The Best and Worst Things Staff Report About Behavioral Training Workshops: a Large-Scale Evaluation.

A variable affecting the success of staff training programs conducted by behavior analysts is trainee acceptance of the training. This study constituted a large-scale evaluation of staff acceptance of behavioral training workshops. Over a 10-year period, 646 human service staff who participated in 132 workshops were questioned regarding the best and worst thing about the workshops.

No Less Worthy: Recommendations for Behavior Analysts Treating Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities with Dignity.

In this article, the authors offer recommendations for behavior analysts on how to treat adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) with dignity. Initially, the importance of treating adults with disabilities with dignity is emphasized in terms of the impact on people with IDD, their family members, behavior analysts and other service providers, and the behavior analysis field in general. The recommendations are based primarily on the authors' professional and personal experiences along with similar experiences of others involved either personally or professionally in the disability field.

Familiarizing New Staff for Working with Adults with Severe Disabilities: a Case for Relationship Building.

In human service agencies, situations exist at various times in which consumers are not familiar with the staff who work with them. We evaluated effects of familiar versus unfamiliar staff working with two men with severe disabilities in a vocational program. Results indicated both participants displayed more compliance with familiar staff relative to unfamiliar staff and one exhibited more on-task (one was near ceiling levels with both staff).

Maintaining Staff Performance Following a Training Intervention: Suggestions from a 30-Year Case Example.

A frequent challenge encountered by behavior analysts in human service agencies is maintaining effects of their training interventions with agency staff. A case example is provided to illustrate how effects of a staff training intervention initiated by a behavior analyst maintained for an extended period in a center-based program for adolescents and adults with severe disabilities. The process involved the behavior analyst working closely with the program supervisor and a professional staff member in a collaborative team approach to increase involvement of center participants in functional (vs.

Identifying indices of happiness and unhappiness among adults with autism: potential targets for behavioral assessment and intervention.

Research is increasingly demonstrating the importance of monitoring indices of happiness as part of behavioral programs for individuals who have severe intellectual disabilities. We evaluated a practitioner-oriented process for identifying and validating individualized indices of this private event among three adults with autism who were nonvocal or minimally vocal. Caregiver surveys were administered to obtain agreement regarding behavior displayed when the individuals were happy and unhappy, as well as situations in which they were likely to experience happiness and unhappiness.

Teaching Practitioners to Conduct Behavioral Skills Training: A Pyramidal Approach for Training Multiple Human Service Staff.

A job responsibility of many behavior analysts that can involve significant amounts of time is training human service staff in behavior-change and related procedures. We evaluated a pyramidal approach using behavioral skills training (BST) for a trainer to train multiple staff. The BST skills of 10 practitioners in a human service setting were assessed as they trained a staff person in simulation before and after being trained (with BST) to conduct BST.

Reading groups: a practical means of enhancing professional knowledge among human service practitioners.

Quality human service provision is heavily dependent on practitioners maintaining up-to-date professional knowledge. We evaluated a monthly reading group process as a practical means of enhancing professional knowledge among educators in a program for adults with severe disabilities. The reading group process was designed to minimize disruptions to participants' direct contact time with students and to promote participant acceptance of the process.

Evidence-based staff training: a guide for practitioners.

Behavior analysts in human service agencies are commonly expected to train support staff as one of their job duties. Traditional staff training is usually didactic in nature and generally has not proven particularly effective. We describe an alternative, evidence-based approach for training performance skills to human service staff.

Designing and evaluating assessment-based interventions to reduce stereotypy among adults with autism in a community job.

We designed and evaluated assessment-based interventions to reduce stereotypy among three adults with severe autism in a community job setting. An initial descriptive assessment, conducted during the regular work routine in the employing company, indicated that stereotypy occurred while the supported workers were waiting for work assignments or when they stopped working on an assigned task. An on-the-job functional analysis was then conducted; the results showed that the stereotypy of each worker was not maintained by socially-mediated consequences.

Increasing independence of adults with autism in community activities: a brief, embedded teaching strategy.

We evaluated a brief, embedded teaching strategy for increasing the independence of adults with autism in performing community activities. Initially, community situations were observed to identify an activity that a support staff was performing for an individual. The staff person was then trained to implement SWAT Support (say, wait and watch, act out, touch to guide) involving least-to-most prompting and praise to teach the individual on the spot to complete the activity.

Rapid training of a community job skill to nonvocal adults with autism: an extension of intensive teaching.

We evaluated an intensive program in a simulated format for rapidly teaching a job skill to nonvocal adults with autism. Following baseline probes with a new work task of assembling mailing boxes at a publishing company, 3 supported workers individually received repeated teaching sessions at a simulated work site. All workers met criterion with 1 day of simulation teaching, with subsequent criterion level performance upon returning to the job (1 worker required booster trials).

Simulation training of community job skills for adults with autism: a further analysis.

We evaluated the benefits of training work skills in a simulated situation to adults with autism by examining their performance at a job site. In the first study, simulation training on new work tasks included the same materials and job coach from the job setting (i.e.

Remediating minimal progress on teaching programs by adults with severe disabilities in a congregate day setting.

We evaluated a modified teaching approach for improving the performance of adults with severe disabilities who were making minimal progress on teaching programs in a congregate day setting. An approach for enhancing progress was developed for implementation within the ongoing routine of the adult day setting using resources indigenous to the setting. The teaching approach, based on early intensive teaching programs, involved increasing teaching trials, adding another consequence to the reinforcement component, and reducing distractions.

Effects of reactivity to observations on staff performance.

We examined reactivity of staff behavior to observations of their work performance. After training 2 job coaches to reduce completion of break activities for supported workers, we evaluated job-coach behavior using both conspicuous and inconspicuous observations. Results indicated that both coaches completed none of the activities when observations were conspicuous but most of the activities when observations were inconspicuous.

Enhancing job-site training of supported workers with autism: a reemphasis on simulation.

Currently recommended practice in supported work emphasizes training job skills to workers with severe disabilities while on the job. Early behavioral research indicated that skills needed in natural environments could also be trained in simulated settings. We compared job-site plus simulation training for teaching job skills to supported workers with autism to provision of training exclusively on the job.

An enriched teaching program for reducing resistance and indices of unhappiness among individuals with profound multiple disabilities.

We evaluated an enriched teaching program for reducing resistance and indices of unhappiness displayed by 3 individuals with profound multiple disabilities during teaching sessions. The program involved presentation of preferred activities before, during, and after each teaching session, discontinuation of identified nonpreferred activities, and a brief break and preferred activity following occurrence of resistance. Implementation of the enriched teaching program was accompanied by reductions in resistance and indices of unhappiness for each participant.

Evaluating and increasing in-home leisure activity among adults with severe disabilities in supported independent living.

Observations were conducted of the in-home leisure activity of three adults with severe disabilities in three supported independent living (SIL) sites. Results indicated a lack of leisure engagement. Potentially preferred, typical leisure activities were then identified by consulting lists of common leisure activities, surveying adults in surrounding communities, and interviewing support staff and family members.

Improving staff performance through clinician application of outcome management.

In two studies, three clinicians were assisted in using an outcome management approach to supervision for improving the work performance of their staff assistants. Using vocal and written instructions, feedback, and modeling, each clinician was assisted in specifying an area of staff performance (or consumer activity related to staff performance) to improve, developing and implementing a performance monitoring system, training staff in the targeted performances using performance- and competency-based training, and providing on-the-job supportive and corrective feedback. In Study 1, a senior job coach was assisted in using the outcome management steps to improve prompting procedures of three staff job coaches working with supported workers with autism in a community job.

Improving day-treatment services for adults with severe disabilities: a norm-referenced application of outcome management.

We evaluated an outcome management program for working with staff to improve the performance of adults with severe disabilities in a congregate day-treatment setting. Initially, observations were conducted of student task involvement and staff distribution of teaching interactions across students in four program sites. Using recent normative data to establish objective goals for student performance, management intervention was warranted in two of the sites.

Increasing pretend toy play of toddlers with disabilities in an inclusive setting.

Unlabelled: We evaluated a program for increasing pretend toy play of 2-year-old children with disabilities in an inclusive classroom. Classroom personnel implemented the program, which involved choices of classroom centers containing toys that tend to occasion pretend play in toddlers without disabilities, along with prompting and praise. Increases occurred in independent pretend-play rates among all 5 participating toddlers.

An outcome management program for extending advances in choice research into choice opportunities for supported workers with severe multiple disabilities.

We evaluated an outcome management program for increasing choice opportunities provided by 2 job coaches for 5 supported workers with severe multiple disabilities in a community job. The program involved specifying and monitoring behavioral outcomes among workers and staff, training staff, and supportive and corrective feedback. Increased choice provision occurred for both job coaches across a 1-year period.

Increasing toy play among toddlers with multiple disabilities in an inclusive classroom: a more-to-less, child-directed intervention continuum.

We evaluated a more-to-less, child-directed continuum of interventions to increase toy play among toddlers with multiple disabilities in an inclusive classroom. In keeping with recommended practices in early intervention, all procedures were conducted within the toddlers' classroom. Following initial observations of three toddlers (under 3 years of age) that indicated toy play was less frequent than that of their typically developing peers, preference assessments were conducted of selected toys.

Observational assessment of toy preferences among young children with disabilities in inclusive settings. Efficiency analysis and comparison with staff opinion.

Numerous investigations have demonstrated means of assessing preferences among students and adults with disabilities. In contrast, there has been little attention on preference identification among young children. We evaluated a preference assessment with 7 toddlers and preschoolers with disabilities in inclusive programs.

Best and worst ways to motivate staff in community agencies: a brief survey of supervisors.

Supervisors in community agencies were surveyed regarding the best and worst ways to motivate staff to work diligently and enjoy work. Most respondents (88%) reported that it was very or extremely important for supervisors to motivate their staff, although only 53% reported that supervisors performed well in this regard. Concerning the best way to motivate staff, the most common response category was interacting positively and providing positive feedback for work performance.