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Increases in the Communicative Behaviours of Students with Cerebral Palsy as a Result of Feedback to, and the Selection of Goals by, Paraprofessionals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2014

Laura J. Hall  and
Michelle L. Macvean
Laura J. Hall*
Affiliation:
Deakin University
Michelle L. Macvean
Affiliation:
Deakin University
*
School of Studies in Disability, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood VIC 3125, Australia
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Extract

The employment of untrained paraprofessionals to support children with disabilities in educational settings is not uncommon. Although urgently needed, research on effective methods of increasing the skills of these paraprofessionals is scarce. This study, which was conducted over 3 academic years, assessed the effectiveness of incorporating naturalistic prompting strategies by paraprofessionals for increasing target communicative behaviours of students with severe spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. A concurrent multiple-baseline design replicated across 3 paraprofessionals was used to determine the effectiveness of verbal and written feedback regarding their attainment of self-selected goals for prompting target communicative behaviours. The results indicate that, after the introduction of the intervention, the prompting behaviours of all paraprofessionals increased, as did the target behaviours of all students. Increases maintained 5 months after intervention for all students observed and for 2 of the 3 paraprofessionals observed. The implications of designing a program to include specific performance feedback and active involvement by staff are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , September 1997 , pp. 174 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1997

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References

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