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A Randomized Evaluation of Group Training for Paraprofessionals to Implement Systematic Instruction Strategies with Students with Severe Disabilities
- Source :
-
Teacher Education and Special Education . Aug 2021 44(3):206-220. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
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.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0888-4064 and 1944-4931
- Volume :
- 44
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- ERIC
- Journal :
- Teacher Education and Special Education
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- EJ1298556
- Document Type :
- Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0888406420923769