Effects of a Video Self-Monitoring Procedure to Increase Treatment Fidelity of Paraprofessionals’ Implementation of Discrete Trial Training

Abstract

Behavior skills training is a didactic training format used to increase skill in an effective and efficient way. Video self-monitoring refers to the process of recording oneself for the purpose of self-review in order to observe and change one's behavior. The purpose of the following study was to determine if an intervention package that included Behavioral Skills Training (BST) and Video Self-Monitoring (VSM) would increase, generalize and, maintain high levels of treatment integrity of paraprofessional staff members while teaching a discrete trial training program to a student with autism. Additionally, student behavior was observed to determine if increased staff effectiveness would affect learner responding. The study found that the intervention package was effective in changing staff behavior by improving their treatment integrity. An observed change in student behavior emerged towards the end of the study when treatment integrity was high across staff members. Staff behavior generalized when the DTT program was implemented with a novel student. Additionally, maintenance of treatment integrity remained high after the intervention was withdrawn. Overall, these findings suggest that BST, followed by VSM, is an effective intervention for changing staff behavior.