This study was conducted at a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide responsive, caring, and effective services to children with autism. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of D.A.N.C.E. training on teaching interactions, harmonious engagement, instructional engagement, and progress on child goals for two early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) staff and the children in their care. A multiple baseline design was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of the training. Results indicated that staff increased teaching interactions and maintained instructional engagement; that children increased target goal responses; and that harmonious engagement between the two increased for both dyads. These results are discussed in the context of measurement, training, and social validity.

Previous research reports that individuals working with children with autism can positively affect social behavior through the use of socially embedded consequences. There is no research on training teachers to use socially embedded consequences. The current study had three purposes: to evaluate the effects of video modeling on teachers' embedded consequences, to evaluate the addition of feedback to increase effectiveness, and to evaluate the effects of the teacher's use of socially embedded consequences on other teacher behaviors. Results indicate that video modeling alone was not sufficient in changing teacher behavior and that the addition of feedback was necessary for meaningful teacher behavior change. Additionally, the increased used of socially embedded consequences had positive effects on teacher social engagement and indices of interest. A discussion of the results and suggestions for future research is also provided.

Previous research has shown that early and intensive behavioral interventions are an effective treatment for young children with autism resulting meaningful gains that can maintain over time. For behavioral treatments to be effective, service providers need to be competently trained in behavioral interventions through staff training. The purpose of the current study was to replicate and extend previous research by employing a more rigorous research design, and including measures of teaching units, and staff and child affect measures. The trainee was taught 150 skills. Training methods included descriptions, modeling, practice, and feedback. Results showed that the trainee acquired all skills while maintaining an increasing number of teaching units. Child and staff also maintained favorable affect as training progressed. In addition, staff reported the training as very effective and highly satisfactory. This shows that comprehensive training packages that comprise a large set of skills in real life treatment settings can result in benefits for the staff and children.

This study evaluated the use of behavior skills training with the instructions and modeling components conducted using either in-vivo or a video for the acquisition of skills required to conduct a communication assessment. A total of six participants from a Communication Disorders and Sciences Masters degree program completed the training. The behavior skills training package included four components: instruction, modeling, role-playing, and feedback. A maintenance probe was conducted between three to seven days after training criterion was met. Results indicated that both in-vivo and video instructions and modeling of the communication assessment were successful in teaching students without a background in behavior analysis. The participants whose training included the video instructions and modeling scored 100% on their first maintenance trial block while the two of the three in-vivo participants did not. Implications for these results could further the growth and development of communication assessments as well as strengthen the relationship between behavior analytic principles to practices that overlap.

Behavioral skills training (BST) has continuously demonstrated to be an effective means of training others in new skills and techniques. A limitation of BST, however, is that it requires extensive time and a professional trainer. Currently, there is a lack of literature comparing BST to alternative and effective training methods that require less resources, such as written directions and video modeling. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine which training modality (i.e., behavior skills training, written directions, or video modeling) was most effective at increasing staff members' correct implementation of applied behavior analysis procedures, specifically forward chaining, shaping, discrete trial training, at a therapeutic day school. Using a multiple baseline across participants design, the percentage of correct implementation was monitored when participants were exposed to BST, written directions, and video modeling. Results suggested that BST was the most effective training method, however written directions and video modeling also lead to increases in the percentages of correct implementation. Implications, limitations, and areas for future research are discussed.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and systematically replicate the effectiveness of the DANCE training for a staff member to be an effective change agent for the children in her care, while maintaining the organization's and family's values. The study was conducted in an organization that values and focuses on building rapport, avoids the use of coercive procedures, and teaches children in a caring and meaningful way. A multiple baseline across indoor and outdoor settings was used to evaluate the effects of the package. Results demonstrated that DANCE training was an effective procedure to teach a staff member how to increase teaching interactions. Harmonious engagement, instructional engagement and vocal approximations also increased while challenging behavior maintained at zero levels.

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Background/Aims: Children and young people in residential care often exhibit complex emotional and behavioural needs. Attachment theory is frequently used to explain these difficulties, whereby a young person's early experience can influence their internal representations of relationships and their subsequent interactions within the residential milieu. Thus, residential childcare staff have a fundamental role supporting young people, to facilitate therapeutic change and mitigate poor long-term outcomes. Policy and research often recommend staff training and attachment-informed care, yet there is very limited understanding of how this translates into practice or influences outcomes. Therefore, this thesis aimed to systematically review literature on the types, measurement and effectiveness of residential staff training, focussed upon psychosocial outcomes. It also aimed to construct an explanatory theory of how residential staff make sense of, and use, attachment theory in practice. Methods: Research aims are addressed in two studies. Literature on residential staff training was systematically reviewed in Journal Article 1. This was conducted through a search of electronic databases, quality assessment of included studies, and subsequent narrative synthesis. Journal Article 2 used qualitative methodology in the form of constructivist grounded theory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty residential staff members through an iterative process of data collection and analysis, and theoretical sampling, until theoretical saturation was achieved. Results: Eighteen studies were included in the systematic review. Results highlight heterogeneous staff training, often evaluated through measurement of staff knowledge, skills and/or attitudes, and/or child behaviour frequency. Findings offer tentative support for the positive impact of training upon staff skills but other outcomes remain unclear. Results from Journal Article 2 indicate that staff had difficulty articulating attachment theory and often did not have a coherent narrative to describe attachment theory to practice links. Instead, they focussed upon a natural process of building relationships within a challenging context, with attachment theory only coming to the forefront when deemed relevant. Conclusions: The effectiveness of residential staff training remains unclear due to the methodological limitations of included studies. Significant improvements are identified for future evaluations of training to address this issue. Future staff training may benefit from limiting jargon, developing theory to practice links, and facilitating staff reflective function. Recommendations of attachment-informed care must also recognise the complexity of the residential system; and the current disparity between attachment theory narrative within policy and research, and practice.

Maintenance of staff training continues to be problematic at agencies that serve individuals with developmental disabilities, due to high client to staff ratios, staff turnover and lack of time and resources for training. The purpose of this study was to find a refresher method that staff could independently access that would be effective, as well as convenient and non-aversive. Seven staff participants at a day program for adults with developmental disabilities were trained on two client intervention plans using a Behavioral Skills Training (BST) method. Each group was given follow-up training: one group received a video refresher; one utilized flashcards and one served as the control group. All participants increased correct responses after BST training. While all participants also maintained a higher percentage of correct responses after maintenance training, all of the video and one of the flashcard group participants exhibited higher scores in the last few months of the study than did the control group. Participant surveys revealed that the videos were the most preferred method of maintenance training; participants thought they would be most likely to independently access videos over flashcards, if the resources were made available.