User:Behaviour Skills Training/sandbox

Summary of the presentation

Our presentation was on Behavioural Skills Training (BST), which is an evidence-based technique that is utilized to educate parents, caregivers, or anyone who is involved in teaching skills to learners, such as therapists. BST consists of four steps for teaching new skills, which are the following: instruction (what you will do and why), modeling (showing the person how to perform the skill), role-play (practicing administering the steps), and feedback (what was positive, what can be improved). The journal article that we reviewed, Evaluating Behavioural Skills Training as an Evidence-Based Practice When Training Parents to Intervene With Their Children (Schaefer & Andzik, 2021) was a compilation of twenty separate single-subject studies researching the effectiveness of Behavioural Skills Training as an intervention tool for parents of children both with and without developmental disabilities. The systematic review of all of the studies indicated strongly that BST is a highly effective method for teaching new skills.

Visual demonstrations of BST Video: This video gives a detailed account of the steps of Behaviour Skills Training as well as information regarding generalization, InSitu training and finally using BST in groups Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Gy4Q EX2c

Article: The following article gives a generalized breakdown of the steps involved within BST but also includes examples of the 4 steps being implemented. This article also covers common parent training errors made while using BST for new skills. It is a really informative article and helps understand BST in a user-friendly manner. Article link: https://www.iloveaba.com/2017/06/rock-star-parent-training-bst.html

Personal examples

1. Teaching a family member a new skill Making food in the oven involves various steps starting with how to turn on the oven, changing the temperature, and can extend to using other features like broiling. In teaching my little brother how to use the oven, we started with the basic steps. My brother watched me while I showed him how to turn on the oven and modify the temperature to preheat and then prepare the food. I ensured to give clear and concise instructions (Aba, 2021) that are on the same level as my brother's learning ability. Next, I employed a model prompt (Aba, 2021) to demonstrate these functions. After my brother watched me about ten times, I allowed him to rehearse the new skill (Aba, 2021) while I observed. After the first attempt, I gave him reinforcement and one postive feedback (Aba, 2021). He began to understand after the feedback and improved on the second try. Through behaviour skills training and the four steps that form it, I was able to instruct my brother on how to use the oven

2. Teaching a student a new skill Toilet training is often one of the most important skills that is taught at the elementary level. As an education assistant, it is crutial to form this skill early on in the young learner's time at school to avoid the dreaded accident. For a third grader diagnosed with autism, I often sit with the child before beginning the training to give them clear instructions and show them the visual prompt (Aba, 2021). After this, when they are taken to the bathroom, we rehearse the skill (Aba, 2021) while employing the visual prompt and also using verbal prompts. If the child is unable to complete certain steps independantly, we use most-to-least prompt fading strategy to teach them those steps. Lastly, we reinforce and then give feedback (Aba, 2021) if they missed any steps or performed it incorrectly but always delivered in a postive manner

Discussion Questions

1. After reading our personal examples, does any of your own experiences with employing BST into your teaching come to mind? Did you employ all four steps; Instruction, Model, Rehearse and Feedback?

2. Do you recall ever undergoing a behaviour skills training yourself? Describe how you felt especially during the feedback step. If not, how do you have any strategies to give better feedback?

3. If you could conduct a behaviour skills training to teach yourself a new skill, what skill would you want to learn and how would you lay out this plan?

References