Graduation Year
2011
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Granting Department
Child and Family Studies
Major Professor
Timothy Weil, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Raymond Miltenberger, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Kimberly Crosland, Ph.D.
Keywords
Discrete trial training, Staff training, Fluency training
Abstract
Behavior Skills Training (BST) typically consists of an initial informational component presented to the learners either vocally, through a handout, presentation, or both. Results from the active student responding literature indicates these methods as the least effective means of conveying important information to learners. This study sought to utilize an alternative instructional component, fluency training, and to evaluate if any effects are observed on implementation of the behavior chain of Discrete Trial Training (DTT). Teacher's had previous training and experience on implementing DTT prior to this study--however, all teachers implemented strategies with low integrity. Teachers were trained to fluent levels on verbally stating the component steps of DTT and were then observed during probe sessions to evaluate percentage of steps implemented correctly. The probes indicate an initial improvement, but decreases over time that are consistent with results on other passive in-service trainings. Teachers then took part in a single session of Modeling, Role-Play, and Feedback. Results suggest that while fluency training had an impact on participants' verbal performance on discrete trial information, and affected overt performance during subsequent probes, the effects were small and transient. Performance improved only after training on the components of BST and additional training had been completed in-situ.
Scholar Commons Citation
Breeden, Ashley Nicole, "An Evaluation of Behavioral Skills Training with the Addition of a Fluency Component" (2011). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/3015
