Training Support Staff for Teaching Young Children with Disabilities in an Inclusive Preschool Setting

Abstract

A growing trend in early intervention for children with disabilities is to provide education and related services in inclusive environments. One factor affecting the degree to which children with disabilities benefit from intervention in inclusive settings is the support staff's proficiency in teaching. We evaluated a rapid training program for improving the teaching skills of six support staff in a community-based preschool. Following baseline, staff were taught basic teaching skills (e.g., prompting, reinforcing, and correcting errors) through verbal and written instructions, role playing, and on-the-job monitoring and feedback. Results indicated all staff reached the 80% correct teaching skills criterion during participation in the training program. Results also indicated that children with disabilities made progress toward acquiring adaptive skills when staff applied the teaching skills within the context of naturally occurring activities in the preschool. Acceptability evaluations completed by support staff suggested the training program was well received among the staff and addressed child-teaching skills that could be realistically applied within the ongoing preschool routine. Discussion focuses on the need for continued research on staff-training methodologies for developing other types of teaching skills useful in inclusive settings and on how application of such skills can play an important role in positive behavior support.