Teaching safety skills to children to prevent gun play

Research has shown that children often engage in gun play when they find a firearm and that this behavior is often involved in unintentional firearm injuries. Previous research has shown existing programs to be ineffective for teaching children safety skills to reduce gun play. This study examined the effectiveness of a behavioral skills training (BST) program supplemented with in situ training for teaching children safety skills to use when they find a gun (i.e., don't touch, leave the area, tell an adult). Eight 4- to 5-year-old children were trained and assessed in a naturalistic setting and in a generalized setting in a multiple baseline across subjects design. Results showed that 3 of the children performed the skills after receiving BST, whereas 5 of the children required supplemental in situ training. All children in the study learned to perform the skills when assessed in a naturalistic setting and when assessed in a generalization setting. Performance was maintained at 2- to 8-week follow-up assessments.     

Using Direct Skills Teaching to Improve Job Skills for Persons With Disabilities

This study evaluated whether a direct skills training (DST) approach for persons with disabilities can better prepare participants for job interviews. Twenty graduate students in a master's program in rehabilitation counseling at various agency internship sites were trained in a 4‐session Presenting Qualifications curriculum based on DST administered to 126 participants in 20 group settings. Participants reported greater confidence and preparedness in the interview process, in answering difficult questions, and in highlighting past accomplishments after the group. Results support the feasibility of training entry‐level rehabilitation counselors in the DST approach to teach job interview skills to individuals with disabilities.     

Teaching preschool children to report suspicious packages to adults

Law enforcement agencies stress that public reporting of terror‐related crime is the predominant means for disrupting these actions. However, schools may be unprepared because the majority of the populace may not understand the threat of suspicious materials or what to do when they are found on school grounds. The purpose of this study was to systematically teach preschool children to identify and report suspicious packages across three experiments. In the first experiment, we used multiple exemplar training to teach children to identify the characteristics of safe and unsafe packages. In the second experiment, we taught participants to identify the locations where packages should be considered unsafe. Finally, in the third experiment, we used behavioral skills training to teach participants to avoid touching unsafe packages, leave the area where they were located, and report their discovery to an adult. Results suggest the participants quickly developed these skills. Implications for safety skills in young school children are discussed.     

Teaching Pedestrian Skills to Individuals with Developmental Disabilities

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of most to least prompting on teaching pedestrian skills to individuals with developmental disabilities. Five individuals with developmental disabilities were taught three different pedestrian skills, all related to crossing the streets, using simulation activities on a road model in the gym of their school. A multiple probe design across behaviors was used to evaluate the effects of most to least prompting. The results of the study revealed that most to least prompting was effective in teaching pedestrian skills. The subjects learned each of the skills and managed to generalize these skills to the actual city traffic.     

Assessing and teaching job‐related social skills to adults with autism spectrum disorder

Few studies have evaluated interventions to improve the job‐related social skills of adults with autism spectrum disorder. In this study, we examined the efficacy of a treatment package for teaching several social skills that are critical to job success, such as responding appropriately to feedback and asking for a task model from the supervisor. Three adults, aged 19 to 27 years, participated. Initial training of each skill consisted of verbal explanations, modeling, and role‐play with feedback, along with stimulus prompts to promote generalization to a different setting. The trainer introduced additional intervention components as needed. We also evaluated generalization across different social skills and evocative situations. Results indicated that the treatment package was generally effective in improving the targeted social skills, and that stimulus prompts may be necessary for generalization to a job setting. However, generalized responding across social skills rarely emerged. These findings have important implications for preparing individuals with autism to function successfully on the job.     

Teaching social play skills to adults and children with autism as an approach to building rapport

Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and no intellectual disabilities were taught to increase the social play skills of children with ASD as part of a vocational training program. Participants included 3 adults, aged 21 to 27 years, and 6 children with ASD. Probes conducted throughout the study evaluated whether play skills training affected a measure of rapport between the adult and child. Results demonstrated the effectiveness of behavioral skills training for teaching the adult participants the appropriate play skills. In addition, the children's social engagement increased. Finally, rapport probes showed that play skills training increased levels of proximity, our measure of rapport, between the adults and children.     

Using a Naturalistic Sport Context to Train Social Skills in Children

ABSTRACT

Researchers have utilized sports activities to deliver social skills training (SST) programs to children. Using a multiple-baseline across behaviors design, we examined whether a brief SST program delivered during a soccer camp would increase social skills and athletic competencies. Each participant’s self-concept, and his interest in soccer were evaluated. Results suggest that the SST procedure effectively increased targeted social skills. Further, participants reported increased interest in soccer and higher overall self-concept. Our results suggest that similar effects can be achieved in a relatively short, but intense, camp that utilizes SST and sports-skill training components. Limitations and implications are discussed.     

Teaching safety skills to children to prevent gun play: an evaluation of in situ training

This study evaluated behavioral skills training with added in situ training for teaching safety skills to prevent gun play. Following baseline, each child received two sessions of behavioral skills training and one in situ training session. Additional in situ training sessions were conducted until the child exhibited the safety skills (don't touch the gun, get away, and tell an adult). All children acquired and maintained the safety skills at a 3-month follow-up. In addition, of the 7 children assessed in a dyad situation, all exhibited the correct skills in the presence of another child.     

Wearable activity schedules to promote independence in young children

Activity schedules consist of a series of visual discriminative stimuli, arranged in booklets or binders, which function as prompts for appropriate behavior. Although activity schedules are useful, their typical presentation in binders can be cumbersome and stigmatizing, placing additional barriers for independence and inclusion. The purpose of the present studies was to evaluate the usefulness of a wearable activity schedule and determine whether prompts provided by it would be sufficient to support completion of a complex chain of behaviors by young children. In Experiment 1, the Octopus watch® provided prompts to children of typical development to complete a morning routine independently. In Experiment 2, the usefulness of the watch was evaluated in children with autism spectrum disorder engaged in play activities in a clinical setting. In both experiments, children reliably displayed a greater proportion of independent engagement in target behaviors when prompts were delivered by the watch compared to control conditions.     

The cognitive bases of learning to read and spell in Greek: evidence from a longitudinal study

We conducted a longitudinal study examining the role of phonemic awareness, phonological processing, and grammatical skills in the development of reading and spelling abilities in Greek. A battery of cognitive, linguistic, and literacy tasks was administered to 131 primary school children (65 7-year-olds and 66 9-year-olds) and was repeated in the following year (8- and 10-year-olds, respectively). Phoneme awareness, speech rate, and rapid automatized naming (RAN) were concurrent predictors of reading rate at Time 1 (T1), and speech rate was a longitudinal predictor of reading rate at Time 2 (T2) when reading at T1 was controlled. The predictors of spelling differed from those of reading; phoneme awareness and speech rate predicted concurrent attainments at T1, and phoneme awareness was a robust longitudinal predictor. Despite the differences in the degree of transparency between the Greek and English orthographies, phoneme awareness predicts variations in learning to read and spell in both languages.     

Comparing the teaching interaction procedure to social stories for people with autism

This study compared social stories and the teaching interaction procedure to teach social skills to 6 children and adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder. Researchers taught 18 social skills with social stories and 18 social skills with the teaching interaction procedure within a parallel treatment design. The teaching interaction procedure resulted in mastery of all 18 skills across the 6 participants. Social stories, in the same amount of teaching sessions, resulted in mastery of 4 of the 18 social skills across the 6 participants. Participants also displayed more generalization of social skills taught with the teaching interaction procedure to known adults and peers.     

Evaluation of a telehealth parent training program in teaching self-care skills to children with autism

The present study used synchronous video conferencing to remotely deliver a behavioral skills training-based (BST) parent training program to 3 parents of children with autism in the family home. Parents were taught to implement graduated guidance to teach their children several important self-care skills. Parents did not correctly implement graduated guidance after receiving detailed written instructions only. After parents received the BST parent training package, however, all parents implemented graduated guidance with near-perfect levels of fidelity, and all children completed the targeted self-care skills with substantially higher levels of accuracy and independence. Furthermore, parents reported high levels of satisfaction with graduated guidance, the telehealth BST training package, and their children's ability to complete self-care skills.     

Training self-advocacy skills to adults with mild handicaps.

We developed and empirically evaluated an instructional program to teach self-advocacy skills to eight young adults with mild handicaps. Participants were taught to discriminate whether or not possible violations of legal rights occurred in socially validated scenarios and, if so, to role-play how to redress rights violations. Experimental control was demonstrated with a multiple probe design across four general legal rights categories for the discrimination component of training, and a multiple probe across groups of subjects for the redressing legal rights component of training. Participants'' behavior was probed in simulations and deceptions of legal rights violations in natural settings. There were marked increases in dependent measures after instruction. Difficulties in assessing generalization and maintenance of low-rate behaviors and suggestions for future research are presented.     

Teaching generalization of purchasing skills across community settings to autistic youth using videotape modeling.

Three young autistic adults were trained to purchase items. Training was conducted in one setting with concurrent generalization probes taken in three community stores. Training in one setting failed to produce generalization to the three probe settings. Generalization training, which consisted of viewing videotapes of models who purchased items in the probe settings and answering questions about the models'' responses, was then introduced. Training with the videotapes resulted in generalization to the three community stores. Results of the use of videotapes as a cost-effective means to program generalization in community training programs are discussed.     

Behavioral skills training to increase interview skills of adolescent males in a juvenile residential treatment facility

Some studies suggest that acquiring employment following release from prison may reduce recidivism; however, few studies have evaluated procedures for teaching job-related skills to adolescents in residential detention facilities. Stocco et al. (2017) used behavioral skills training (BST) to improve interview skills of college students. The current study used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants to evaluate the extent to which BST improved interview skills for 7 adolescents who had been adjudicated for sexual offenses. Results show that BST increased appropriate responses to interview questions for 4 students and BST plus modifications (i.e., stimulus and response prompts) increased correct responding to questions for the other 3. In addition, BST increased appropriate questions, correct posture, and smiling, and decreased fidgeting for all 7 students. We briefly discuss the social implications of teaching interview skills to adjudicated adolescents, as well as the limitations of the findings.     

Towards a better understanding of the association between motor skills and executive functions in 5- to 6-year-olds: The impact of motor task difficulty

Different lines of evidence suggest an association between motor skills and executive functions (EFs) in kindergarten children. Comparatively little is known about the specific nature of this relationship. In the present study, using a within-subjects design, a sample of 124 five- to six-year-old children completed 12 fine and gross motor tasks of varying nominal difficulty and three EFs tasks. We assumed that difficult motor tasks are less automated than easy motor tasks. Therefore, EFs should be involved more strongly in difficult compared to easy motor tasks. Firstly, results replicated the association between motor skills and EFs. Secondly, results provided a new and differentiated perspective on the evidence of this link. Performance on both easy and difficult fine motor tasks was significantly related to EFs. However, only performance on the difficult, but not on the easy gross motor tasks was significantly correlated with EFs. The findings demonstrate that the challenges and demands inherent in any motor task influence the magnitude of the motor–EFs link. That is, difficult (i.e., less automated) motor tasks require EFs more substantially than easy (i.e., more automated) motor tasks. Results will be discussed with regard to further candidate processes underlying the motor–EFs link.     

A component analysis of behavioral skills training with volunteers teaching motor skills to individuals with developmental disabilities

This study included a component analysis of behavioral skills training (BST) for teaching volunteers how to use this training method to support individuals with developmental disabilities in a physical education program. In an alternating treatment design embedded within a multiple baseline design across five participants, the number of BST steps that volunteers completed correctly while teaching four motor skills was measured. In the initial training phase, each motor skill was taught to volunteers using a specific component of BST (i.e., instructions, modeling, rehearsal, or feedback). In subsequent training phases, BST components were combined to teach the volunteers the motor skills for which they did not reach a predetermined mastery criterion (a score of four correct responses across two consecutive trials). Maintenance was assessed. Results indicated that individual components of BST alone were sufficient for volunteers to meet the mastery criterion; however, the full BST framework was necessary for skill maintenance. Strengths, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Evaluation of behavioral skills training for teaching abduction-prevention skills to young children

This study examined the effectiveness of individual behavioral skills training in conjunction with in situ training in teaching 13 preschool children abduction prevention skills. Children's performance was measured during baseline, training, and at 2-week, 1-month, and 3-month follow-ups using in situ assessments in which abduction prevention skills were measured in naturalistic settings. Results revealed that all the children learned the skills and all the children available at the 2-week and 1-month follow-ups maintained the skills at criterion level. All but 3 children's criterion-level performances were maintained at the 3-month follow-up as well.     

Preliminary evaluation of a parent training program to prevent gun play

Recent research has shown that behavioral skills training with in situ training is an effective strategy to teach children the safety skills needed if they ever encounter an unattended firearm. The current study evaluated the use of parents as trainers to increase the efficiency of training. The success of parent training on their children's safety skills was evaluated in a multiple baseline across participants design. The results showed that the training was effective for 3 of the 4 children.