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Have you ever worked on a skill for weeks or months, only to realize the child is only using it in your therapy room?

In this episode, I'm digging into one of the most frustrating parts of supporting autistic kids: when progress seems to show up in sessions, but not in real life.

For years, many of us were taught that autistic children simply "struggle with generalization." And for a long time, I believed that too... because I was seeing it happen. But over time, I started to realize something important:

It's not just about the child.

A lot of the problem comes from how we've been taught to provide therapy in the first place.

When support is highly adult-directed, heavily prompted, and built around contrived activities, kids often learn how to perform in that one specific context... not how to use the skill in their actual everyday lives.

In this episode, I'm sharing:

Why traditional therapy approaches often make carryover harder
The story of a student from my early career who changed the way I thought about progress
What context-dependent learning actually looks like
How prompt dependency can block initiation
Why child-led, naturalistic support creates stronger carryover
Practical ways to build generalization in from the very beginning

We're also talking about what it really means to support communication in ways that matter to the child... not just in ways that look good on paper.

Because if a skill only shows up in your therapy room, with your materials, your prompts, and your structure... the child doesn't fully have access to that skill yet.

And that's not a failure.

It's information.

In This Episode, We Talk About:

Why "generalization is hard for autistic kids" is often an incomplete explanation
How isolated drills and adult-curated tasks lead to context-bound learning
The difference between performing a skill and actually owning a skill
Why meaningful progress has to be anchored in the child's real life
How child-led therapy supports skills that are more likely to carry over across people, places, and routines
Why natural interests, real materials, and everyday routines matter so much
How to reduce over-prompting and support more initiation
Why rubric-based goals can help you measure what actually matters

Key Takeaway

When skills don't carry over, it's not automatically because the child can't generalize.

Often, it's because the skill was taught in a way that was disconnected from the child's real life.

When we support communication in natural, meaningful, child-led contexts, we stop teaching kids how to "do therapy" and start helping them build skills they can actually use.

Mentioned in This Episode

Child-led therapy
Neuroaffirming practice
Prompt dependency
Initiation
Naturalistic, relationship-based support
Rubric-based goal writing
The Aligned Rubric Framework

If This Episode Resonated...

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40. Why Therapy Skills Aren't Generalizing... And What to Do Instead