A Train-the-Trainer Approach for Special Education Staff
Study Title:
Improving vocational training through pyramidal behavioral skills training
Study Goals:
To determine whether, and to what extent, a behavioral skills training (BST) protocol can be integrated into a three-tiered pyramidal model to improve the BST fidelity of special education teachers (Tier 1) when instructing teacher assistants (Tier 2) on teaching vocational skills to school-age students with autism spectrum disorder (Tier 3)
To assess whether BST-trained teacher assistants can generalize their learning to teach an untrained vocational skill to students with autism spectrum disorder
Key Contributions:
Conceptualized and designed the study
Drafted the literature review
In the process of securing human subjects research approval
Will help train staff, analyze the data, and write the manuscript
Methods:
Single-case experimental design
Visual analysis
Anticipated Findings:
It is expected that pyramidal BST will result in a cascading effect, wherein the improved BST fidelity of special education teachers will subsequently improve the instruction of teacher assistants, which—in turn—will improve the vocational skill performance of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Additionally, it is anticipated that BST-trained teacher assistants will generalize their learning to teach an untrained vocational skill with high fidelity.
Implications:
If successful, this train-the-trainer model would enable educators to implement faster, more affordable, and effective training in school settings, where consistent and high-quality professional development has historically been impractical due to limited time, funding, and personnel resources.
Staff training through this model would also result in students with ASD acquiring vocational skills at a faster rate—allowing them to secure employment, gain financial stability, and experience increased independence.