Association for Behavior Analysis International

Improvement in skills for individuals with developmental disabilities and autism requires highly concentrated exposure to evidence-based interventions delivered with a high degree of procedural integrity. Thus, maximizing progress necessitates interventions be available across settings and that those professionals charged with delivery be well-trained. Accomplishing this requires identification of training methods that are not only effective but feasible within the natural contexts. Behavior skills training (BST) and Practice-Based Coaching (PBC) are two professional development strategies with evidence of increasing skills for service providers across a variety of contexts including schools, clinics, and day treatment programs. However, strategies aimed at increasing the efficiency and sustainability of both types of professional development are needed. This symposium will present studies that explore variations in both methods, such as group delivery and self-monitoring, to train day treatment service providers, teachers, and future behavior analysts in day treatment programs, schools, and clinics. Suggestions for future research and implications for practice will be discussed.

BCBAs who provide training and professional development for teachers and service providers in community centers and/or day treatment programs as well as BCBAs that supervice BCBA supervisees

Behavior skills training (BST) has been shown to be an effective strategy for teaching new skills. Current research indicates that feedback and modeling may be the most active components of BST for teaching some skills. Self-monitoring may be a viable option for sustained training effects, thus increasing the potential for continued skill across time. Given the evidence suggesting its efficacy for use as a training package, BST should be considered as an option for training future behavior analysts to implement behavior change strategies. Further, training future practitioners to engage in self-monitoring skills may enhance training and promote generalized skills across time. The current study compares two BST training packages, one with instructor feedback and one with self-monitoring, in an multielement design embedded within a multiple baseline across participants design to train masters level graduate students to conduct preference assessments. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of instructor feedback and self-monitoring on treatment integrity outcomes by determining whether instructor feedback and self-monitoring are effective strategies to promote desirable outcomes when training preservice behavior analysts to conduct preference assessments.

Evidence-based practices have the potential to improve outcomes for students with developmental disabilities yet these practices are rarely implemented accurately. For example, teachers are not supported during the implementation process and are rarely evaluated on the degree to which the specific intervention has been conducted as intended. Therefore, the exact implementation of an evidence-based practice is limited and has been characterized as "one shot" due to the lack of systematic follow-up necessary to sustain the evidence-base practice. Teachers have reported little follow-up training on the programs they were expected to use and therefore utilized the components that "worked for them." The failure to implement these practices to fidelity and sustain the use of these practices is considered to be a large part of the poor outcomes experienced by students in special education programs. Research notes that teachers must receive instruction and feedback from instructors in order to implement evidence-based practice (Kennedy & Thomas, 2012; Lane, Bocian, MacMillan, & Greshman, 2004). Furthermore, numerous researchers have documented increased implementation of evidence-based strategies when instruction, coaching, and feedback are provided. Practice-based coaching is one method for accomplishing this yet is often resource prohibitive when provided on a teacher-by-teach basis. Group practice-based coaching, however is one option to train teachers to a high degree of fidelity with fewer personnel resources. Utilizing a multiple-baseline design across groups of teachers, this study evaluated the functional relationship between implementation of practice-based coaching in a group format and increases in teachers' fidelity of implementation of discrete trial training for students with developmental disabilities. Implementation of practice-based coaching resulted in an immediate increase in percentage of steps implemented correctly for all groups with each individual teacher reaching the criterion of 85% accuracy within three coaching sessions. Social validity and implications for practice will be discussed.