Creatively Ironic

Teaching a new skill to an individual with autism requires special attention to how skills are actually learned. This usually starts with a clear functional analysis that breaks the skill into its component parts, and then trains each skill separately- combining them piece-by-piece. Each piece requires a certain fluency (rate per minute and response time per task). Finally skills need to be generalized so that they can be performed across a wide variety of circumstances. This process focuses on the outcomes of the instruction, rather than the so-called "structure of instruction" that is targeted by most classroom instruction.

Even if one follows this process, it is still hard to know if the teaching of the skill is complete. That is, does the learner really have mastery of the new skill. This excellent paper by Michael Fabrizio and Alison Moors explores a concept first proposed by E.C. Haugthon (1980) and later refined by K.R. Johnson and T.V.J. Layng (1992). This breaks up the skills mastery into four parts:

Retention: Learners can remember how to do a skill after a period of time when it was not practiced.
Endurance: Learners can engage in the skill for a long period of time without getting tired.
Stability: Learner can engage in performing the skill even if there is a significant distraction in the enviornment.
Application: Ability to generalize the skill to different environments - even environments that have not been previously taught.

This criteria for skill mastery is summarized by the acronym, RESA.