Association for Behavior Analysis International

Training parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to use Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to address behavioral challenges and teach new skills can be beneficial to both children and parents (Bearss, Johnson, Smith, Lecavalier, & Swiezy, 2015); however, the applications of ABA parent training for mono-lingual Spanish speakers has been limited. The current study seeks to examine the feasibility and impact of a 10 week Spanish-language parent training intervention program for parents of school-aged children with ASD. Nine families with children with ASD between the ages of six-eight years participated in the training program, which consisted of six group sessions, followed by four individual sessions. Sessions focused on teaching ABA principles and concepts, data collection methods, and strategic application of intervention. Parent trainings are currently in session four of the 10-session sequence. Preliminary results suggest that the trainings have been appropriately adapted for the Spanish-speaking parents attending; the majority of parents have consistently attended sessions and report changes in their use of strategies as a result of participation. This supports the feasibility of this training and indicates it should be evaluated further for wide-scale use.

The advancement of research on the efficiency of parent-implemented and caregiver-based interventions is a key question in developing countries such as Brazil. The effectiveness of a caregiver-based behavior analysis intervention to autism was evaluated in applied context with some families in Northern Brazil. We taught the repertoire of tact with autoclitics. Three children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (and their respective caregivers) participated: one girl (6 years old) and two boys (4 and 5 years old). They were previously taught tact repertoire. Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT) was carried out. After finishing training to implement DTT, they were given systematic supervision once a week. All the children showed 0% accuracy performance during baseline measurement and accuracy close to 100% of correct responding on the final step of training. The maintenance of the repertoire was also evaluated in a follow-up session a month later, with one child showing total and two partial maintenance. The data show that caregiver-based approach was effective to teach this repertoire. We discuss that parental implementation is a promising alternative way to give comprehensive access to behavior-analytic intervention to children diagnosed with autism in Brazil.

Parent implementation may be a feasible alternative to disseminate high quality behavioral intervention to autism in developing countries such as Brazil. Public networks of educational and health assistance are still unprepared to provide intensive behavior-analytic intervention. There is a lack of well-trained professionals compared to the service demand. This paper aims to present results of the effects of a caregiver-training program, based on instructional videomodeling, on the performance accuracy on the implementation of discrete trials. Five parents participated in this study. We used a multiple-baseline design across participants, assessing the caregivers’ accuracy in implementing two intervention programs. The performances reached an average of 59% (65% for Beatriz; 67% for Mario; 54% for Vanda; 65% for Livia; and 45% for Eliana) in the last baseline session and increased 36%in an average in the generalization phase. Additionally, the number of complete learning units actually performed has increased as well (from 0 of 5 complete learning units at baseline phase to 4.2 of 5 complete learning units at the generalization phase). Results show an increase of the performance precision, as well as the accuracy of the learning units, in a reduced period of time (an average of 3h30min of training). Also, the skills that were taught could be generalized to new teaching programs, as shown by generalization data.

The increased prevalence of Autism has generated higher special needs enrollment in schools requiring teachers and/or therapists to acquire the skills needed to address the unique educational and behavioral challenges facing children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. At the same time, however, budget cuts have generated a shortage of qualified professionals with expertise in autism interventions. More effective interprofessional staff training may provide an avenue for addressing this shortage. This study investigates the impact that a Staff Training Procedure (STP), consisting of Video Self-Monitoring (VSM), Performance Feedback (PF) and Reflection (R) with and without Mentoring has and sustained and generalized teacher/therapist performance and on Procedural Integrity, on two Dependent Variables - application of the Learn Unit (LU) and Rate of Effective Instruction (ROI). Results revealed that the STP appeared to enhance teacher/therapist performance and sustainability of Procedural Integrity. The greatest improvement and most consistent performance was observed among teachers who received STP plus Mentoring as opposed to STP alone. In conclusion, adding Mentoring to an existing STP appears to enhance teacher/therapist performance and Procedural Integrity with sustainable outcomes. The possibility of using VSM as a skill acquisition procedure is highlighted. Practical and theoretical implications for interprofessional practice are discussed.