Association for Behavior Analysis International

Training staff to implement effective behavioral interventions for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) requires effective training techniques. This symposium is comprised of a series of presentations reviewing and evaluating various approaches to training staff. The first presentation provides a review of the literature on training staff and parents to implement discrete trial teaching (DTT). The second presentation evaluates correlations between a multiple-choice exam, analogous of certifying exams, and the direct implementation of ABA-based procedures. The third presentation evaluated a specific staff training procedure to train staff to implement a social discrimination procedure. The fourth presentation provides an evaluation of a comprehensive staff training package for new staff. The symposium will close with a discussion of the strengths and limitations of the presentations as well as future directions of staff training for individuals providing ABA-based interventions for individuals diagnosed with autism.

This symposium will be beneficial for anyone providing supervision and training for behavior analysts providing ABA-based interventions for individuals diagnosed with autism. Those seeking training to improve their implementation of ABA-based procedures may also benefit from this symposium.

Discrete trial teaching (DTT) is a commonly implemented and evaluated teaching procedure for individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As such, DTT is often a procedure that behavior analytic practitioners are required to learn how to implement. Additionally, parents are often encouraged to learn how to implement DTT to supplement intervention for their child(ren) diagnosed with ASD. This review of the literature included 51 studies (57 experiments) that involved training behavior change agents and/or parents on the implementation of DTT. Each of the studies was evaluated and quantified along several dimensions including participant demographics, experimental design, outcome, DTT task analysis, training procedures, training time, and the mastery conditions for the implementation of DTT. The results of the review indicated that there is a robust literature on training individuals to implement DTT. However, results also revealed there are several areas that should be addressed by future studies as well as implications for practitioners and certification standards.

To ensure the quality of training, skills developed and maintained, and expected standards for behavior analysts, several systems have been put into place across the years. Of these systems, perhaps the most widespread was the development of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board® (BACB®) in 1998. More specifically, the global mission of the BACB® is to “protect consumers of behavior analysis services worldwide by systematically establishing, promoting, and disseminating professional standards” (BACB, 2015b). Once all requirements are met (e.g., supervised hours, coursework), the final step in obtaining certification (i.e., Board Certified Behavior Analyst; BCBA) is a multiple-choice examination. Given the position many BCBAs find themselves in (i.e., autism intervention), some have questioned the correlation between exam scores and practice. To date, no studies have examined this correlation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate any potential correlations between scores on a popular commercially available prep exam and basic ABA-based autism intervention procedures (e.g., discrete trial teaching).

The teaching interaction procedure is an evidence-based procedure that has been utilized for the development of social skills. The teaching interaction procedure consists of labeling the targeted skill, providing a meaningful rationale for the importance of the skill, describing the steps of the targeted skill, modeling the skill, role-play and providing feedback throughout the interaction. Although the teaching interaction procedure has been used to teach a variety of social skills for children and adolescents diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), it has only been utilized to train staff in two studies (i.e., Harchik, Sherman, Sheldon, & Strouse, 1992; Redican et al., in press). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of the teaching interaction procedure to teach three interventionists the skills to implement the Cool vs. Not Cool procedure to target the development of social skills for children diagnosed with ASD. The results of a multiple baseline design showed the teaching interaction procedure was effective at teaching all interventionists how to implement the Cool vs. Not Cool procedure with children diagnosed with ASD.

Training staff to implement effective behavioral interventions for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) requires effective training techniques. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a training package with three new staff. The package consisted of didactic lectures, self-learning assignments, readings, written tests, hands-on practice, and regular evaluation. Thirty-eight skills across seven broad domains with respect to ABA-based intervention for individuals diagnosed with ASD were assessed. These domains included engagement, reinforcement, discrete trial teaching, communication temptations (sometimes referred to as mand training), maximizing progress, and behavior management. The results of a multiple baseline across staff indicated that the training package was successful with all three staff. Maintenance data also indicated that the effects of the training package maintained after the training ended. The results will be discussed with respect to strengths, limitations, and future directions of staff training for staff providing behavioral interventions for children diagnosed with ASD.