Caregivers as Teachers: Using Constant Time Delay to Teach Adults How to Use Constant Time Delay

Abstract

Empowering caregivers to be effective teachers and interventionists is recognized as one of the first steps toward increasing their active participation in the ongoing education of their children, siblings, and clients. In this study, a multiple probe design across participants was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a 4-s constant time delay procedure to teach caregivers how to use a 4-s constant time delay procedure to teach response chain skills to their adolescent or adult children, siblings, or clients with moderate or severe developmental disabilities. Implicit modeling of the constant time delay procedure (used as the independent variable) paired with written cues and verbal prompts to complete the steps of the procedure were effective in teaching the procedure to all four participants with an average of 6.1% errors. During focused interviews at the completion of the study, all participants expressed positive comments about program outcomes. The results of this investigation have important implications for family and teacher education programs, for promoting caregiver participation in the educational process, and for future research efforts.