Research Information System
48th Annual Convention of Association for Behavior Analysis International, Massachusetts, United States Of America, 26 - 30 May 2022, pp.173
The purpose of this study was to investigate relative effectiveness of two professional development programs (Workshops only and Workshops + Practice-BasedCoaching) in increasing preschool teachers’ frequent and accurate use of embedded teaching practices while working with children with autism. The study employed a randomized controlled trial with a total of 36teachers and 36 children with autism and other developmental disabilities. Thirty-six teachers were randomly assigned to one of the three study groups: Control Group, Workshops only Group and Workshops+Practice-Based Coaching Group. Findings of the study indicated that teachers in the experimental groups used embedded teaching practices more frequently and correctly than teachers in the control group; teachers who received practice-based coaching support in addition to the workshops demonstrated better performances on implementing embedded teaching practices than teachers who attended workshops only. With respect to child outcomes, children whose teachers were in the Workshops+Practice-Based Coaching group showed larger increases in target behavior performances in comparison the children in Workshops only or Control groups.