A Randomized Evaluation of Group Training for Paraprofessionals to Implement Systematic Instruction Strategies With Students With Severe Disabilities. (August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Brock, Matthew E.; Barczak, Mary A.; Dueker, Scott A.
• Is Part Of: Teacher education and special education. Volume 44:Number 3(2021)
• Page Start: 206
• Page End: 220
• Publication Date: 2021-08
• Subjects: paraprofessional training -- group training -- behavioral skills training -- severe disabilities; Special education -- Periodicals; Special education teachers -- Training of -- Periodicals; Sonderpädagogik; Lehrerfortbildung; 371.9
• DOI: 10.1177/0888406420923769
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0888-4064

Abstract

Paraprofessionals are often tasked with providing instruction to students with severe disabilities despite little or no training in evidence-based practices. Previous studies have demonstrated that specific strategies (i.e., didactic instruction, modeling, and immediate performance feedback) in a 1-to-1 format can enable paraprofessionals to implement practices with fidelity; however, training all paraprofessionals exclusively in a 1-to-1 format with immediate feedback is not feasible. We tested two modifications to improve feasibility: delivery in a group and delayed performance feedback from video recordings. We randomized 17 paraprofessionals to a control condition or group training condition focused on simultaneous and least-to-most prompting. Paraprofessionals in the training condition implemented the prompting strategies with better adherence to steps ( d = 0.91 and d = 1.56), better implementation quality ( d = 0.60), and their students made more progress ( d = 0.29). These findings provide evidence that effective coaching strategies can be utilized in a group context.