ASSESSMENT AND TRAINING OF CLINICAL INTERVIEWING SKILLS: ANALOGUE ANALYSIS AND FIELD REPLICATION

Two studies were conducted to assess and train clinical interviewing skills. In Experiment 1, eight university practicum students (“therapists”) and either role played or volunteer “clients” were audiotaped during simulated interviews. Following the collection of baseline data on both therapist and client responses, training was provided by way of written materials, classroom instruction and practice, and quizzes. Results of a multiple baseline design across subjects showed improvements in therapists' interviewing skills and subsequent increases in client responding. Experiment 2 replicated and extended the research to a hospital outpatient clinic, in which therapists interviewed the parents of children with behavior problems. In addition, four months following the completion of Experiment 2, follow-up data collected during a maintenance condition showed continued high levels of therapist and client behavior. Finally, a panel of expert peers indicated that each response category was judged highly relevant to the behavioral assessment process.     

Telehealth and in‐person training outcomes for novice discrete trial training therapists

The efficacy and efficiency of telehealth and in‐person training were compared while teaching seven undergraduate students to implement components of discrete trial training. A multiple‐baseline design across skills with elements of multiple probe and delayed multiple baseline combined with an alternating‐treatments design was used to evaluate the effects of behavioral skills training (BST) on (a) implementing a multiple stimulus without replacement preference assessment, (b) setting up an instructional context, (c) delivering antecedent prompts, and (d) delivering consequences for accurate and inaccurate responding. Two skills were trained via telehealth and two skills were trained in‐person using BST procedures with a mock student. All participants provided high acceptability ratings for both training procedures. Results also showed that telehealth training was as efficacious and efficient as in‐person training for all skills across all participants. Five of six participants showed high levels of maintenance of the newly acquired skills; these five also exhibited the skills during a novel instructional task.     

Improving the interview skills of college students using behavioral skills training

Obtaining a job as a college graduate is partly dependent on interview performance. We used a multiple baseline design across skills to evaluate the effects of behavioral skills training with self‐evaluation for five college students. Training effects were evaluated using simulated interviews as baseline and posttraining assessments. All participants acquired targeted skills, but we observed some individual differences. Participants were satisfied with training outcomes and rated the procedures as acceptable. Furthermore, ratings from university staff who provide interview training indicated that training improved performance across several skills for the majority of participants.     

TRAINING APARTMENT UPKEEP SKILLS TO REHABILITATION CLIENTS: A COMPARISON OF TASK ANALYTIC STRATEGIES

The research was designed to validate procedures to teach apartment upkeep skills to severely handicapped clients with various categorical disabilities. Methodological features of this research included performance comparisons between general and specific task analyses, effect of an impasse correction baseline procedure, social validation of training goals, natural environment assessments and contingencies, as well as long-term follow-up. Subjects were taught to perform upkeep responses on their air conditioner-heating unit, electric range, refrigerator, and electrical appliances within the context of a multiple-probe across subjects experimental design. The results showed acquisition, long-term maintenance, and generalization of the upkeep skills to a nontraining apartment. General task analyses were recommended for assessment and specific task analyses for training. The impasse correction procedure generally did not produce acquisition.     

Using Behavioral Skills Training to Teach Interview Skills to Young Adults with Autism

With unemployment rates for adults with autism as high as 85%, it is important for young adults to learn necessary prevocational skills (e.g., interviewing) to help them succeed in their search for employment. There is little research showing that individuals with autism can be taught to respond appropriately during an interview to secure future employment opportunities. We replicated the results of Stocco et al. (J Appl Behav Anal 50:495–510, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.385) who evaluated the effects of behavioral skills training on the interview skills of college students. We used a multiple baseline design across three responses (i.e., asking questions, answering questions and appropriate body language) to extend these results to three young adults with autism. During baseline, responding was low across all three responses for all three participants. Behavioral skills training consisted of role-playing simulated interviews, providing feedback and performance rehearsals. For two of the participants, behavioral skills training alone was effective at increasing all three responses. For the third participant, we added textual cues and reinforcement during behavioral skills training to reach criterion performance. Results demonstrated that adults with autism can benefit from modified behavioral skills training to improve interview skills and employment opportunities. Social validity of responses was assessed by asking community members to rate video-taped segments of the interviews.

     

INCREASING INDEPENDENCE AMONG CHILDREN DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM USING A BRIEF EMBEDDED TEACHING STRATEGY

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a brief embedded teaching procedure, involving least‐to‐most prompting for two paraprofessional staff in order to increase independent responses of two children diagnosed with autism in an inclusive setting. Training was given using a behavioral skills training approach, involving instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. A multiple‐baseline design across behaviors was used to evaluate the effects of the embedded teaching procedure. Maintenance of training effects was evaluated two weeks, following the end of the study. After training of the brief embedded prompting procedure and during following up probes, both students showed increased independence in each skill that staff were trained to teach. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Teaching minority high school students to recruit helpers to attain personal and educational goals

Recruiting help from mentors and other potential helpers is a promising strategy for helping disadvantaged and minority youths meet their personal and educational goals. Three African-American high school seniors participated in a project designed to evaluate the effectiveness of training procedures that would allow them to ask for help in attaining educational and other personal goals. A behavioral training procedure that included instructional materials, role-play practice, praise, and feedback was used. Targeted skills included goal setting and 30 responses involved in the process of meeting with a potential helper. Role-play situations were used to evaluate participants' help-recruiting skills before and after training. Participants increased their help-recruiting skills from an average of 38% during baseline, to an average of 75% after training. Self-reported measures of goal attainment suggested that the students benefited from the training. Implications for mentoring programs designed to increase minority students' opportunities to reach educational goals were discussed.     

THE USE OF BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT TO PRESCRIBE AND EVALUATE TREATMENTS FOR SEVERELY HANDICAPPED CHILDREN

Behavioral assessment procedures were used to prescribe and evaluate treatments of maladaptive behavior for 2 children with severe multiple handicaps. In Experiment 1, the results of an assessment of reinforcer preference were used in conjunction with a functional analysis of the conditions maintaining self-injurious behavior to prescribe a treatment for a child with severe disabilities. The treatment procedure involved the use of a pressure-sensitive microswitch to activate reinforcing stimuli during two solitary conditions, during which self-injurious behavior had occurred at high rates. The results were evaluated with a multiple baseline across settings design and indicated that self-injury decreased with concomitant increases in microswitch activation. Results were maintained at 6 weeks, 8 weeks, and 6 months. In Experiment 2, the results of behavioral assessments of reinforcer preference and self-injurious behavior were combined to develop a treatment for a second severely handicapped child, who exhibited high rates of self-injury in demand situations. This treatment was evaluated with a multiple baseline across tasks design and resulted in the elimination of self-injury for up to 15 months.     

Prerequisite vs. in vivo acquisition of self-feeding skill

Separating the acquisition of prerequisite skills from the learning of skills in vivo may be a more efficacious procedure for self-help training of low functioning developmentally delayed children. Two procedures for training independent use of a fork at meals were compared using two equivalent groups of three subjects each, in multiple baseline design. Using previously accepted procedures, one group was trained during meals while the experimental group received prerequisite training making use of simulated food (styrofoam pieces). Data during training, generalization-to-meal, and follow-up were collected. For 6 months following training, the efficacy of prerequisite training was upheld. The complexity of individual responses to the singular or conjunctive use of social and edible reinforcement for the purpose of self-feeding skill generalization and maintenance, is discussed.     

Behavioral skills workshop for staff and supervisor in a community residence for developmentally handicapped adults

A behavioral skills workshop for counselors and a supervisor in a community group home was developed and evaluated. The workshop included group skills training, individual supervised in vivo practice, and supervisor training. Supervisor training taught behavioral staff management skills that were delivered in a multiple baseline design across subjects. Positive changes in staff behavior occurred for each group only after supervisor intervention. Significant positive changes occurred by the end of the workshop and were maintained at follow-up for staff self-evaluations of expertise and confidence to resolve problems, severity of client problems, and behavioral observations of positive client behaviors.     

SMALL GROUP BEHAVIORAL TRAINING TO IMPROVE THE JOB INTERVIEW SKILLS REPERTOIRE OF MILDLY RETARDED ADOLESCENTS

Four retarded adolescents, enrolled in a short-term residential treatment program, received behavioral job interview skills training. Although potentially employable, each was unable to present himself effectively in standard employment interviews. Treatment consisted of a series of behavioral group sessions using instructions, modeling and rehearsal procedures to increase, in multiple baseline fashion, such skills as the adolescents' ability to disclose positive information about their experience and background, convey interest in the position and direct relevant questions to an interviewer. Effectiveness of treatment for each client was assessed by: (1) Objective ratings of performance during individual, structured role-play job interviews following each treatment group; (2) objective ratings of pre- and posttraining performance during tape recorded in vivo generalization job interviews at a fast-food restaurant; and (3) global evaluations of pre- and posttraining in vivo generalization interviews made by experienced personnel interviewers unfamiliar with the nature of the treatment. The results indicated that potentially employable retarded citizens can be successfully taught appropriate job interview behavior using a small group behavioral procedure. The need for such techniques in community and rehabilitation centers for retarded citizens and other clinical populations is discussed.     

COMPETENCE IN ASPECTS OF BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT AND CONSULTATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR SERVICE DELIVERY AND GRADUATE TRAINING

This study examined the extent to which competence in applying behavioral procedures (timeout from positive reinforcement) was sufficient to establish competence in teaching others to apply the same procedures. During baseline, graduate students attempted to instruct parents with a history of child abuse and neglect in the use of time-out. Students were then instructed in the use of time-out until they achieved proficiency in a role-play context. They then reattempted to instruct the parents. Finally, the students were instructed in certain consultation skills (i.e., teaching others to apply behavioral procedures) and again attempted to instruct parents in the application of time-out. Observations of students' consultation skills, parents' proficiency at administering time-out, and children's compliance to parental instructions revealed that explicit training in behavioral consulting skills was necessary to produce improvements in these behaviors. Students' proficiency at administering time-out was insufficient to enable them to instruct others in its application. These results were corroborated by surveys of both students and staff. The implications for graduate training and service delivery are discussed.     

Public transportation training: in vivo versus classroom instruction

This study evaluated a classroom program to teach public transportation usage (bus-riding skills) to retarded persons. Based on a task analysis of specific skills, five retarded male students were taught each of the components of locating, signalling, boarding and riding, and exiting a bus. These skills were taught sequentially, using training procedures consisting of role playing, manipulating the actions of a doll on a simulated model, and responding to questions about slide sequences. Before, during, and after training, subjects were tested on generalization probes in the classroom and in the natural environment. Results of a multiple-baseline design across subjects indicated that up to 12 months after termination of training, each subject exhibited appropriate bus-riding skills on actual city buses. Two other subjects were trained on each skill component in vivo, on city buses, in order to compare the relative effectiveness and efficiency of classroom versus in vivo training. Both of these subjects acquired appropriate bus-riding skills; however, the in vivo training procedure was both more time consuming and expensive than classroom training. These findings further demonstrate the effectiveness and practicality of properly designed classroom training procedures for teaching community survival skills to retarded persons.     

An assessment of the efficiency of and child preference for forward and backward chaining

Comparative studies of forward and backward chaining have led some to suggest that sensitivity to each teaching procedure may be idiosyncratic across learners and tasks. The purposes of the current study were threefold. First, we assessed differential sensitivity to each chaining procedure within children when presented with multiple learning tasks of similar content but different complexity. Second, we evaluated whether differential sensitivity to a chaining procedure during a brief task predicted differential sensitivity during the teaching of longer tasks. Third, we directly assessed children's preferences for each teaching procedure via a concurrent-chains preference assessment. Learners acquired all target skills introduced under both chaining conditions, but individual children did not consistently learn more efficiently with either procedure. Short-duration tasks were not predictive of performance in tasks of longer duration. Both chaining procedures were preferred over a baseline condition without prompting, but participants did not demonstrate a preference for either procedure.     

The effect of behavioral skills training on shot performance in field hockey

Behavior analysis procedures have been used to improve sports performance and enhance player safety across a wide variety of sports. The current study evaluated the effects of behavioral skills training on three common field hockey shots, a slap shot, drive, and sweep for young field hockey players. The procedures were evaluated in a multiple baseline across behaviors for three players. Results showed increases in each type of shot once intervention was implemented.     

Conditional discrimination in mentally retarded adults: the development of generalized skills.

The development of generalized conditional discrimination skills was examined in adults with retardation. Two subjects with histories of failure to acquire arbitrary matching under trial-and-error procedures were successful under procedures that trained one or more prerequisite skills. The successive discrimination between the sample stimuli was established by training the subjects to name the stimuli. The simultaneous discrimination between the comparison stimuli was established using either (a) standard simple discrimination training with reversals or (b) a procedure in which each of the two sample-comparison relations in the conditional discrimination was presented in blocks of trials, with the size of the blocks decreasing gradually until sample presentation was randomized. The amount of prerequisite training required varied across subjects and across successive conditional discriminations. After acquiring either two or three conditional discriminations with component training, both subjects learned new conditional discriminations under trial-and-error procedures. In general, each successive conditional discrimination was acquired more rapidly. Tests showed that conditional responding had become a generalized skill. Symmetry was shown for almost all trained relations. Symmetry trial samples were ultimately named the same as the stimuli to which they were related in training.     

Teaching a Problem Solving Strategy to Inpatient Adolescents:

This study evaluated a recently developed program for teaching problem solving skills. Six inpatient adolescents received training in four general areas: Authority Figures; Peer Issues; Community Resources; and Alcohol and Drugs. The program featured response-specific feedback, modeling, self-monitoring, visual cues, positive reinforcement, response practice, self-correction, and individualized performance criterion levels. A multiple baseline across groups design was used in which each group (N + 3) received baseline, training, probes, and pre/post training generalization assessments. Generalization was assessed to two different sets of untrained problem situations that contained similar and dissimilar situations to those used in training. One set was assessed during probes and the other in pre/post evaluations. Both the probes and post assessment results revealed that the subjects' verbal problem solving skills had generalized to both types of situations. Furthermore, the subjects' three-month post assessment scores demonstrated partial maintenance and were comparable to those of a group of normal high school students. Issues related to these results and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Using an Embedding Strategy to Teach Preschoolers with Significant Disabilities

The purpose of this study was two-fold. First, this study analyzed the effects of using response prompting procedures within an embedded skill approach on skill acquisition by 4 preschoolers with significant disabilities. Two target skills were identified from each student's IEP and taught during three preschool activities. A multiple probe across subjects design assessed the effects of the intervention. All students made progress above baseline performance. More importantly, there was consistency in performance of the target skills across at least two of the three activities for all children. Second, the reliability with which paraprofessionals in the preschool setting implemented response prompting procedures was evaluated. Data indicated that the paraprofessionals implemented the procedures with a high degree of accuracy. The impact of embedded skill instruction is addressed, as well as the impact of using non-degreed personnel to teach students with significant disabilities within inclusive preschool programs.