The purpose of this research was to evaluate a self-instructional package (Fazzio & Martin, 2007) to train parents of children with autism to conduct discrete-trials teaching (DTT). In Study 1, I investigated the effectiveness of a self-instructional manual and a self-instructional video for teaching five parents of children with autism to correctly apply DTT to teach three tasks to a confederate who role-played a child with autism. For three of the parents I also evaluated their ability to apply DTT to their children with autism. Following an average of 4.76 hours of training, the package produced a strong effect with three parents and a weak effect with two parents. In Study 2, I investigated the effectiveness of the self-instructional manual combined with role-playing and feedback, plus the self-instructional video, for teaching an additional five parents of children with autism to apply DTT to a confederate and to their children. Following an average of 4.68 hours of training, all five parents demonstrated large, clinically significant gains in their performance of DTT, both with a confederate as well as with their own child, with a minimal investment of one-on-one instructor time. The treatment procedures in both experiments were very well received by the parent participants. These results suggest that the training package in Experiment 2 has considerable potential as an effective, efficient and acceptable method of training parents of children with autism to apply DTT.

The purpose of this research was to evaluate a self-instructional package (Fazzio & Martin, 2007) to train parents of children with autism to conduct discrete-trials teaching (DTT). In Study 1, I investigated the effectiveness of a self-instructional manual and a self-instructional video for teaching five parents of children with autism to correctly apply DTT to teach three tasks to a confederate who role-played a child with autism. For three of the parents I also evaluated their ability to apply DTT to their children with autism. Following an average of 4.76 hours of training, the package produced a strong effect with three parents and a weak effect with two parents. In Study 2, I investigated the effectiveness of the self-instructional manual combined with role-playing and feedback, plus the self-instructional video, for teaching an additional five parents of children with autism to apply DTT to a confederate and to their children. Following an average of 4.68 hours of training, all five parents demonstrated large, clinically significant gains in their performance of DTT, both with a confederate as well as with their own child, with a minimal investment of one-on-one instructor time. The treatment procedures in both experiments were very well received by the parent participants. These results suggest that the training package in Experiment 2 has considerable potential as an effective, efficient and acceptable method of training parents of children with autism to apply DTT.

Discrete-trials teaching (DTT) is one of the principal techniques used in Applied Behaviour Analysis programs for children with autism. Although the demand for training individuals to implement DTT is high, published studies on strategies to do so are few. I conducted two experiments to investigate a training package for teaching individuals to implement DTT. In Experiment 1, I used a modified multiple-baseline design to evaluate the training package for teaching five university students to implement DTT to teach three tasks to a confederate role-playing a child with autism. Also, in an AB within-subject design with each participant, I compared two components of the training package, a Self-Instructional Manual and Feedback plus Demonstration. Experiment 2 was a systematic replication of Experiment 1, with 2 teaching assistants, a resource teacher, and 3 parents of children with autism as participants. In both experiments I assessed the generalization (G1) of participants’ ability to implement DTT (while teaching the confederate) to teach tasks not targeted for Feedback plus Demonstration, as well as generalization (G2) of DTT while teaching a child with autism. After an average of approximately 3 hours to master the self-instructional manual, participants’ DTT accuracy in both experiments improved from an average of 34% in Baseline to an average of 61% following the Self-Instructional Manual. Results appeared to be due to the Self-Instructional Manual phase for 9 of the 11 participants. Following an average of 35 minutes of Feedback plus Demonstration of DTT of one task, participants’ DTT accuracy improved to an average of 91% while teaching a confederate. The improvement appeared to be due to the intervention with 10 of the 11 participants. The participants’ DTT accuracy averaged 90% during G1 and 86% during G2. These results demonstrate that this training package has considerable potential for teaching DTT to tutors, educational assistants, and parents of children with autism. / February 2008

Discrete-trials teaching (DTT) is one of the principal techniques used in Applied Behaviour Analysis programs for children with autism. Although the demand for training individuals to implement DTT is high, published studies on strategies to do so are few. I conducted two experiments to investigate a training package for teaching individuals to implement DTT. In Experiment 1, I used a modified multiple-baseline design to evaluate the training package for teaching five university students to implement DTT to teach three tasks to a confederate role-playing a child with autism. Also, in an AB within-subject design with each participant, I compared two components of the training package, a Self-Instructional Manual and Feedback plus Demonstration. Experiment 2 was a systematic replication of Experiment 1, with 2 teaching assistants, a resource teacher, and 3 parents of children with autism as participants. In both experiments I assessed the generalization (G1) of participants’ ability to implement DTT (while teaching the confederate) to teach tasks not targeted for Feedback plus Demonstration, as well as generalization (G2) of DTT while teaching a child with autism. After an average of approximately 3 hours to master the self-instructional manual, participants’ DTT accuracy in both experiments improved from an average of 34% in Baseline to an average of 61% following the Self-Instructional Manual. Results appeared to be due to the Self-Instructional Manual phase for 9 of the 11 participants. Following an average of 35 minutes of Feedback plus Demonstration of DTT of one task, participants’ DTT accuracy improved to an average of 91% while teaching a confederate. The improvement appeared to be due to the intervention with 10 of the 11 participants. The participants’ DTT accuracy averaged 90% during G1 and 86% during G2. These results demonstrate that this training package has considerable potential for teaching DTT to tutors, educational assistants, and parents of children with autism.

A widely used instructional method for teaching children with autism is Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), and a main component of ABA programming is discrete-trials teaching (DTT). DTT is made up of a series of brief teaching trials, with each trial including an antecedent (e.g., an instruction from the teacher), a response from the child, and an immediate consequence (e.g., a reinforcer provided for a correct response). Using a modified multiple-baseline design across participants, Experiment 1 assessed the effectiveness of a DTT self-instructional package (Fazzio & Martin, 2007) for teaching 4 pairs of newly-hired ABA tutors how to apply 21 components of DTT to teach 3 tasks to a confederate role-playing a child with autism. In Experiment 2, a group of 8 additional tutors were each independently presented with the same procedure. In both experiments, in Phase 1(baseline), tutors attempted to teach the 3 tasks to the confederate. In Phase 2 (manual), tutors mastered a 37-page self-instructional manual and once again attempted to teach the same 3 tasks to the confederate. Phase 3 was a within-subject AB design component. That is, if tutors did not meet a DTT mastery criterion of 80% after studying the manual in Phase 2, then they watched a brief video demonstration of a DTT expert teaching a task to a child role-playing a child with autism (Fazzio, 2007), and then once again attempted to teach the 3 tasks to the confederate. Across both experiments: a) The 16 tutors averaged 4.6 hours to master the self-instructional manual, and showed an average improvement in DTT accuracy of 32.2% from baseline; b) For the 13 tutors who did not meet the mastery criterion after reading the manual, their average DTT performance improved an additional 12% after watching the video; c) 13 of the 16 participants met mastery (3 after the manual and 10 after the manual plus video), and the other 3 tutors were very close to mastery. The results suggest that the training package is a practical, economical and efficient method of instructing newly-hired tutors in ABA programs for children with autism.

Discrete-trials teaching (DTT) is one of the principal techniques used in Applied Behaviour Analysis programs for children with autism. Although the demand for training individuals to implement DTT is high, published studies on strategies to do so are few. I conducted two experiments to investigate a training package for teaching individuals to implement DTT. In Experiment 1, I used a modified multiple-baseline design to evaluate the training package for teaching five university students to implement DTT to teach three tasks to a confederate role-playing a child with autism. Also, in an AB within-subject design with each participant, I compared two components of the training package, a Self-Instructional Manual and Feedback plus Demonstration. Experiment 2 was a systematic replication of Experiment 1, with 2 teaching assistants, a resource teacher, and 3 parents of children with autism as participants. In both experiments I assessed the generalization (G1) of participants’ ability to implement DTT (while teaching the confederate) to teach tasks not targeted for Feedback plus Demonstration, as well as generalization (G2) of DTT while teaching a child with autism. After an average of approximately 3 hours to master the self-instructional manual, participants’ DTT accuracy in both experiments improved from an average of 34% in Baseline to an average of 61% following the Self-Instructional Manual. Results appeared to be due to the Self-Instructional Manual phase for 9 of the 11 participants. Following an average of 35 minutes of Feedback plus Demonstration of DTT of one task, participants’ DTT accuracy improved to an average of 91% while teaching a confederate. The improvement appeared to be due to the intervention with 10 of the 11 participants. The participants’ DTT accuracy averaged 90% during G1 and 86% during G2. These results demonstrate that this training package has considerable potential for teaching DTT to tutors, educational assistants, and parents of children with autism.

A widely used instructional method for teaching children with autism is Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), and a main component of ABA programming is discrete-trials teaching (DTT). DTT is made up of a series of brief teaching trials, with each trial including an antecedent (e.g., an instruction from the teacher), a response from the child, and an immediate consequence (e.g., a reinforcer provided for a correct response). Using a modified multiple-baseline design across participants, Experiment 1 assessed the effectiveness of a DTT self-instructional package (Fazzio & Martin, 2007) for teaching 4 pairs of newly-hired ABA tutors how to apply 21 components of DTT to teach 3 tasks to a confederate role-playing a child with autism. In Experiment 2, a group of 8 additional tutors were each independently presented with the same procedure. In both experiments, in Phase 1(baseline), tutors attempted to teach the 3 tasks to the confederate. In Phase 2 (manual), tutors mastered a 37-page self-instructional manual and once again attempted to teach the same 3 tasks to the confederate. Phase 3 was a within-subject AB design component. That is, if tutors did not meet a DTT mastery criterion of 80% after studying the manual in Phase 2, then they watched a brief video demonstration of a DTT expert teaching a task to a child role-playing a child with autism (Fazzio, 2007), and then once again attempted to teach the 3 tasks to the confederate. Across both experiments: a) The 16 tutors averaged 4.6 hours to master the self-instructional manual, and showed an average improvement in DTT accuracy of 32.2% from baseline; b) For the 13 tutors who did not meet the mastery criterion after reading the manual, their average DTT performance improved an additional 12% after watching the video; c) 13 of the 16 participants met mastery (3 after the manual and 10 after the manual plus video), and the other 3 tutors were very close to mastery. The results suggest that the training package is a practical, economical and efficient method of instructing newly-hired tutors in ABA programs for children with autism.

The present study examined the effectiveness of a self-instructional package for teaching discrete-trials teaching (DTT) to Applied Behaviour Analysis tutors at the St.Amant Applied Behaviour Analysis Program for Children with Autism. A modified multiple- baseline design across participants was used, and replicated six times. An AB design was used for one participant. The training package include a self-instructional manual, video demonstrations, and self-practice. Participants required an average of 3 hours and 56 minutes to master the manual. Eleven of the 13 participants achieved the mastery criterion during the post-training assessment. Mean DTT accuracy increased from 46.2% to 85.5% (a statistically significant increase). One tutor participated in a generalization phase with a child with autism, and their DTT accuracy averaged 80.1%. The results suggest that the self-instructional package appears to be an effective tool for teaching newly-hired tutors to conduct DTT.

The present study examined the effectiveness of a self-instructional package for teaching discrete-trials teaching (DTT) to Applied Behaviour Analysis tutors at the St.Amant Applied Behaviour Analysis Program for Children with Autism. A modified multiple- baseline design across participants was used, and replicated six times. An AB design was used for one participant. The training package include a self-instructional manual, video demonstrations, and self-practice. Participants required an average of 3 hours and 56 minutes to master the manual. Eleven of the 13 participants achieved the mastery criterion during the post-training assessment. Mean DTT accuracy increased from 46.2% to 85.5% (a statistically significant increase). One tutor participated in a generalization phase with a child with autism, and their DTT accuracy averaged 80.1%. The results suggest that the self-instructional package appears to be an effective tool for teaching newly-hired tutors to conduct DTT.

Treatment integrity is an important component of behavioural interventions, however few studies have examined methods to teach supervisors to evaluate the treatment integrity of such interventions applied by front-line staff. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a self-instructional package to teach individuals to evaluate the treatment integrity of discrete-trials teaching (DTT) sessions using the Discrete-Trials Teaching Evaluation Form (DTTEF). Participants consisted of six staff from the St.Amant Autism Programs. In a modified multiple-baseline design across a pair of participants, and replicated across two more pairs, at Baseline, a participant observed a confederate who role-played an instructor teaching three tasks to a confederate who role-played a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Each participant was required to evaluate sessions taught with (a) low integrity, (b) moderate integrity, or (c) high integrity. During training, participants studied a self-instructional package. At Post-training, participants were assessed on the same tasks as during Baseline. During Generalization, participants were assessed evaluating the treatment integrity of three videos of an Autism Tutor administering DTT to a child with ASD. Finally, during a seven-month Follow-up, four participants were available and were assessed evaluating the treatment integrity of a confederate instructor teach a confederate child with low, moderate, and high integrity. Results demonstrated that after an average of 1 hour and 16 minutes of training, there was an immediate increase in accuracy across all participants. Specifically, mean accuracy increased from 47.6% in Baseline to 84.7% at the Post-training assessment (a 37.1% increase). All participants showed excellent generalization results, and three of the four participants who were available at the Follow-up assessment performed at a high level. These results suggest that the training package has potential to be used as an effective method to train staff who work with children with ASD to evaluate the treatment integrity of DTT sessions. / February 2016