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| Assessing Instructional Staffing Needs: Dyad and Group Instruction |
| Friday, September 2, 2022 |
| 9:00 AM–9:50 AM |
| Meeting Level 1: Liffey B |
| Area: AUT/DDA; Domain: Service Delivery |
| Chair: Kylee Anne Formento (Melmark ) |
| Discussant: Shawn P. Quigley (Melmark) |
| CE Instructor: Silva Orchanian, M.Ed. |
| Abstract: While individual instructional arrangements are highly effective for some learners, learning in a group format may provide opportunities for the practice of additional skills such as observational learning, delayed access to reinforcement, and following group instructions. The ability to participate within a group format is essential to successful integration in school, vocational, and community settings. This symposium will explore ways to assess a learner’s performance under different instructional formats – individual and group instruction. The first presentation will provide an overview of the literature on individual versus group instruction and discuss how to prepare the individual, the teacher, and the environment for learning within a group instruction. The second presentation will review a flexible protocol for assessing performance under individual and group instructional formats and will provide exemplar results of completed assessments. They symposium will end with a discussion of how such instructional assessments can inform educational goals and programming. |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
| Keyword(s): Assessment, Group Instruction, Pre-Requisite Skills |
| Target Audience: The audience may consist of teachers and behavior analysts with a basic understanding of the foundational skills for any instructional format (e.g., environmental arrangement, antecedent management, skill development) and foundational understanding of assessment methodology. |
| Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to:
1. Discuss the importance of introducing dyad and group instruction with stakeholders (e.g., staff, parents, districts, etc.)
2. Describe types of dyad instruction
3. Describe the steps necessary to prepare to successfully implement dyad instruction in their settings |
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| What Is Dyad Instruction and Why Should We Do It? |
| KYLEE ANNE FORMENTO (Melmark), Silva Orchanian (Melmark New England), Helena L. Maguire (Melmark New England) |
| Abstract: Assessing individual needs across instructional arrangements is an important part of providing services and promoting progress within an educational setting. While research suggests that individual instruction arrangements are highly effective in teaching new skills to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, instruction in this format hinders generalization of skills (Koegel and Rincover, 1974), reduces opportunities for observational learning, and reduces the efficiency of instructional sessions when compared to group instruction (Plavnick and Hume, 2014; Rehfeldt et al, 2003; Ledford et al, 2008; Tekin-Iftar and Birkin, 2010). From childhood into adulthood, it is paramount to build pre-requisite components, establish independence and promote generalization of skills. Acquisition of the essential skills to make effective progress in a group setting lends to success in less restrictive environments such as schools, vocational placements and the community. This presentation will: (a) review the literature on and rational for transitioning away from one-to-one instruction; (b) focus on core skills for effectively learning within a group instructional arrangement (c) and prepare the instructor to arrange the environment, deliver instruction, reinforcement and consequences to promote a child success. |
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| How Do They Learn Best? Assessing Performance Across Instructional Formats |
| SILVA ORCHANIAN (Melmark New England), Helena L. Maguire (Melmark New England), Kylee Anne Formento (Melmark), Mary Jane Weiss (Endicott College) |
| Abstract: Fading intensive staffing is essential to the promotion of independence and successful transitioning to less restrictive settings. However, concerns about behavioral regression and slower rate of acquisition coupled with limited guidelines on the assessment of instruction arrangements often result in long term provision of individual instruction. This presentation will describe an instructional protocol designed to assess academic and clinical performance in individual and group instruction. Each assessment was individualized for the specific learner but included the measurement of variables such as performance on novel tasks, maintenance of mastered targets, levels of engagement in independent activities, and rates of challenging behavior. Examples of the individualization of the protocol will be shared across multiple learners in terms of how targets were selected, measures were collected, and results were summarized. The presentation will end with a discussion of how the results inform both clinical and academic programming. |
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