Abstract:
Problem behaviours (PBs) are problematic and negatively impact a student’s school
life, potentially resulting in exclusion from education. School staff often lack the skills to
implement behavioural interventions to manage PB and increase compliance in students.
Recent literature has described the practical functional assessment (PFA) model, which
informs a skill-based treatment (SBT) that includes functional communication training, delay
and denial training, and compliance training. Although the effectiveness of the PFA and the
informed SBT has been demonstrated across several studies, it is not without its limitations.
Furthermore, the generalization of the intervention to special school staff has yet to be
assessed. The current study worked with four students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
and PB and their school staff. The current study aimed to (a) evaluate the generality of the
PFA model and its informed SBT; and (b) compare the effectiveness and efficiency of hands-on training conditions and hand-over training conditions in school staff using behavioural
skill training (BST). Hands-on training refers to the school staff being trained alongside the
student as they learn the target response from the experimenter. In contrast, hand-over
training refers to the school staff being trained after the students have learnt the target
responses from the experimenter. Although the current study was interrupted by Coronavirus
(COVID-19), our results supported the effectiveness of the PFA to inform SBT. PBs were
decreased, and alternative behaviours were increased in all students. Although a comparison
between the two training conditions was not possible, the current study provided tentative
support for the hands-on training method. School staff from the hands-on training condition
implemented parts of SBT with high treatment integrity after BST. The strengths and
limitations of the current study are discussed. Clinical implications and future research are
proposed.
