Book Description

Students with complex communication needs require focused intervention and supports in order to communicate effectively with peers and adults in school settings. Although paraprofessionals are often charged with providing support to these students, they rarely receive training on promoting communication, and there is limited research on how they might be trained. In this study, I used a multiple baseline across behaviors design to test the efficacy of a coaching package to train the paraprofessional to provide opportunities for a student to respond, setup opportunities for a student to initiate, and implement a systematic prompting hierarchy. The coaching package included (a) didactic instruction and a written handout focused on an overview of the intervention, implementation steps, and a planning sheet; (b) modeling and role play of implementation steps; and (c) performance feedback. The paraprofessional implemented these strategies with an elementary student with autism and complex communication needs. Procedural integrity was high, and inter-observer agreement was within acceptable limits overall and across all sessions and behaviors. Results demonstrated that the intervention was successful for increasing targeted paraprofessional behaviors in all three tiers, and it also coincided with increased student communication. Results from a social validity assessment showed that the paraprofessional perceived the training to be effective and beneficial. This study replicates previous findings that paraprofessionals can be trained to implement evidence-based practices to promote use of AAC, and for the first time demonstrates that a classroom teacher can deliver this training effectively.