Staff Development

ED 571: School and Home-Based Programs for Children with Autism

School-Based Program

Players Instructional aides Teachers Staff Trainer Related service providers Director & Supervisor Supervisors Consultant Administrators Secretarial Medical Financial/Business Others?

Credentials

What are the qualifications of the:

aides

teachers

staff trainers

consultant

Hiring What is the interview process?

Who should the candidate interview with?Administrative AND clinical

Hiring (cont) Interview

Face to face• where did they hear about the position• Interest in position• long & short term goals• Describe program AND requirements

• Minimally ONE year commitment

Have candidate work with child • Model, have candidate imitate, provide feedback,

have candidate implement feedback

Staff Training

Workshops/lecture Hands-on

Staff training ~ Workshops/Lectures

Monthly Workshop Various topics of ABA

• Teaching procedures (activity schedules, discrete trial, incidental) reinforcement, prompting, generalization

Pre-service: 3-4 days prior to beginning of school year autism, basic principles of ABA &

professionalism Staff development days

3-4 days per year (no students)

Staff Training~ Hands-on Training

Observation Paired with staff trainer

Model, have staff imitate, provide feedback, have staff implement feedback

Alternate independence with training Use of video?

Other training opportunities

Provide training to a new staff member

Attend conferences Present at conferences other?

Program Make-up

Allocation of staff across school program

Allocation of individualized programs across instructors

Allocation of Staff Across School Program How do you allocate your teachers across

program?Skills Career

• Move around program so can gain experience with multiple skill and age levels

How do you allocate your instructors across program? Skills Career

• Move around program so can gain experience with multiple skill and age levels

Allocation of Individualized Programs Across Instructors Teachers teach all foundational learning skills

Contingency management On-task behavior Reinforcement system

Easier programs for newer staff members E.g., gross/fine motor, matching

Same programs across students

Other?

Supervision What is the hierarchy?

E.g., Director Consultant Teacher Instructor

Related service providers?

Supervision (cont) Director Consultant

Be sure the role of Director and role of Consultant is well delineated

Teachers In terms of teachers supervising instructional

staff, check union rules for a public school Consultant & director should always empower the

teachers with the instructional staff and parents

How else can you increase accountability?

Communication among the Staff Classroom communication

Ongoing hands-on training• Effective for teacher to spend whole day with one

child and train all staff members -this ensure consistency

Brief after-school meeting about that student Weekly classroom meetings Systems in place to:

alert teacher when student is not making progress and observation/training is needed

alert teacher when student needs new sets

Communication among the Staff

Teacher collaborationGrade level teachers should

collaborate minimally weeklyBiggest asset in a program are your

colleagues!!!!!

Communication among the Staff Program communication

Weekly grade-level meetings with director

• Problem solving• Ensure consistency across program• Why is consistency important????

Weekly management meetings• Consultant, trainers, director

Documentation

For all meetings, notes should be taken and stored for future referenceE.g., when consultant provides

recommendations to a teacher, an e-mail is sent to all other consultants, teacher, and director

Evaluating Staff

Who evaluates teachers, instructional aides, consultant?

Evaluating Staff (cont)

Annual evaluations of all staff memberscontract contingent on successful

evaluation Ongoing brief evaluations of all staff Ongoing data notebook evaluations External programmatic review

Ongoing brief staff evaluation

In one session, collect data on:On-taskOpportunities to respondContingency managementIncidental teaching

Annual staff evaluation Professionalism On-Task Opportunities to respond Behavior-descriptive praise Teaching new skills Incidental teaching Programming generalization Teaching social competence Relationship building Decreasing problem behavior Understanding intervention

technology Maintaining the physical environment Assessing personal appearance

Ongoing data notebook evaluation Sufficient data collection Progress Generalization probes IOA Explanatory statements Consent Accurate graphing techniques Neat and professional

Can administrator do this?

Annual Notebook evaluation Number of programs reviewed

Number of individualized programs Percentage of individualized programs

Number of programs rated effective Percentage of programs rated effective

Number of programs rated appropriate Percentage of programs rated appropriate

Percentage of programs with current consent Percentage of programs with some/any interobserver

agreement

External Programmatic Evaluation

Objective professional evaluates program by evaluating data notebooks

Who does this evaluate?

Retention

How do you keep morale high and retain your staff?

Preps/lunch Daily hours Teacher support Appropriate resources Professionalism Open communication

Home-Based Program

Players

Instructional aides Teachers Staff Trainer Consultant Financial/Business Others?

Recruitment

Where do you get the instructors from?

How about the teachers?

Credentials

What are the qualifications of the:

aides

teachers

staff trainers

consultant

Hiring

What is the interview process?

Who should the candidate interview with?Parent & consultant

Hiring

Interview Face to face

• where did they hear about the position• Interest in position• long & short term goals• Describe program AND requirements

• Minimally ONE year commitment• 10 hours per week with child

• 2 hrs per day 5 days per week• No more than 4 staff members with child

Have candidate work with child • Model, have candidate imitate, provide feedback,

have candidate implement feedback

Staff Training

Workshops/lecture Hands-on

Staff training Workshops/Lectures

Monthly WorkshopVarious topics of ABA

• Teaching procedures (activity schedules, discrete trial, incidental) reinforcement, prompting, generalization

Staff TrainingHands-on Training

Observation of skilled staff member Paired with staff trainer

Model, have staff imitate, provide feedback, have staff implement feedback

Alternate independence with training Consultant/trainer needs to train with each

staff member minimally weekly Use of video?

Other training opportunities

Provide training to a new staff member

Attend conferences Present at conferences other?

Program Make-up

Allocation of staff across home program

Allocation of individualized programs across instructors

Allocation of Staff Across Program

How do you allocate your instructors across home program?

SkillsCareer

Allocation of Individualized Programs Across Instructors Consultant/trainer teaches all foundational

learning skills Contingency management On-task behavior Reinforcement system

Easier programs for newer staff members

Other?

Supervision What is the hierarchy?

E.g., Consultant Trainer Instructor

Parents? Related service providers?

Communication among the Staff

Home program communicationOngoing hands-on training

• Effective for trainer to see all staff members minimally weekly to ensure consistency

Communication among the Staff

FrequentlyOverlap sessions to allow for

collaboration

Necessity of team meetings???

Documentation

For all training, notes should be taken and stored for future referenceE.g., when consultant provides

recommendations to a staff member, an e-mail is sent to staff member and consultant

Communication book among staff members?

Evaluating Staff

Who evaluates instructional staff?

consultant?

Evaluating Staff (cont)

Annual staff evaluation

Ongoing brief evaluations of all staff

Ongoing data notebook evaluation

External programmatic review??

Ongoing brief staff evaluation

In one session, collect data on:On-taskOpportunities to respondContingency managementIncidental teaching

Annual staff evaluation Professionalism On-Task Opportunities to respond Behavior-descriptive praise Teaching new skills Incidental teaching Programming generalization Teaching social competence Relationship building Decreasing problem behavior Understanding intervention

technology Maintaining the physical environment Assessing personal appearance

Ongoing data notebook evaluation Sufficient data collection Progress Generalization probes IOA Explanatory statements Consent Accurate graphing techniques Neat and professional

Can parent do this?

Annual Notebook evaluation Number of programs reviewed

Number of individualized programs Percentage of individualized programs

Number of programs rated effective Percentage of programs rated effective

Number of programs rated appropriate Percentage of programs rated appropriate

Percentage of programs with current consent Percentage of programs with some/any interobserver

agreement

External Programmatic Evaluation

Objective professional evaluates program by evaluating data notebooks

Many times, home programs wind up in due process –there will be an expert witness, as well as a judge evaluating the data notebook

Retention

How do you keep morale high and retain your staff?

Different in home program because staff member works alone Overlap sessions trainer support Appropriate resources Professionalism Open communication