It is unclear if staff at career centers use, or are willing to use, empirically-supported procedures like behavioral skills training (BST) when teaching interview skills to college students. The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which the typical career center training consisted of BST, to evaluate staff-implemented BST, and to measure student performance as a result of both training. Using non-concurrent multiple baseline design, three staff were taught to use BST to teach three students to answer interview questions. First, staff used their typical training procedure, and then, they used BST to teach student interview skills; their use of BST steps was measured during training with students. Student performance was measured as percentage of appropriate answers provided during simulated interviews conducted with the experimenter after training. Results showed limited use of BST in staff’s typical training and increased use after BST training. One student improved after a typical career center training and two students showed improvement after staff-implemented BST. Social validity reports from staff showed acceptance for some steps, but not all. Limitations to this study included small selection of interview questions, time constraint, and self-reported social validity measures. Future studies can evaluate alternative methods of BST delivery including computerized BST.

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of a teacher-implemented behavioral skills training (BST) procedure for teaching preschool students to exhibit an appropriate safety response in the presence of chemical bottles. Students’ safety responses were evaluated during baseline and teacher lessons (before and after BST) for each classroom. Prior to training, teachers were prompted to give a lesson including three safety steps (don’t touch, walk away, tell a teacher). No additional instructions were provided. Next, teachers received training from a researcher on how to implement BST in a classroom setting. Results indicated that the training procedure utilized was effective for increasing the number of BST components used by teachers. Further, teacher-implemented BST resulted in increases in preschool children’s appropriate responses to chemical bottles for two classrooms; however, the increase for one of the two classrooms was only moderate, and no increase was observed for children in a third classroom. Therefore, in-situ feedback was required for these two classrooms. In addition, the procedures resulted in generalized responding to a novel set of chemical bottles, as well as, a novel category of dangerous item (medicine bottles).

Parents who abuse drugs and alcohol are at increased risk of child maltreatment, including the neglect of their children’s health. The present research investigates the effectiveness of the SafeCare® Health module in training mothers with a history of substance abuse living in a residential treatment facility to correctly identify and treat their children’s illnesses. Three mothers of children ages 5-years-old and younger participated in the study. Using a multiple-baseline, single-case experimental design, the research team examined the participants’ ability to select the most appropriate course of action for addressing their children’s illnesses. Results indicate that parents’ skills increased steadily during the intervention, with two of the three participating parents demonstrating mastery of the skills presented. The results suggest that this intervention has great potential to be feasible and effective with this population in this setting. Future research should further investigate the relevance of this intervention with vulnerable populations living in a residential setting to examine whether the changes in targeted parenting skills result in changes in behavior that impact child maltreatment incidence reductions.

Thesis (MEd)--University of South Australia, 1996

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is more prevalent than any other disease under the umbrella of dementia (Alzheimer's Association, 2013). Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) are the typical front-line care staff who care for individuals in aging care (Sengupta, Harris-Kojetin, & Ejaz, 2010). The present study investigated the use of a pyramidal training model to teach aging facility staff to be able to conduct trainings and to teach direct care staff antecedent strategies shown to be effective when communicating with individuals with AD. Pyramidal training resulted in two tiers of staff successfully implementing training for subsequent tiers of staff and subsequent staff demonstrated mastery of the trained material. However, during maintenance observations, some decreases were observed both with regard to training integrity as well as implementation of the trained material.

The Malaysian Skills Training Programme (MSTP) is a sub-division of Malaysian Vocational and Training Education (VET) under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Human Resource, Malaysia. The programme was developed to prepare skilled workers for employment in the ‘blue collar’ sector. The Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education and the UNESCO-UNEVOC believe that the VET should be upgraded to offer a more professional service in which ICT (Information and Communication Technology) applications such as electronic learning need to be explored and harnessed (Kafka & Dale, 2013). This thesis investigates the implementation of an electronic portfolio (E-portfolio) in one accredited Skills Training Institution in Malaysia. The research aim was to deploy an E-portfolio which was developed using MAHARA software with several skills training courses in one training semester. The idea of a ‘threshold concept’ was adopted to provide guidelines to direct the E-portfolio development and implementation. Kolb’s Experiential Learning (KEL) and Competency Based Training (CBT) were the main reference theories informing the design of the E-portfolio process of use. Based on quasi-experimental design, the system’s implementation included groups of students in 2013 and 2014 cohorts. Upon completion, the use of the E-portfolio was evaluated to determine the system’s impact and its effectiveness in the teaching and learning process. A mixed methods research approach was used, consisting of assessment rubrics, survey questionnaires, e-mail interviews, online communication and document reviews. A respondent’s validation based approach called a ‘report-and-respond enquiry’ was executed at the end of data analysis to validate the findings. Qualitative and quantitative data showed that the E-portfolio could contribute to the improvement of several aspects of teaching and training such as communication, reflection on practical work, motivation of learning, progress based learning, and the construction of new knowledge. In addition, senior staff believed that the use of an E-portfolio would benefit the institution by saving printing costs and enhancing the institution’s image to the public and to the awarding body. The findings suggested that, when blended with the current traditional training pedagogy, the E-portfolio system has the potential to be implemented as a showcase E-portfolio, used for online assessment or can be used as a teaching approach. The email interviews and Facebook communication revealed that user attitudes and the support required for the use of the E-portfolio are the biggest challenges. Based on these findings, a scaffolded approach to the implementation of E-portfolios in MSTP is recommended. The key outcomes of this research are the E-portfolio scaffolding strategies in the MSTP that could be deployed at other Skills Training institutions or organizations which intend to explore the use of E-portfolios in the future.

Researchers have found children who are homeless are twice as likely to develop learning disabilities when compared with non-homeless children and three times as likely to develop emotional and behavioral problems (Bessuk et al., 2014). Additionally, homeless children are more likely to have deficits in regards to social skills (DiBiase & Waddell, 1995; National Child Traumatic Stress Network Homelessness and Extreme Poverty Working Group, 2005), however no known research has specifically explored increasing social skill deficits among homeless children. The purpose of the current research was to a) extend the research on using technology to teach social skills to homeless children and b) examine the efficacy of using the Let’s Be Social application (Everyday Speech, 2015) to teach social skills with the addition of Behavioral Skills Training (BST) if needed. The results of this study showed that participants demonstrated substantial increases in all three social skills after the BST intervention. With the exception of one participant, Sandy, whose baseline levels for one behavior (sharing) met criteria for the skill and did not need further intervention.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of behavioral skills training (BST) as an intervention to improve bowling form. Three individuals with mild to moderate intellectual disability participated. A multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the changes in each participant’s bowling form. Each of the participant’s bowling form improved after BST was introduced. Two of the three participant’s performance increased with BST alone. The third participant showed minimal improvement after BST, however with the addition of a reinforcement component, the participant’s form increased substantially from baseline. The results of this study suggest BST is an effective intervention to use for improving bowling form.

The number of students with autism spectrum disorder is on the rise and more of these students are being served in general education settings. As a result, more school personnel need to be prepared to support students with autism spectrum disorder. Most students with autism spectrum disorder require social supports to function effectively in a general education setting. Previous research indicates that there is a need for efficient social skills interventions implemented by existing school personnel. This study examined the effect of a brief, localized, intensive, social skills training intervention on the social interactions of students with autism spectrum disorder in an in inclusive school setting. The results indicate that this intervention produced meaningful increases in participants’ appropriate social vocalizations and social engagement. We discuss the implications of these results for current practice and future research.

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