Staff Training

1
Staff Training

• Julia Mandelbaum
• Megan Duffy
• Diana Zitelli

2
Outline

• Didactic Training
• Hands-on Training
• Overview of Best Practices
• Alpine Learning Group (ALG)
• Princeton Child Development Institute (PCDI)
• The Douglas Developmental Disabilities Center
  (DDDC)
• Components of a Comprehensive Training Package

3
Didactic Training
4
Didactic Training

• Instructional training provided to staff
  concerning the principles of applied behavior
  analysis (ABA) and effective procedures to teach
  students with autism
• Provided through workshops or coursework
• Conducted by qualified professionals in the field
  of ABA
• Example of didactic lesson
• http//www.behavior.org/autism/
• (Lovaas, 1996 McClannan Krantz, 2006 Stein,
  1975)

5
Didactic Training in School Programs

• Preservice Training
• - conducted by staff trainers or directors
• - occurs once a year, typically in August
• - usually 2 days to a week in duration
• - provides overview and history of applied
  behavior analysis (ABA) and principles of
  learning
• - teaches behavior analytic terminology
• - builds relationships between trainers and
  trainees
• - prerequisite to hands-on training
• (Bondy, 1996 McClannahan Krantz, 2001Meyer,
  Taylor, Cerino, Fisher, Moran, Richard, 2006
  Romanczyk, Lockshin, Matey, 2001 Romanczyk,
  Lockshin, Matey, Gillis, 2006 Quilitch, 1975
  Stein, 1978)

6
Didactic Training in School Programs

• Training Materials
• - consists of lectures and possible written
  examination of content in workshop format
• - may include manual of organizations
  policies, readings of current research, slide
  presentations, role-plays, and videos (e.g.,
  http//www.youtube.com/watch?vJT2-lHyn980 )
• - hand-outs may be provided
• - tests on materials may be administered and a
  passing grade required
• (Lovaas, 1996 McClannahan Krantz, 2006
  Quilitch, 1975 Romanczyk et al., 2006
  Wallace,M.D., Doney, J.K., Mintz-Resudek, C.M.,
  Tarbox, R.S.F., 2004)

7
Didactic Training in School Programs

• Topics in Preservice Workshops
• - may include reinforcement, punishment,
  shaping, generalization, errorless teaching,
  incidental teaching, stimulus control, chaining,
  behavior contingencies, prompt and prompt fading
• - managing problem behavior
• - teaching procedures
• - overview of autism and developmental
  disabilities
• - arrangement of teaching environment
• - data collection
• (Lovass, 1996 Luiselli St. Amand, 2005 McGee,
  Morrier, Daly, 2001 Meyer et al., 2006 Sepler
  Myers, 1978)

8
Didactic Training in School Programs

• In-service Training/ Staff Meetings
• - review current research
• - expand behavior analytic terminology
• - follow-up to preservice training
• - discuss goals, program evaluation, analyze
  problems
• (Lovass, 1996 MClannahan Krantz, 2001 Meyer
  et al., 2006)

9
Didactic Training in School Programs

• Conferences
• - professional conferences in the areas of
  autism and ABA
• - cover recent developments in the field
• - may be required or encouraged by organization
• - Suggested Conferences
• Center for Outreach Services for the Autism
  Community (COSAC), Association for Behavior
  Analysis (ABA) International
• state chapter of ABA
• (Bondy, 1996 Handleman, Harris, Arnold, Cohen,
  Gordon, 2006 Romanczyk et al., 2006)

10
Didactic Trainingin School Programs

• Approved Courses in ABA
• - class in ABA and autism may be required by
  organization
• - courses should be approved by Behavior
  Analysis Certification Board (BACB)
• - passing grade in courses on principles of
  learning or ABA
• - Schools offering approved courses in ABA and
  autism
• Rutgers University New Brunswick, NJ
• Caldwell College Caldwell, NJ
• Queens College New York, NY
• University of South Florida Tampa, FL
• (Bondy, 1996 Handelman et al., 2006 Smith,
  Donahoe, Davis, 2001)

11
Didactic Training in Home Programs

• Workshops/ In-services/ Staff Meetings
• - parents are responsible for providing training
  by qualified professionals to staff
• - provide general information about ABA and
  autism
• - teach technical language and principles of
  ABA
• (e.g., shaping, reinforcement,
  punishment, extinction)
• - how to educate community about ABA
• - require readings of textbooks, research
  literature
• (e.g., Baer, Wolf, Risley, 1968 Cooper,
  Heron, Heward, 2007)
• - may provide manual of services
• (Neef, Parrish, Egel, Sloan, 1986 Scott, 1996)

12
Effectiveness of Didactic Training Procedures

• Staff has increased knowledge of behavior
  principles and autism
• Improved verbal and written skills
• Increased test scores after training
• Staff become better trainers
• May be helpful for later feedback and training
  (although research has refuted this)
• Staff have evaluated workshops as beneficial
• (Dowey, Toogood, Hastings, Nash, 2007 Gardner,
  1972 McClannahan Krantz, 1993 McGee et al.,
  2001 Neef et al., 1986 Quilitch, 1975 Sepler
  Myers, 1978)

13
Effectiveness of Didactic Training Procedures

• Can be conducted in short amount of time
• - this is a benefit if time is limited, but a
  disadvantage in terms of material that can be
  covered
• Better staff-student relationships
• Staff more likely to reinforce desirable behavior
  and not undesirable behavior after didactic
  training
• (Sepler Meyers, 1978 Stein, 1975)

14
Problems with Didactic Training Procedures

• Increases in staff performance occur without
  didactic training
• Hands on training with feedback alone successful
• (Quilitch, 1978)

15
Problems with Didactic Training Procedures
(Quilitch, 1978)
16
Problems with Didactic Training Procedures

• Unless tests on materials are required, workshop
  material knowledge is not consequated
• - exams improve correct written responses on
  workshop material, but do not correlate with
  improvements in practical applications of
  material
• - skills learned in didactic training do not
  generalize to and are not maintained in applied
  settings
• Workshop training is costly
• -hands-on training is more cost-effective
• (Neef et al., 1986 Quilitch, 1978 Sepler
  Myers, 1978 Smith, 1995)

17
Problems with Didactic Training Procedures

• Ethical Considerations
• - observations of inappropriate use of behavior
  techniques in applied settings may mean lack of
  understanding of principles by staff
• - short (week-long) workshops do not teach
  all relevant issues
• - research shows no relationship between
  didactic training and practical application of
  teaching procedures
• (McClannahan Krantz, 1993 Quilitch, 1978
  Stein, 1975)

18
Considerations with Didactic Training

• Follow-up services and consultations on weekly or
  monthly basis
• Train families
• Collect data on appropriate application of
  behavioral techniques
• Arrange for consequences for participation in
  workshops
• Ongoing hands-on training is essential
• (Lovaas, 1996 McClannahan Krantz, 1993 Meyers
  et al., 2006 Quilitch, 1978 Stein, 1975)

19
Hands-on Training
20
Hands-on Training

• Modeling
• The trainer will model the teaching procedure,
  the trainee will then attempt to match the
  trainers model
• Repeated practice modeling, rehearsal, and
  feedback
• Demonstrated to be effective in training teaching
  skills
• Discrete trial teaching
• Incidental teaching
• Behavior reduction
• Implementation of functional analyses
• Implementation of preference assessments
• (Sarakoff Sturmey 2004 Schepis et al.,
  2001 Moore et al., 2002 Lavie Sturmey 2002
  Roscoe et al, 2006)
• Demonstrated to be effective in generalization of
  teaching skills across settings and students
  (Schepis et al., 2001, Ducharme Feldman 1992)

21
Hands-on Training

• Other techniques in modeling
• Rehearsal / role-playing without the student
  present
• After didactic training, but before hands-on
  training
• Video Modeling
• Demonstrated to be effective in training
  instructional staff to implement functional
  analyses, and preference assessments (Wallace et
  al., 2004 Lavie Sturmey 2002)

22
Hands-on Training

• Immediate Feedback
• Behavior specific feedback
• Include BOTH positive statement AND corrective
  feedback (Roscoe et al., 2006)
• Example I like the way you used an natural tone
  when presenting the instruction to Johnny.
  Remember to also gain his eye contact and be sure
  he is attending before presenting the
  instruction.

23
Hands-on Training

• Shaping
• Use most to least prompting
• Behavior specific praise
• Reinforcement of successive improvement in skills
• (Shepis et al., 2001 Sarakoff Sturmey 2004)
• Fading
• Based on measurable, observable assessment of
  skills

24
Hands-on Training

• Ongoing performance feedback
• On an ongoing basis, trainers and direct
  supervisors provide feedback as necessary (and
  modeling and rehearsal, if appropriate)
• Feedback among peers
• On an ongoing basis, instructional staff can
  provide feedback to each other as needed
• Demonstrated to be an effective method for
  maintaining improvements in staff teaching skills
  (Fleming Sulzer-Azaroff, 1992)
• Feedback reciprocity multilateral feedback
  system (McClannahan Krantz, 1993)

25
Training the Trainers to Train Trainees

• Trainers must demonstrate mastery of the teaching
  skills before training instructional staff
  (McClannahan Krantz, 1993)
• In addition, trainers should be trained
  specifically in how to train new staff (i.e.,
  training in provision of feedback, and evaluation
  of staff performance) (Parsons Reid, 1995)
• Follow the same model to train trainers!
• Modeling
• Rehearsal / Role-playing
• Immediate feedback
• Performance-based evaluation
• (Parsons Reid, 1995)

26
Hands-on Trainingin Home Programs

• Use the same model to train home based
  instructors, parents, siblings, and other
  caretakers (Krantz McClannahan, 1993)
• Modeling
• Rehearsal / Role-playing
• Immediate feedback
• Performance-based evaluation

27
Hands-on Training

• Measuring Outcomes (McClannahan Krantz, 1993)
• Performance-based evaluation
• A trainer can measure trainees performance
  (using a task analysis of teaching components)
  while conducting a training session or to
  periodically evaluate maintenance of teaching
  skills (Procedural Integrity data sheet)
• Performance data are used to determine a
  trainees mastery of teaching skills
• Evaluate trainer performance based on trainee
  progress
• Learner-based evaluation
• Evaluate trainer and trainee performance based on
  student progress

28
Overview of Best Practices
29
Alpine Learning Group

• On going training and supervision
• Forty hour staff training
• Continued training and supervision
• In-services and research meetings

30
Alpine Learning Group

• Annual employee performance evaluation
• Data collected
• Serves as way to assess
• Formal training week

31
PCDI

• Pre-service
• In-service
• Hands on training
• Trainer/Trainee relationship

32
PCDI

• Evaluation of staff
• Identical to training protocol
• Conducted by senior professional

33
DDDC

• Annual staff training
• Ongoing training
• Service of Division of Research

34
Conclusions

• Components of a Comprehensive Training Package

35
Conclusions Components of a Comprehensive
Training Package

• Didactic training alone does not result in
  mastery of teaching skills
• Hands-on training is essential in improving
  teaching skills
• Ongoing training and feedback are necessary to
  maintain teaching skills
• Performance-based evaluations learner-based
  evaluations allow assessment of efficacy of
  training procedures

36
References

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