Behavioral Skills Training With Teachers: Booster Training for Improved Maintenance

Behavioral skills training (BST) has been employed within many different populations for the reduction of problem behaviors and acquisition of new skills; however, these changes have not always maintained over time. This study evaluated the effects of a booster training for re-establishing the classroom management proficiencies that teachers had acquired previously, but had declined over a 12-month period. The single-subject experimental results showed the booster training to be effective in re-establishing teacher performance of skills as measured by both analogue role-play and in situ postassessments within the classroom. These findings suggest that a booster training utilizing BST may be an important strategy for maintaining skill performance over time.     

Additive,Multi-Component Treatment of Emerging Refusal Topographies in a Pediatric Feeding Disorder

This case study describes inter-disciplinary treatment of chronic food refusal and tube dependency in a 2-year-old female with a pediatric feeding disorder. Evidence-based behavioral components—including escape extinction (EE), differential reinforcement of alterative mealtime behavior (DRA), and stimulus fading—were introduced sequentially as the focus of treatment shifted to address refusal topographies along the chain of behaviors associated with consumption. The assessment process, treatment planning and sequencing, and generalization of treatment gains to caregivers are presented in detail. In doing so, the study illustrates the core features involved in applying a flexible, evidenced-based approach to treat severe feeding difficulties.     

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.     

A Review of: Growing Up With Autism: Working With School-Age Children and Adolescents With Autism,edited by Robin L. Gabriels and Dina E. Hill (Eds.).

The influence of adult presence, peer smiling, and peer praise on the unprogrammed generalization of physical sharing over time was investigated. During free play three groups of five preschool children were taught to share toys via a behavioral training package composed of instructions, modeling, behavior rehearsal, prompts, and praise. Immediately following free play the children were given art materials and observed in the presence of different adults. An ABA design with a manipulation of adult presence nested within east phase was used. For all three groups, regardless of the adult presence manipulation, treatment facilitated sharing in both settings. In addition, two groups continued to share in both settings after termination of the training. The presence of an adult was necessary for unprogrammed maintenance of treatment gains in both settings whereas peer smiling and peer praise were not. Observer presence suppressed physical sharing and smiling prior to, during, and after treatment. Implications for behavioral assessment and applied significance are discussed.     

Measuring Change During Behavioral Parent Training Using the Parent Instruction-Giving Game with Youngsters (PIGGY): A Clinical Replication

This is the second study to investigate the clinical use of the Parent-Instruction Game with Youngsters (PIGGY) which is a structured observation system derived from the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System II (DPICS-II; Eyberg, Bessmer, Newcomb, Edwards, & Robinson, 1994) and the Behavior Coding System (BCS; Forehand & McMahon, 1981 Forehand , R. L. , & McMahon , R. J. ( 1981 ). Helping the noncompliant child . New York , NY : Guilford Press . [Google Scholar]). In a previous study, the PIGGY demonstrated strong reliability and validity as well as clinical utility (Hupp, Reitman, Forde, Shriver, & Kelley, 2008). The present study is a replication of the previous research on clinical utility by using the PIGGY to monitor changes in parent and child behavior during and after behavioral parent training.