Training Educators to Conduct Functional Behavior Assessment Via Telehealth

Training Educators to Implement Behavioral Assessment and Treatment Procedures in School Settings Via Telehealth

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.

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.

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

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

Participants will receive feedback and error correction on their implementation of the assessment procedures. Feedback will take the form of the experimenter pointing out components of the assessment that are not being conducted accurately and error correction will take the form of the experimenter reviewing the correct way to implement that component of the assessment.

Participants will be given a written protocol describing how to conduct the target assessment procedure.

Inclusion Criteria: Must be an educator who conducts functional behavior assessment. Must be training to become a registered behavior technician. Exclusion Criteria:

Individual participant data will only be disseminated via professional meetings and peer-reviewed publications. Data will be de-identified to maintain confidentiality of participants. Data will not be shared with anyone else.