The Use of Video Modeling to Teach Staff to Implement Discrete Trial Sessions
The purpose of the current study was to determine if a short video would be an effective training strategy to teach staff at a private school for chil dren with autism to implement a discrete trial session. The participants were 3 new teacher's assistants at the school. During baseline the participants were asked to perform a discrete tr ial s ssion, with the materials provided, to the best of their ability. Training consisted of a 3m 17s video depicting an experimenter implementing a discrete trial session wi thout a voiceover. Data was collected on 10 discrete trial components using the discrete tr ial checklist described by Catania et al. (2009) Results indicated that the video was an effective method for training staff to implement a discrete trial session. All 3 participants increased their accuracy implementing the discrete trial skills and met m astery criteria within 6 sessions of watching the video. Running head: Staff training 6 Teaching staff members to accurately implement an educational procedure or behavioral intervention in schools for children with disabilities is essential. In particular, the structure and continuity of teaching methods among staff members in a class room may lead to more positive outcomes for the individual being served (DiGennaro et al. 2007) The extent to which staff members implement procedures as they have been trained is referred to as treatment or procedural integrity (Noel et al. 2000) Research on procedural integrity demonstrates that low procedural integrity correlat es wi h decreased student performance (DiGennaro et al. 2007) DiGennaro et al. examined whether treatment integrity of special educat ion teachers was effected by goal setting, performance feedback regardin g student or teacher performance, and a staff meeting cancellation contingency. The partic ipan s were taught to implement function based treatment packages for students' problem behaviors. In the first condition, the teacher set a goal for a student's behavior and recei ved daily written feedback about the student's performance. In the second conditi on, the first condition procedures were implemented, however; an avoidance contingency was included in which the teacher could avoid a meeting with a supervisor if the teacher implemented the procedures with 100% integrity. The results indicated that the second condition was the most effective in increasing the teacher's treatment integrity and decreasing students' maladaptive behaviors. All participants rated the feedback package highly acceptable. Running head: Staff training 7 Lafasakis and Sturmey (2007) taught parents to implement discrete trial instruction for their child with developmental disabilities. The experimenter ga ve the parents a list of 10 discrete trial components then described each component. During baseline, the parents sat with their child and performed 3 discrete trials. Duri ng training, the experimenter provided the parents with a combination of verbal feedback, modeling, positive feedback, and performance feedback regarding their implementation of each of the components. Results indicated that the training package effectively taught the parents to implement discrete trial teaching. Additionally; the parents' skills ge neralized to new programs and the children's correct responses increased. In addition to face to face instruction, video modeling has been shown to be an effective strategy to teach a variety of instructional skills. These skil ls have enabled care providers and teachers to enhance gymnastics skills (Boyer et al. 2009) prevent ba ck injuries of hospital nurses (Nielsen, Siguardsson Austin 2009) increase the problem solving of adults with developmental disabilities (Collins, Higbee Salzberg 2009 and improve the treatment integrity with which staff members implement behaviora l interventions (DiGennaro Reed et al. 2010) Moore Fisher (2007) compared lectures and two types of video modeling to determine which one was more effective in teaching staff members to implem ent functional analyses. The participants were asked to perform the attention, dema d and play conditions of a functional analysis (Iwata et al. 2000) The conditions were implemented with an experimenter serving as a client (simulated) and an ac tu l client (real) The primary dependent variable was the percentage of the participants correct responses. Running head: Staff training 8 Training consisted of written materials, lecture materials, and video depic tions. The written material was a description of the functional analysis, the lect ure was a PowerPoint presentation about a functional analysis, and the video depicted the implementation of a functional analysis. Half of the participants watched a com plete video model including a depiction of the procedures in which all the possible therapist behaviors were shown. The second half of the participants watched a video that showed approximately 50% of both the client and therapist behaviors. The results indicated that the participants' skills improved slightly with both the written materials and lecture, but that they did not meet mastery criteria. O n the other hand, participants who viewed the complete video evidenced large improvements in performance as compared to those who viewed the partial video model. Limited rese arch has been published regarding the use of video modeling to train discrete trial instruc tion, which is the primary method for teaching language and communication skills to children with autism (Koegel, Russo Raincover, 1977) Catania et al. (2009) used video modeling to train three direct care staff of a private institution for individuals with autism to implement discrete trial inst ruction. The baseline procedures included giving the participants a short explanation of the par ts of a lesson plan and the materials to implement a match to sample task. The individua ls were instructed to teach the simulated student (experimenter) using the lesson plan and materials presented. Training consisted of a 7m 15s long videotape showing two experimenters simulating a teacher and a student completing a match to sample task. Ele ven discrete trials were depicted on the videotape, which included a voiceover that gave an Running head: Staff training 9 introduction and an explanation of the teaching skills. Within 10 minutes of watching the video, the participants were instructed to complete discrete trial training in situations that were the same as those present in baseline. To demonstrate generaliza tion of the teaching skills, the participants subsequently taught receptive and expressive ta ks without watching the video again. Additionally, a 1 wk follow up probe was conducted to test for maintenance skills. Results from Catania et al. indicated that vid eo modeling is an effective and efficient method for teaching staff to implement discrete trial training. The purpose of the current study is to replicate and extend the methods of Catania et al. (2009) A comparatively shorter video that did not contain a voiceover was used to train new staff at a school for children with autism to implement a discrete tr ial session. Method