| Sumario: | The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a professional development program designed by speech-language pathologists to increase teachers' use of vocabulary strategies in low socioeconomic status preschools. Specifically, the teachers received a 12-week intervention, individualized in terms of the number and type of strategies taught and the length of training for each strategy. A book reading activity was used to practise the use of these strategies. Two parameters were evaluated to assess the effectiveness of this program: (a) use of the targeted strategies in a trained activity (book reading) and (b) generalization (teachers' application of the learned strategies to activities not directly trained in the program). To do this, a multiple case study was conducted with five preschool teachers. Following a multiple baseline design, visual analyses and Tau statistics were used. The results showed a statistically significant increase in the use of targeted strategies in book reading, with large effect sizes regardless of the teacher or strategy taught. However, despite their mastery in book reading and theoretical information about how to generalize these practices, none of the teachers generalized the use of the strategies to other activities not targeted by the program. The results of this study underline the importance of providing intensive in situ training programs tailored to teachers' needs, including multiple opportunities for practice in different activities.
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