| Popis: |
Diagnoses for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in educational institutions are steadily rising. As a result, the need for effective educational, behavioral, and other beneficial services is required to ensure best outcomes for this population of learners. Federal legislations such as No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (PL 107-110) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (PL 108-446) mandate educational institutions utilize evidence-based practices (EBP) for students with disabilities to improve and/or develop socially significant behaviors in the least restrictive educational environment. While EBPs informed by applied behavior analysis have substantial evidence supporting their use for educating learners with ASD, several barriers towards their regular implementation exist. These behaviorally based EBPs are reported to be used infrequently in mainstream classrooms (Morrier, Hess, & Heflin, 2010) and have been perceived negatively by educators who are expected utilize them (Allen & Bowles, 2014).The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of professional development activities that incorporate active learning with ongoing coaching and feedback on treatment integrity and adherence to a behaviorally based EBP, prompting. Further, this study examined if educator perceptions of the behaviorally based EBPs for learners with ASD are affected by the proposed PD activities. Specifically, Behavioral Skills Training (Parsons, Rollyson, Iverson, & Reid, 2012) and side-by-side coaching and feedback (Kretlow, Cooke, & Wood, 2012) was implemented with educators of learners with ASD in an out-of-district educational program. |
