Effects of behavioral and medical models of consultation on teacher expectancies and instruction of a hypothetical child

Sixty first- and second-grade teachers were randomly assigned to one of four conditions representing variations in consultation where they were required to teach a hypothetical child to add. The first condition involved face-to-face behavioral consultation in which the consultant cued a teacher to verbalize antecedent and consequent conditions that might affect learning and prompted the teacher to specify the kinds of capabilities that the child would need in order to master the academic task targeted for instruction. In the second type of behavioral consultation, face-to-face consultation was augmented by a task analysis report specifying prerequisite skills. The third type, medical model consultation, involved face-to-face consultation focusing on temporally remote environmental circumstances accompanied by a traditional psychological report specifying that the child was of low ability. The control group was asked general questions about the school. Results suggested that behavioral consultation with task analysis was associated with significantly more teaching success than was control, medical model, and behavioral consultation without task analysis. Moreover, behavioral consultation without task analysis was better than medical model consultation. Implications for psychoeducational assessment are discussed within the context of teacher expectations and instruction.     

ONGOING CONSULTATION AS A METHOD OF IMPROVING PERFORMANCE OF STAFF MEMBERS IN A GROUP HOME

A model of ongoing consultation was implemented in a community group home for 8 adults with severe and profound mental retardation. Two consultants, highly experienced in working with people with mental retardation and in the procedures used in group homes, taught staff members to use a token reinforcement system, to engage the adults in a variety of activities, and to improve the content and style of the staff members' interactions with the adults. The consultants taught skills to 9 staff members through brief mini-workshops, direct observation of the staff members' use of the skills during regular activities in the group home, and individual verbal feedback regarding a staff member's performance of the skills. Evaluation of the ongoing consultation process by the 2 consultants showed it to be effective in improving the performance of the staff members and in changing the behaviors of the adults who lived in the home. Continued implementation of the process, however, appeared to be necessary for the behavior changes of staff members to be maintained at high levels.     

A Survey of Consultation Training as a Part of Counselor Education Programs

A survey was devised to obtain feedback from counselor educators throughout the country regarding the teaching of consultation skills in their master's degree programs. This survey was mailed to 410 counselor education departments, with the request that the faculty member most closely associated with teaching consultation at the master's level respond. Usable survey forms were returned by 144 programs. A phone follow-up survey of selected nonrespondents substantiated the indicated findings. Reported survey results indicate the extent to which counselor education programs include training in consultation skills, the number of students involved, and the emphasis placed on various consultation skills.     

Training teachers in behavioral consultation and therapy: An analysis of verbal behaviors

This study evaluated the relative effectiveness of two teacher-training packages under two analogue consultation conditions in a 2 × 2 completely randomized factorial design. The subjects were 56 elementary school teachers in an urban school district in Arizona. The conditions included a training package of classroom behavior modification and consultation, a training package of consultative service procedures, and general multidisciplinary team processes (a nonspecific control). The consultation conditions included one variant in which very specific consultant questions were presented, and a second in which much more general, somewhat vague, consultant elicitors were presented to subjects in problem-identification, problem-analysis, and problem-evaluation behavioral consultation analogue interviews. The effectiveness of these training packages was evaluated in respect to knowledge of behavior modification principles and concepts, and the frequency of specific categories of consultee verbal behaviors. The results indicated that the experimental training package was effective in increasing teachers' knowledge of behavioral procedures and in increasing the frequency of teacher verbalization regarding overt child behaviors and behavioral intervention plans during the problem identification and problem analysis phases of consultation. It was also found that even after training, specific consultant questions were important in eliciting consultee statements related to environmental conditions surrounding behavior. The use of more general consultant verbal behaviors resulted in significantly more vague, unspecified, and irrelevant types of consultee verbalizations. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Implementing scientific practices through case studies: Examples using home-school interventions and consultation

Integrating scientific methods into school psychological practice is an essential tenet of effective service. In this article, we present two related examples that demonstrate methods by which to conduct high-quality intervention and consultation case studies with integrity. The present case studies utilized home note and consultation-based interventions to improve task completion and accuracy in mathematics for primary grade students who had demonstrated performance difficulties despite adequate intellectual ability and academic skills. Two sets of case studies were conducted. One involved the use of a home-school note implemented by parents and teachers in conjunction with a self-instruction manual. The second set of case studies used the home note and manual instituted in the context of behavioral consultation with parents and teachers. Both interventions (home-note-only and home note with consultation) increased math completion and accuracy in underachievers. Levels of performance were stable and differences between baseline and treatment conditions were statistically significant for consultation students only. Treatment integrity, maintenance of treatment gains, and consumer acceptability were also stronger in the consultation case studies. The implications for practitioners and future research are explored.     

The Importance of Interpersonal Skills in Consultee-Centered Consultation: A Review

This review explores the empirical research on the importance of interpersonal communication skills in consultation. Studies have found consultants' facilitative characteristics, along with an appropriate use of verbal and nonverbal skills, to be important in the consultation process. Because of the state of the research literature, however, the need for more studies on verbal and nonverbal communication skills is suggested.     

My Country,Right or Wrong: Education,Accumulated Democratic Experience,and Political Socialization of Blind Patriotism

Although educational attainment has been identified as a significant factor that reduces uncritical positive attachment to one's country (i.e., blind patriotism), little is known about whether the remedial effect of education on uncritical patriotism is universal across countries with different histories of democratic rule. This article examines the extent to which democracy stock (the accumulated amount of democratic traditions, legacies, and experiences consolidated over time) conditions the relationship between education and blind patriotism. Using international data from 33 countries, the article shows that the remedial effect of education is more pronounced in countries with larger stocks of democracy than in countries with higher levels of democracy (current or recent). The results imply that the political socialization of critical patriotism is a cumulative process in which citizens internalize their potentially democratic competencies (e.g., knowledge, skills, and dispositions) and develop a sense of national attachment based on critical reflection on government policy and practice (i.e., critical loyalty) over an extended period of time.     

Endorsement of Group Change and Organization Change Affirmative Action Programs for Male and Female Beneficiaries

To test the position that some people’s willingness to endorse affirmative action is influenced by the match between beneficiary group and the attributional underpinnings of the programs, endorsement of four programs that could be used to benefit either women or men were assessed among 95 undergraduate students in Ontario, Canada. Students preferred the use of a remedial program that suggested that beneficiaries are under-qualified and need to develop job relevant skills for female versus male beneficiaries. This was driven by perceptions of the effectiveness of the program. For male beneficiaries, participants were more supportive of a mentorship development program that implied the necessity of structural change than they were of the remedial program. These effects were independent of participant gender.     

SOCIAL VALIDATION AND TRAINING OF EMERGENCY FIRE SAFETY SKILLS FOR POTENTIAL INJURY PREVENTION AND LIFE SAVING

A multifaceted behavioral program designed to teach emergency fire escape procedures to children was evaluated in a multiple-baseline design. Five children were trained to respond correctly to nine home emergency fire situations under simulated conditions. The situations and responses focused upon in training were identified by a social validation procedure involving consultation with several safety agencies, including the direct input of firefighters. Training, carried out in simulated bedrooms at school, resulted in significant improvements in both overt behavior and self-report of fire safety skills. The gains were maintained at a post-check assessment 2 weeks after training had been terminated. The results are discussed in relation both to the importance of social validation of targets and outcomes and the implications for further research in assessing and developing emergency response skills.     

Integrating consultation and program evaluation in school psychology

Consultation approaches to providing psychological services are widely used by school psychologists. Recently, the need for school psychologists to be proficient in educational program evaluation has been recognized. The present paper discusses how school psychologists can use their existing consultation skills as an approach to program evaluation. The integration of consultation skills with evaluation results in an approach to program evaluation that is particularly useful where program goals and objectives are broad and nonspecific (as in many educational innovations). Also, the consultation approach to evaluation is easier for school psychologists to blend with their other roles in schools than the assessment-oriented evaluator role of some evaluation models. The consultation approach to evaluation is illustrated using a federally sponsored training program for school teachers and administrators.     

The identification of resources and constraints influencing plan design in consultation

The present study investigated the effects of consultant verbalizations on consultee verbalizations reflecting consultee resources that might be used in plan implementation and constraints potentially limiting the nature of plans implemented in consultation. Interviews of 50 consultants trained in behavioral consultation and participating in a field experience with public school teachers were analyzed. Plan-tactic-elicitors verbalized by consultants were shown to have a positive effect on the incidence of resources as opposed to responses not reflecting resources or constraints. Other types of consultant elicitors all had a negative impact on resource incidence when compared to the incidence of other types of consultee responses.     

The relative effects of the frostig program, corrective reading instruction, and attention upon the reading skills of corrective readers with visual perceptual deficiencies

How effective are the Frostig training program and corrective reading instruction for improving the reading and visual-motor skills of pupils who possess deficiencies in both areas? Each of the three teachers worked each school day for sixteen weeks with the subjects of the two treatment groups plus a play placebo group. On the basis of the results of this study there is little, if any, support for the use of the Frostig program or corrective reading as treatments to improve the reading skills of children considered to possess a visual-motor problem. Due to the performances of the attention-placebo group, it is logical to hypothesize that improvements of the remedial groups are more a function of personal attention than the unique remedial powers of the two treatments. Consideration should be given to the optimal number of Frostig sessions as well as to the possibility of a ceiling effect of the Frostig program. Eight weeks of training would appear to be the maximum time before regression or improvement takes place.     

An ethnographic inquiry of cooperative learning implementation

Qualitative research methods were employed to explore variations in teacher implementation of a research-based model of cooperative learning. Participants included five middle school math and science teachers who were trained in the Johnson, D.W. and Johnson, R.T. [Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1983). The socialization and achievement crisis: Are cooperative learning experiences the answer? Applied Social Psychology, 4, 199-124.] model of cooperative learning. Implementation was examined via interview and observation. Principles from cognitive psychology defined constructs for study, which included teacher concepts, plans, and enactment of cooperative learning in the classroom. Study design included features characteristic of ethnographic inquiry: prolonged engagement, purposeful sampling, persistent observation, multiple source data collection, and recursive interpretation. Triangulation of data sources revealed that relationships between concepts, plans and enactment were mediated by teaching style, teaching context, and degree of teaching expertise. Findings suggest that when attempting to implement cooperative learning lessons, teacher may benefit from attention to teacher and student roles, curricular requirements, instructional time, and classroom management skills. Findings further demonstrate the important contributions of qualitative research to the cooperative learning literature.     

Cognitive modeling of consultation processes: A means for improving consultees'' problem definition skills

This study investigated whether consultees' understanding and use of problem definition skills could be enhanced by increasing their awareness of these processes during consultation interactions. Subjects assigned to a consultation with cognitive modeling group viewed videotaped consultation interactions in which consultants' verbalizations during the problem definition stage of consultation frequently included overt references to the problem-solving processes being used by these consultants. Subjects in a consultation without cognitive modeling group viewed similar interactions except that the consultants' statements did not include overt references to problem-solving processes. A control group viewed irrelevant interactions between consultants and consultees. Data analyses indicated that the subjects exposed to consultations that included cognitive modeling components wrote better problem definitions and were better able to describe the process for defining children's problems than subjects in either the consultation without cognitive modeling or control groups. The subjects in the consultation without cognitive modeling group generally did better than those in the control group.     

Reducing the Risk for Preschool Expulsion: Mental Health Consultation for Young Children with Challenging Behaviors

Increasing numbers of young children are being expelled from child care settings because of their problem behavior. Access to mental health consultation is related to lower rates of expulsion, but additional data are needed to document the pathways through which mental health consultation reduces the risk of expulsion. We report on outcomes from a 4-year project designed to reduce the number of children expelled for problem behavior in a large suburban county in Maryland. Two master’s-level professionals provided behavioral consultation to child care providers who identified nearly 200 children at imminent risk for expulsion. Child care providers rated children’s social skills and problem behaviors at referral and discharge using the Preschool Kindergarten Behavior Scales and the Brief Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment. Statistically significant increases in social skills and reductions in problem behaviors were seen for children who received individualized consultation. More than three-quarters of the children who were at risk for expulsion were able to be maintained in their current child care placement; of those that changed placements, only half (n = 13) were removed involuntarily. These findings provide additional support for mental health consultation as a promising strategy to reduce the risk for expulsion for young children with problem behaviors.     

Relative frequency of consultee lack of knowledge,skills, confidence,and objectivity in school settings

Caplan (1963, 1970) specifies consultee lack of knowledge, skills, confidence, and objectivity as the “four common reasons for the work difficulties that underlie the need for consultation” (p. 127). Although Caplan hypothesizes that the majority of consultation cases result from consultee lack of objectivity, there has been no empirical examination of the relative frequency with which consulting school psychologists encounter each type of consultee difficulty. To assess this, ten school psychology consultants rated the primary consultee problem for each consulation case they had. Contrary to Caplan's assumption, data analyses indicated that significantly more consultation cases resulted from colsultee lack of knowledge, skills, and confidence than from consultee lack of objectivity, which accounted for only 7% of the cases. These findings call into question the practical utility of psychodynamically oriented Caplanian techniques for consulting school psychologists. Because the preponderance of consultation cases develop from consultee lack of knowledge, skills, and confidence, school psychologists would be best advised to focus primarily upon the development and utilization of problem solving, behavior analysis, and sophisticated communication skills as their principal consultative strategies.     

The “Hidden” Technology of Effective Parent Consultation: A Guided Participation Model for Promoting Change in Families

Parenting interventions based on social learning principles are amongst the most effective interventions available to prevent and manage social, emotional and behavioral problems in children and adolescents. The most successful programs employ active skills training methods (modeling, rehearsal, practice, feedback and homework) to teach new parenting skills. However, effective parent consultation also involves a broader range of interpersonal and process skills such as building a collaborative relationship, facilitating parent receptivity to new ideas or skills, managing within session resistance, and important micro skills associated with clinical tasks such as promoting parents self-regulation, independent problem solving and autonomy. This paper aims to articulate the “hidden” technology of effective parent consultation and identify implications for research on mechanisms of change in parenting interventions and practitioner training.     

Training Consultants: A Call to Action

The development of consultation skills lags far behind the development of counseling skills in most counselor education programs. Some of the reasons why consultation training is not emphasized are examined, and some remedies are suggested.     

Application of a metacognitive strategy to assessment, intervention, and consultation: A think-aloud technique

Research on metacognition is reviewed and suggestions are made for application of this knowledge by school psychologists in assessment, intervention, and consultation. Two empirical studies illustrate the application of a specific metacognitive strategy — the think-aloud procedure—to assessment and intervention. The first study showed that asking students to give reasons for responses improved performance on a test of reading comprehension. The second study showed that incorporating the think-aloud technique in remedial reading instruction resulted in substantial gains in reading comprehension.     

The role of the school psychologist: Teachers'' preferences as a function of personal and professional characteristics

Teachers were surveyed concerning the importance of 12 potential roles for school psychologists (e.g., counseling, case or program consultation, community liaison, psychodiagnostics). Results showed that direct and remedial services which did not require the school psychologist to intrude on the teacher's prerogatives were in general considered to be most important. However, teachers who reported using “open education” methods were significantly more likely to value more indirect, preventive, and collaborative school psychology services than their colleagues. Grade level taught, gender, experience, and teaching specialty had virtually no effect on respondents' ratings of the school psychologist roles.