Using behavioral skills training to teach implementation of behavioral interventions to teachers and other professionals: A systematic review

Abstract

The current systematic review examines the use of behavioral skills training (BST) to train teachers and other professionals to implement interventions with individuals ages birth to 21. A total of 20 studies from 18 articles were included in the review. The SCARF protocol was utilized to rate article quality/rigor and outcomes of studies. All studies included in the review showed positive outcomes, suggesting teachers and other professional staff can be effectively taught using BST to implement a variety of interventions with fidelity. Seven articles were found to have sufficient quality/rigor scores in their primary outcomes to allow for interpretation of findings with confidence. Additional high-quality studies are needed to examine the efficacy of BST to teach others to implement intervention to support skill development in individuals with disabilities. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed.

Editors' perspectives on the selection of reviewers and the quality of reviews

“…Future research should focus on developing guidelines for writing reviews for scientific journals, which could then be used to develop training programs (for a first attempt in behavior analysis, see Cengher & Kodak, 2022). Behavior analysis has a long history of developing successful interventions for a wide range of skill deficits (e.g., behavioral skills training; Slane & Lieberman-Betz, 2021); therefore, we are perhaps uniquely poised to develop effective training programs to teach junior scholars to conduct reviews for scientific journals.…”

A review on equivalence‐based procedures to teach food‐portion estimation skills

“…While the above information provides many options for laboratory-based research, completing research in a controlled home-based environment may be the most helpful to demonstrate the social significance in behavior change during practice. For example, practitioners may benefit from using evidence-based training such as behavioral skills training (BST) to teach parents how to use equivalence-based instruction with common portion size measurement aids in the home setting (Giannakakos et al, 2021;Slane & Lieberman-Betz, 2021). It is essential to teach individual's to be able to use tailored stimuli such as common items to be able to show if the stimuli of food and portion size measurement Similarly, caregivers may benefit from EBI training to compete with motivating operations that are in effect for preferred food (Lill et al, 2021;Rafacz, 2019).…”

Evaluation of the effects of the Online and Applied System for Intervention Skills (OASIS) with parents of children with ASD using a randomized waitlist control trial.

“…For example, during a coaching session, an OASIS coach will deliver contingent and descriptive social praise to the parent (e.g., “I like how you prompted Billy to pick up the crayon when you asked him to”) to increase the parents’ use of prompting to obtain the desired outcome from their child. The BST model is effective in training parents and educators in using behavioral techniques such as discrete trial teaching and incidental teaching to increase skills (e.g., imitation, response initiation) in children with developmental disabilities skills (Dib & Sturmey, 2007; Kirkpatrick et al, 2019; Lafasakis & Sturmey, 2007; Ryan et al, 2008; Sarokoff & Sturmey, 2004; Slane & Lieberman-Betz, 2021). BST consists of several training techniques that target the correct application of the skill taught and understanding the conceptual basics.…”