Training behavioral technicians to implement naturalistic behavioral interventions using behavioral skills training

Training behavioral technicians mainly focuses on teaching accurate implementation of structured behavioral intervention programs. Often behavioral technicians are unable to adequately promote their clients' learning in less structured environments, which can limit opportunities for generalization of the clients' skills to the natural environment. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using behavioral skills training to coach behavioral technicians on the implementation of naturalistic behavioral interventions. Naturalistic behavioral interventions take advantage of naturally occurring situations to teach new skills and practice mastered skills in natural settings, thus promoting generalization across environments and in the presence of natural contingencies. Five behavioral technicians were trained to implement a novel protocol based on play therapy. Specifically, they were coached to engage in well‐defined positive behaviors during their interactions with clients (e.g., labeled praise). All participants reached mastery criteria, maintained skills at follow‐up, and demonstrated generalization of skills with novel clients.     

The effects of behavioral skills training on staff implementation of discrete-trial teaching

A behavioral skills training package was used to train 3 teachers to correctly implement discrete-trial teaching. The mean baseline proportion of possible correct teaching responses for Teachers 1, 2, and 3 increased from 43%, 49%, and 43%, respectively, during baseline to 97%, 98%, and 99%, respectively, following training. These data indicate that the training package consisting of instructions, feedback, rehearsal, and modeling produced rapid and large improvements in the teachers' implementation of discrete-trial teaching.     

Training kindergarten students lockdown drill procedures using behavioral skills training

During situations in which a gunman is present on a school campus, lockdowns are initiated until the threat is removed. However, there are no data demonstrating an effective teaching strategy to increase students’ correct responding during a lockdown. We evaluated the effectiveness of behavioral skills training (BST) to teach three groups of kindergarten students how to respond during lockdown drills. Results showed that participant groups displayed increases in correct steps and decreases in noise levels after BST was implemented; these effects maintained following training.     

Training parent implementation of discrete-trial teaching: effects on generalization of parent teaching and child correct responding

Behavioral skills training was used to teach 3 parents to implement discrete-trial teaching with their children with developmental disabilities. Parents learned to implement discrete-trial training, their skills generalized to novel programs, and the children's correct responding increased, suggesting that behavioral skills training is an effective and efficient method of teaching discrete-trial teaching to parents.     

A preliminary evaluation of two behavioral skills training procedures for teaching abduction-prevention skills to schoolchildren

Although child abduction is a low-rate event, it presents a serious threat to the safety of children. The victims of child abduction face the threat of physical and emotional injury, sexual abuse, and death. Previous research has shown that behavioral skills training (BST) is effective in teaching children abduction-prevention skills, although not all children learn the skills. This study compared BST only to BST with an added in situ training component to teach abduction-prevention skills in a small-group format to schoolchildren. Results showed that both programs were effective in teaching abduction-prevention skills. In addition, the scores for the group that received in situ training were significantly higher than scores for the group that received BST alone at the 3-month follow-up assessment.     

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.     

Evaluating parent-implemented behavioral skills training for teaching firearm safety skills

Research shows that behavioral skills training (BST) and in situ training (IST) are effective interventions for teaching safety skills to children. In addition, the efficiency of these interventions can be increased when parents, teachers, or peers are taught to implement them. The purpose of this study was to replicate Novotny et al. (2020) and evaluate a web-based program for teaching parents to conduct BST to teach safety skills to prevent gunplay. We randomly assigned 18 children to the parent-conducted BST group or a control group and evaluated the intervention in a posttest only control group design. Children in the control group or treatment group who did not score a three in the in situ assessment (do not touch, get away, and tell an adult) received IST from their parents and were assessed again. Results showed that safety skill scores were statistically significantly higher in the treatment group than in the control group. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant increase in safety skills scores following IST for children who received it.     

A review of behavioral procedures to teach motor skills to individuals with severe disabilities

Behavioral procedures are one approach to teaching or improving the fluency of motor skills of individuals with severe disabilities. This article provides a review of behavioral procedures by highlighting antecedents, consequences, and multifaceted techniques. Investigations are reviewed in each area according to (a) replicability of the intervention, (b) experimental control, (c) maintenance, (d) generalization, and (e) social validation. Practitioner implications address selection of reinforcers, reinforcement schedules, and teaching within meaningful routines. Future research recommendations highlight the need for documenting that stimuli are actually reinforcers. Additional research needs emphasize targeting maintenance, generalization, and social validation.     

Developing skills in counselling and psychotherapy: a scoping review of Interpersonal Process Recall and Reflecting Team methods in initial therapist training

The authors conducted a scoping review of the peer-reviewed literature associated with Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) and Reflecting Team (RT) methods in order to find evidence for their use within skills development in therapist trainings. Inclusion criteria were: empirical research, reviews of empirical research, and responses to these; RT or IPR for skills development in counsellors/psychotherapists undertaking initial training. Six papers were identified (four IPR, two RT), all from the USA. Of the four IPR papers, three were themselves reviews, the fourth empirical paper being of poor methodological quality. There was some evidence that IPR is more valuable in developing reflective practice than in initial skills training. The small number of RT studies, of varying methodological quality, made it difficult to draw any conclusions about the appropriateness of this method for initial skills training. However, the method appeared to have been broadly welcomed by students for its potential to be inclusive and collaborative. The limitations of this current review are acknowledged, and research recommendations made.     

Pyramidal parent training using behavioral skills training: Training caregivers in the use of a differential reinforcement procedure

Six caregivers participated in a research study in which behavioral skills training (BST) was used within a pyramidal training model to train a differential reinforcement of an alternative behavior (DRA) procedure. Physical prompting was utilized to obtain correct responses across the identified alternative behavior. The caregivers were split into two tiers, comprised of three caregivers each. The experimenter trained tier‐one caregivers, who then trained tier‐two caregivers after meeting a predetermined mastery criterion. A multiple baseline design across participants research design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of correct implementation of the DRA procedure, demonstrating experimental control across participants. During baseline, caregivers did not implement DRA correctly. Following training, tier‐one and tier‐two caregivers demonstrated correct implementation of the DRA and prompting procedure. Intervention score was (M = 96%), from a baseline score of (M = 34.6%), for tier‐one participants. Intervention score was (M = 96.6%), from a baseline score of (M = 33%), for tier‐two participants. A follow‐up maintenance probe demonstrated correct implementation of the DRA procedure with prompting across both tiers of trained caregivers.     

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.     

Pre‐service teacher‐delivered behavioral skills training: A pyramidal training approach

This study evaluated the effectiveness of using a university‐based pyramidal approach (i.e., train the trainer) to teach four pre‐service teachers to train another person. These pre‐service teachers were taught to use behavioral skills training (BST) techniques to train other professionals to use an evidence‐based practice. Transfer to a generalization trainee was probed and three participants maintenance of BST fidelity was probed one year later, after the participants had begun teaching. Results indicate that the participants quickly acquired and maintained a high degree of fidelity with BST. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Response to bullying (RTB): Behavioral skills and in situ training for individuals diagnosed with intellectual disabilities

This study evaluated behavioral skills training (BST) and in situ training (IST) to teach a response to bullying (RtB) to four adults with intellectual disabilities who were victims of bullying. The RtB consisted of refraining from retaliating, stating disapproval, walking away, and telling a staff member. In situ assessments were conducted in the natural setting to assess the effects of BST and IST. BST alone was successful in teaching the RtB to two participants. When BST did not result in the use of the RtB, IST was effective for one participant, and IST plus an incentive was effective for the other participant. The results of this study are consistent with previous BST and IST research.     

Self-guided behavioral skills training: A public health approach to promoting nurturing care environments

The World Health Organization identified the promotion of “Nurturing Care Environments” as a global health priority. Responsive caregiving, 1 of 5 domains describing nurturing care, is critical for healthy child development. Relatively little research has evaluated population-level interventions aimed to increase responsive caregiving during the first 1,000 days of an infant's life. In this pilot study, we evaluated an intervention designed for population-level dissemination that targeted responsive caregiving. The self-guided behavioral skills training aimed to teach mothers to imitate infant vocalizations. The intervention was delivered within an on-line asynchronous training. All 3 mothers increased vocal imitative behavior following training without receiving coaching or behavior-specific feedback from an implementer. The results offer a preliminary proof of concept with implications for population-level intervention design and evaluation.     

Using behavioral skills training to promote safe and correct staff guarding and ambulation distance of students with multiple physical disabilities

The study analyzed the effects of self-recording and behavioral skills training on guarding responses of 3 staff members while they assisted 3 students with multiple disabilities to ambulate. The intervention increased the percentage of correct posture and guarding responses and the distance that students ambulated. These effects generalized when staff taught new students.