Training staff to implement behavior management guidelines for individuals with developmental disabilities

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2020

First Committee Member

Karsina, Allen

Second Committee Member

MacDonald, Rebecca

Third Committee Member

Henley, Amy

Abstract

"Training staff to implement behavior intervention programs with accuracy is a critical component of treatment success. We evaluated the use of a training package consisting of written instructions, a quiz, and video modeling to train 2 new employees at a residential school for children with autism and other developmental disabilities to implement the behavior management guidelines of a student diagnosed with autism. Using a multiple-baseline-across-participants design, we evaluated the participants’ accurate implementation of the behavior management guidelines with the experimenter playing the role of the student during baseline (written instructions only) and following the training package. Results indicated that the training package improved employee performance, but additional sessions with role play and feedback from the experimenter were required for the participants to meet mastery criteria. In a second experiment involving 3 new employees and the same student’s behavior management guidelines, we evaluated the same training package with the addition of a self-scoring component. In this component, the employees watched videos from their baseline sessions and scored their performance using the same checklist used by the experimenter. Results showed that this training package improved performance for all 3 employees, but to reach mastery criteria 2 of the employees required feedback on scoring first by sharing the experimenter’s scoring of the same video and then, for one participant, by reviewing the scoring sheets with the participant and describing the errors. In both experiments, probes across other contexts than the training context (e.g., meals, transition) were conducted and, once mastery criteria was met following training and/or role play or feedback, the participants were observed working with the student."

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