Using Pyramidal Training to Teach School Staff to Learn Instructional Control in Special School Settings

Abstract

Young, neurodiverse students in special education first need to develop the skills of listening to, and following, staff's instructions before they can effectively access the school curriculum and engage in learning. However, due to the lack of resources, tools and training available in the special education sector, special school staff often do not have the key skills required to develop effective instructional control with their students, which leads to a lack of instruction following in the classroom. Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of the Pyramidal Training model to train special school staff in various behaviour analytic skills and procedures, but has not yet done so with Instructional Control procedures. Furthermore, there are large gaps in research investigating Instructional Control in general. Hence, the current study sought to evaluate the effectiveness, acceptability, and ease of implementing Pyramidal Training to teach special school staff the 7 Steps of Instructional Control to help fill in these gaps. Pyramidal Training was implemented for staff training across two School Blocks in a special school, via behavioural skills training (BST) procedures, and staff's rate of Instructional Control procedures were measured before and after intervention. In addition, data was also taken on various Pyramidal Training procedures, and students' behavioural outcomes were recorded as secondary data to evaluate the effectiveness of the staff trainings. Staff intervention was found to be only somewhat effective, only consistently increasing the rate of Instructional Control procedures being implemented by first-tier staff participants. Data was highly variable post-intervention for the second-tier staff participants, particularly for one School Block, which questions the applicability of Pyramidal Training in similar settings. Social Validity, as well as the study's strengths, limitations, clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed in detail.