but $1.5 million is a lot of money," he says Previous research showed men awuvi/iudciy uvci uic five years One advantage the Univer sity had was the high quality of education for severely hand icapped students already oc curring within the Eugene area school districts For ex ample, in the Lane Education Service District, students are integrated in the schools, and although they sometimes have different classrooms, they are mainstreamed with normal students as much as possi ble. Horner says these advances in public education are neces sary to dispel the myths about handicapped people. “Parents, advocates and legislators have decided the values we hold for ourselves should apply to the hand icapped,'.’ he says. Cash For Textbooks Mon.- Fri. Smith Family Bookstore 768 E. 13th 1 Bl. From Campus 345-1651 onuiiSL New Item Expresso Coffee 9 - 2 p.m. November Monday 3 1 (tytieMdanA etUcMHfoct t0% dotrUHQ 'Havemivt. 3 3 •I Tuesday time dtU wee/t t* <pt -1 r wqaiUject fivt t9$3~(?At>c6 <u£ tde telectam *£ <yuat ccUendcix^ at t&e 3 s Wednesday ^ ^ ^ 1/C TkcccU a* a ccUatdcvi, (fa (t yifovnafifuct ((fui) <xt t&t SaaAtt&u,. Thursday 17 Tfiut «a&6 &u%Jt444X at 2:00. *7l*t€ maKOfemiMt 4€*tt*an tani^At, fating cxUtndcvi, 3 Friday 3 3 ■i Saturday 19 & IXookotOAl focUUf, fax 19X3 @aU*eUvia! Stack ia limttaeC. tO% atUtf ufic&Unc (k (fcntxal Saakc 6X6-3510 | 13th & Kincaid I H 1 Mon-Fri 7:30-5:30 BOOKSTORE Sat 10:00-3:00
