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| Training Issues in Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Tuesday, June 1, 2004 |
| 10:30 AM–11:50 AM |
| Back Bay C |
| Area: AUT; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Gerald E. Harris (Texas Young Autism Project) |
| Abstract: Learning Objectives
Effective training techniques for ABA therapists
Effective training techniques for parents of children with autism
Effective training techniques for siblings of children with autism |
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| Acquisition of ABA Treatment Skills: In-vivo versus Video Modeling |
| TREA DRAKE (Texas Young Autism Project), Catriona Borg-Hansen (Texas Young Autism Project), Geri Maria Harris (Texas Young Autism Project), Gerald E. Harris (Texas Young Autism Project) |
| Abstract: There is a paucity of research concerning the training of ABA professionals. The increasing prevalence of autism demands heightened effort in the development of training procedures to teach ABA professionals the specialized skills and techniques necessary to properly treat individuals in the spectrum. Early intervention programs bear much of the responsibility in this area. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of different types of modeling techniques on the acquisition of treatment skills by ABA professionals. Specifically, the current study focused on teaching discrete trial and error-correction procedures through a combination of direct instruction and either in-vivo or video modeling. All participants received individual instruction on each treatment technique followed by the presentation of a live or video model. Participants received feedback regarding their performance subsequent to each session. Although there was considerable individual variation, both modeling techniques resulted in rapid acquisition of the targeted skills. Mastery of discrete trial was achieved in an average of 2.2 sessions and error-correction procedures in an average of 4.7 sessions. Results indicate that video modeling is marginally more efficient although participants in both conditions achieved mastery. All sessions were video-taped and scored by independent observers, with inter-observer agreement of .98. |
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| Generalization of Parent Training: A Comparison Study |
| ALLISON SERRA TETREAULT (Texas Young Autism Project), Alexis Hyde-Washmon (Texas Young Autism Project), Gerald E. Harris (Texas Young Autism Project) |
| Abstract: Generalization of learned parenting behaviors to the natural environment and parental stress levels have received little research attention. The present study examines the relationship between training methods, skill generalization to the natural environment, and parenting stress. Three training systems were used to teach discrete trial procedures to three mothers of children with autism: 1) tabletop training in the child’s treatment environment, 2) training only in the natural environment, and 3) training alternating a tabletop setting and the natural environment.
The Parenting Stress Inventory (PSI) and parent-child interaction data were collected before and after the training program, and at one-month follow-up for the three mothers and one additional mother who received no training. Interobserver agreement for the observational measure was 85%. At baseline, 28% of instructions issued by parents were followed by an appropriate consequence, 25% of child responses were correct, and three of the four parents were experiencing clinically significant levels of parental stress. Post training, in the natural environment parents were more likely to use three term contingency procedures (58%), received more correct responses from their children (49%), and reported less parenting stress. The greatest gains were seen from the combination of tabletop and natural environment training. |
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| Training and Generalizing Interaction Skills with Siblings of Children with Autism |
| WENDY J. NEELY (Texas Young Autism Project), Candice Floyd (Texas Young Autism Project), Gerald E. Harris (Texas Young Autism Project) |
| Abstract: The relationship between children with autism and their siblings is often impaired due to failure of the child with autism to respond to sibling social initiations. The present study examined a systematic procedure for training a target child’s sibling to successfully elicit an appropriate response. Study participants were three children with autism and their typically developing siblings. The training procedure involved providing prompts to the typically developing sibling to give instructions, rather than to the child with autism to respond. Generalization of the learned skill by the sibling was then monitored (interobserver agreement = .83) from the training room to two natural settings (play area and yard). A multiple-baseline across settings design was used to examine the data. For all three participant pairs (target child and sibling) the training procedure was effective in increasing the overall frequency of instructions from the sibling to the target child (0/minute to 8/minute), and responses by the target child (0% to 87.5%). Generalization to the yard was quite good (5/minute instructions and 80% responses). Surprisingly, generalization to the inside play area was less good (3/minute instructions and 33% responses). Clinical and applied implications are discussed. |
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