Training Educators to Conduct Functional Behavior Assessment Via Telehealth

University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder

Treatments: Behavioral: Behavioral skills training; Behavioral: Protocol Only

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03079765

16-1691

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study evaluates the effects of delivering training services via telehealth to educators in rural schools. The investigators hope to increase the accuracy with which educators implement functional behavior assessments in schools. During the study, participants will receive training on functional behavior assessments at different periods. When one school is receiving training, other schools will not be receiving training. The purpose will be to show increased accuracy of functional behavior assessments only occur following training.

Full description

Training services for educators typically occurs in-vivo with experts providing immediate feedback and modeling to shape behavior. These types of training experiences may not be accessible for all educators though. The current study will evaluate delivering behavioral skills training (e.g., feedback and error correction) via telehealth for educators conducting functional behavior assessments. The components of the functional behavior assessment that will be targeted are open-ended interviews, stimulus preference assessments, direct observations of problem behavior, and a functional communication training program. With at least three different schools, the investigators will introduce training delivered via telehealth one at a time to show that increases in acquisition of the various components of the functional behavior assessment only occur following telehealth-based training.

Enrollment: 12 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Must be an educator who conducts functional behavior assessment.
• Must be training to become a registered behavior technician.

Exclusion Criteria:

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Sequential Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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12 participants in 2 patient groups

Baseline

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will be given a written protocol for conducting the relevant assessment procedure (e.g., open-ended interview).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Protocol Only

Telehealth Treatment

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants will receive feedback and error correction on their implementation of the relevant assessment procedure to improve their performance.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Behavioral skills training

Behavioral: Protocol Only