Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often engage in dangerous problem behaviour (Oliver et al., 2012), which sometimes poses safety risks for staff members. In these cases, staff may need to use evasion and physical intervention skills. Behaviour Skills Training (BST) has been used to teach caregivers safety intervention skills for managing dangerous problem behaviour safely (Metoyer et al., 2020; Ryan & Peterson,2012). This study used an enhanced BST package to teach 18 staff members three safety intervention skills. The three safety intervention skills were selected as failure to implement these skills correctly led to staff injuries at a centre for children with ASD. Each safety skill was broken down into observable and measurable behaviour and compiled into a scoring sheet. Enhanced BST sessions consisted of 1:1 instruction, modelling, role play, and feedback (Lerman et al., 2015), and participants were required to perform the skill a minimum of three times with 100% accuracy. Experiment 1 included 12 participants, and skills were tested for maintenance/generalisation from two to 23 weeks. The mean interobserver agreement (IOA) was 90% across participants (range 83%-100%). Experiment 2 had six participants, and skills were tested for maintenance/generalisation from five to 25 weeks. The mean IOA was 80% across participants (range 79%-100%). The results showed low baseline scores with an immediate increase in scores post-training and that the skills were maintained and generalised over time. The results of the study provide evidence in favour of the future implementation of the enhanced BST package.
- behavioural skills training
- enhanced safety intervention training
Evaluation of a generic behaviour skills training (BST) package to enhance staff safety while working with children with autism in a school setting in the Middle East
Sweetman, G. (Author). Jun 2024
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis