Association for Behavior Analysis International

To ensure child skill acquisition and problem behavior reduction, behavior analysts may conduct trainings with change agents (e.g., parents and special education staff). Utilizing behavioral techniques in school and home allows change agents to become active participants in their child's intervention. One empirically supported instructional strategy is the use of behavioral skills training (BST). BST is a multi-component teaching package that consists of instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. Past research demonstrates how BST can be employed to teach change agents to accurately implement behavioral interventions like discrete-trial instruction (e.g., Sarokoff & Sturmey 2004) or differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (e.g., DiGennaro, Martens, & Kleinmann, 2007). Though BST can increase the accuracy in which an individual conducts a behavior-analytic procedure, other factors could influence stakeholder implementation and endorsement of evidence-based practices. Given that BST is resource intensive, procedural modifications (using real-time feedback) or alternatives (self-instructional packages) should also be investigated to identify efficient and effective training modalities that could minimize practitioner time. Presentations in this symposium will describe strategies in assessing preferences and identifying barriers when conducting parent training. In addition, methodological BST refinements will also be presented. Dr. Nathan Call will discuss these studies at the conclusion of the presentations.

The target audience for this symposium are board certified behavior analysts and graduate students in applied behavior analysis who conduct training in home and school settings.

Despite training, some parents continue to implement behavioral interventions with poor integrity. In the current study, we assessed the barriers to proper parental implementation of a skill acquisition procedure to teach verbal operants to three children with autism. Prior to baseline, parents were taught to implement the skill acquisition procedure. During baseline, we assessed parental implementation of the procedure. Next, we adapted the Performance Diagnostic Checklist (PDC) to assess the reasons parents implemented the procedure poorly during the baseline phase. Based on PDC results, we designed a training to increase the percentage of steps on which parents correctly implemented the skill acquisition procedure with their children. Results are discussed in terms of the utility of the assessment to identify barriers to proper parental implementation of behavioral interventions.

In behavior analysis, visual inspection is the primary method of evaluation of the effects of treatment outcomes (Kahng, Chung, Gutshall, Pitts, Koad, & Girolami, 2010). Previous research shows that graphical analysis has multiple benefits including allowing immediate treatment decisions to be made and communicating with interested parties (e.g., parents; Vanselow & Bourret, 2010). Although previous research evaluated teacher's preference for different graphical forms, limited research has been conducted to evaluate parent preference for graphical displays. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate parents' preferences for and understanding (i.e., clarity) of single-subject design graphs. 276 parents completed a survey that asked questions regarding their preference for several graphical forms. Results showed that bar graphs and pie charts were most preferred for evaluating problem behavior. For skill acquisition data, parents preferred condensed data displays rather than data displayed in a multiple baseline across stimulus sets. The role of using different graphical displays with parents, clinical implications, and future research suggestions are discussed.

Mounting empirical support for early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) has increased demand for these types of treatments for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Many caregivers are now learning EIBI techniques and becoming active agents in their child's ASD treatment. Behavioral skills training (BST) has been frequently used to teach individuals to perform a variety of skills correctly, including discrete-trial instruction (DTI) (Lafasakis & Sturmey, 2007). In this study, caregivers were trained to conduct a DTI procedure. A single-component BST method (i.e., real-time feedback) was examined. A concurrent, multiple baseline across caregivers design was used to demonstrate experimental control. Results showed that a single-component BST was associated with short training time and few sessions to mastery. In addition, caregivers expressed high satisfaction with the real-time feedback training method.