CITATION: Ducharme, J.M., Williams, L., Cummings, A., Murray, P., & Spencer, T. (2001). General Case Quasi-Pyramidal staff training to promote generalization of teaching skills in supervisory and direct-care staff. Behavior Modification, 25(2), 233-254.
Enhancing supervisory staff skills through participation in the training of front line workers
- The use of general teaching skills (e.g., providing clear instruction, using a system of least prompts, reinforcing correct responding) must be adapted to address the variation in client ability
- Specific skill programs often result in staff difficulty in generalizing the use of these general teaching skills to client program patterns that were not included in the staff training session
- The practice of agencies with staff training needs of hiring staff training consultants external to the agency presents an additional potential generalization problem in staff training efforts
- Addressed generalization problems through the use of a staff training package that included specific generalization strategies designed to expand stimulus control
Performance-based training using multiple client program models selected to sample the range of stimulus and response variations that may be encountered
Teaching involved the use of a variation of pyramidal training – an approach in which supervisory staff are trained to use teaching skills prior to serving as trainers for the front line workers to expand stimulus control beyond conditions present in the staff training workshop by ensuring the presence of a prominent training stimulus (the supervisor) common to both the staff training and the natural environment (referred to as quasi-pyramidal training because supervisory staff are not required to conduct the training of front line workers independently, rather they are supported in their training efforts by the consultants
Consultants are included in the staff training to ensure quality control of training content and to increase the probability that supervisory staff demonstrate further enhancement of their skills after participation in the training of front line workers
- Results included
Improvements in front line workers ability to generalize the teaching skills to situations not specified in training
Improved ability of supervisory staff to conduct client teaching sessions
Supervisory staff demonstrated further improvement in their client teaching ability
- Results suggest that the quasi-pyramidal training component used in this study may provide one strategy for augmenting the skills of current staff while at the same time developing adequate skill levels for new employees
Research based article (n = 3 supervisors and 9 front line staff)