BackgroundBehavioural skills training (BST) has demonstrated effectiveness in training teachers in evidence‐based interventions to increase communication for children with limited repertoires. However, research has yet to extend to youth with developmental disabilities who are learning to communicate using speech‐generating devices. The emergent use of telehealth technology in applied behaviour analysis has been associated with greater access to therapeutic services. Although the use of telehealth has been extended as an avenue for parents to access behavioural intervention services for their child, fewer studies have evaluated the use of telehealth for teacher behavioural consultation or with adolescents and young adults with complex communication needs.MethodIn the present study, four teaching staff were trained via telehealth to implement communication facilitation strategies with augmentative and alterative communication users in a high school functional skills classroom. During the coaching sessions, the staff were provided BST on the basic behaviour analytic teaching strategies (e.g. assessing preference, environmental arrangement, and reinforcement strategies). Independent adapted ABAB designs were used to evaluate the effectiveness of modified BST delivered via telehealth on increased teaching staff‐implemented communication opportunities within the functional skills classroom and the effectiveness of staff‐implemented communication intervention on increased speech‐generating device mands for four adolescents/young adults with developmental disabilities.ResultsThe results indicated that the improved staff fidelity of the communication interventions was associated with the increased level of independent student mands for each dyad. Lastly, social validity data suggest that the procedures were acceptable and feasible. These data indicate that the use of telehealth may be a viable model for specialised classroom consultation.ConclusionThe use of a telehealth delivery model to train classroom staff may be a viable option when specialised support is necessary, but access is limited.
Two students with developmental disabilities were taught two daily living skills using video prompting with error correction presented on an iPod Touch, and two different fading procedures were implemented. In one fading procedure, individual video clips were merged into multiple larger clips following acquisition of the entire skill. In the second fading procedure, video clips were backward "chunked" during the intervention as individual steps were mastered. A multiple probe across participants design within a reversal design was used. Results showed that video prompting with error correction was effective in teaching both daily living skills. Furthermore, fading the video prompts during the intervention resulted in more rapid learning and higher maintenance and generalization effects than fading after acquisition.
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