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| Practice-based evidence in public education: systematic on-site consultation and special education for students with autism. |
| Monday, May 25, 2009 |
| 3:30 PM–4:50 PM |
| North 124 A |
| Area: AUT/VBC; Domain: Service Delivery |
| Chair: Michael Miklos (Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Net) |
| CE Instructor: Keith D. Allen, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: Technical support to special education teachers often consists of verbal “stand and deliver” trainings removed from classroom environments. Teachers often attend didactic trainings in order to receive continuing education credit without a systematic process for transferring verbal training to actual repertoires in the classroom setting. The brief reports included in this symposium will highlight efforts to provide direct on-site training to special education staff. Each report will review components of a system of technical support driven by procedural integrity and supporting data based systems of instruction. Data summarizing a variety of consultative efforts will be presented. Primary emphasis of discussion will be on explicit procedural processes for instructional staff that generate evidence of individual student performance. The range of processes to be discussed include training in single subject design to enhance instructional skills of teachers, use of procedural descriptions of consultation to improve instructional fidelity, third party review of instructional implementation as a system of classroom organizational management, and explicit feedback as a means to training instructional fidelity for discrete trial instruction. |
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| Getting the analysis in public special education through single-subject case study requirements |
| MICHAEL MIKLOS (Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Net) |
| Abstract: This presentation will review data collected for formal case studies completed over the past two years within Pennsylvania public education autism support classes participating in the Pennsylvania Verbal Behavior Project. Approximately 40 case studies per year have been developed in participating classrooms. Summary data for case studies from the past two years will be discussed. The case studies have required public education classrooms to develop, implement and review case studies with increasingly empirical designs. The process to be reviewed involves submission of a case study proposal including consideration of study design to demonstrate functional relations, verification of both dependent and independent variable definitions, and steps to ensure treatment fidelity. The proposal is then implemented in the classroom. Case studies are summarized and an informal review with public presentation of findings is completed. The case study format allows teachers and other special education staff to come in contact with the process of scientific verification of instructional interventions. |
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| Systematic feedback and procedural descriptions of consultation outcomes: the value of written consultation reports in relation to student outcomes. |
| AMIRIS DIPUGLIA (PaTTAN/ PA Verbal Behavior Project) |
| Abstract: Multiple written procedural descriptions derived from data based observations will be described in relation to student performance in autism support classes within the Pennsylvania Verbal Behavior Project. Procedures for classroom organization, teaching mands, tacts, and intraverbals as well as problem behavior reduction plans will be highlighted. The session will include description of the integration of assessment systems used in consultation with formal observation, data review, and intervention development. Included will be a description of a format for consultative reports that specifies the consultative issues in objective terms while requiring relevant behavioral data review, an interpretation of the data, and specific recommendations based on the data. The report format serves to reduce ambiguity in the consultative process while increasing the probability of consultation functioning to alter student repertoires. Several examples of the written reports from actual classroom consultations will be presented. The value of written notes as means of increasing procedural compliance will be discussed. |
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| Formal site review of classroom implementation and its relation to planning instructional delivery: does telling them what they do lead to changes in what they do? |
| DEBRA NAMEY (Pa Verbal Behavior Project) |
| Abstract: Through the process of delineating performance criteria for classroom teachers serving students with autism, targeted priorities for behavioral consultation can be developed. Outcomes suggesting the relation between site review data, specific instructional design, consultation and changes in classroom practice will be summarized. The PA Verbal Behavior Project site review form includes ratings of:
1. classroom organization
2. data systems
3. consultation and training processes
4. instruction including mand training, intensive teaching, group instruction, and social skills
5. problem behavior interventions.
Ratings in each domain specify instructional behaviors that, if not in place for participating classrooms, are targeted for development through systematic consultation.
Data on the reliability of the site review process and change in levels of implementation will be presented. The session will describe how the information from site reviews is used to guide the behavior of consultants in the PA Verbal Behavior Project. Implications for planning individual student programming will be considered. |
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| Integration of manualization and direct feedback processes for training intensive teaching of the verbal operants. |
| MARY L. BARBERA (PA Verbal Behavior Project) |
| Abstract: Through transcription of instructional behavior, direct feedback can be provided to instructors in relation to established discrete trial procedures. Examples of this process will be provided. This report will describe implementation of a system for feedback based on direct observation of teacher behavior as a training system and its relation to student skill acquisition. The model of discrete trial instruction used includes interspersed trials, with balanced high probability and low probability tasks, errorless procedures for instructional acquisition targets, and focuses primarily on acquisition of the verbal operants as identified in Skinner, 1957. The transcription process involves coding instructional behavior of discrete trial instructors in relation to student behavior with formalized codes. The staff training procedure to be described here will include four components:
1. Viewing and documenting a training DVD which specifies the components of the discrete trial teaching process.
2. Practicing presenting discrete trials with guided practice
3. Receiving direct feedback on actual teaching practice with data derived from the transcription process
4. Continuous process of student acquisition of skills taught through the discrete trial teaching. |
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