Research has shown that well-trained staff within early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) provide more effective treatment. An important part of training is learning the vocabulary and concepts of treatment. This aids in conceptual understanding of the principles and procedures. The process of learning behavioral concepts also develops the necessary verbal repertoire needed to communicate among members of a community of practice; a group of people who have common reinforcers and are working toward a common goal. Learning to tact a series of sequential descriptions, or verbally narrate, exemplary teaching interactions should be a goal when teaching behavior analysis because it is how we, as a community, interact and establish an understanding of behavior analysis. The purpose of the current study is to train novice behavior analysts to narrate exemplary intervention sequences that are responsive, flexible, and effective teaching interactions. The effects of the training were evaluated using a multiple baseline design across training conditions, replicated across 3 participants. The results suggest that the training was effective in increasing the number of narrative statements as well as the number of narrative statements related to five critical features of a teaching interaction and the relations between those features. The results are discussed in the context of future research directions, including studies of correspondence between verbal behavior and teaching interaction performance.

Thesis (M.S.) -- University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2006. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Feb. 14, 2007). Thesis advisor: John W. Haas . Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The effectiveness of behavioral interventions for the treatment of young children with autism has been well documented in professional literature. The success of these procedures, however, depends on the fidelity of implementation and proper training of the therapist. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a 125-skill, comprehensive staff training package that involved a graduated sequence of teaching. In addition to changes in skills, social validity and training time were also assessed. Results indicate that correct demonstration of skills increased following training, incorrect implementation decreased, teachers rated the procedures favorably, and the total training took between 20 and 32.5 hours for over 120 skills to reach mastery criteria. A discussion of the results as well as implications for future research is also provided.

Individuals who train to become behavior analysts should be able to organize, create, and display data accurately in order to make a data-based decision about the interventions being used for his or her clients. Behavior analysts most commonly use the visual analysis of the data to continuously evaluate the relationship between the intervention and the target behavior being measured. A multiple probe design across behaviors (i.e., Reversal Design, Alternating treatments and Multiple baseline design) was used to evaluate the effects of behavioral skills training (BST) with video modeling on three potential behavior analysts’ single-subject design graphing skills in Microsoft Excel™. Behavioral skills training is a training package made up of multiple components, but for the purpose of this study BST included: rehearsal, video modeling w/ instructions, and feedback. The three participants were taught remotely via Zoom how to accurately complete the steps in the graph creation process for a reversal design, alternating treatments design, and a multiple baseline design. Results indicate that BST with video modeling was an effective and efficient intervention to increase the accuracy of three potential behavior analysts’ single-subject design graphing skills on Microsoft Excel™. / Applied Behavioral Analysis