The Use of Remote Monitoring to Increase Staff Fidelity of Protocol Implementation When Working with Adults with Autism

Abstract

With the increase of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) leaving the public school systems with centralized training environments, there needs to be innovation in supporting staff who will find themselves working in various community environments with adolescent or adult learners. Staff training and ongoing supervision is important for enhancing student skill acquisition and long-term maintenance of important life skills. Current day technology has been shown to be effective in augmenting staff training and supervision efforts. The purpose of the current study was to use existing FaceTime® technology to conduct remote live supervision of staff participants who were in the community with adult learners engaged in various learning tasks. Staff were trained on specific instructional protocols to implement, and the staff trainers, miles away, watched and listened to the training being delivered by the staff to the adult participants. When staff made implementation errors, the staff trainer corrected by speaking through the smartphone. Results showed that staff improved their fidelity of implementing the training protocols when distance feedback was provided. The results of this study provide more evidence that distance supervision of staff works and is another available method for training and supervising staff.