Behavior Skill Training Among Educators and/or Behavior Techs within Education among Tier 3 Behaviors

 Many times, when working with individuals with disabilities and responding to specific behaviors, many educators and behavior techs within the educational setting may not be accurately trained in responding to Tier 3 behaviors such as fecal smearing, rectal digging, PICA, SIB, physical aggression, elopement, property destruction etc. Tier 3 behaviors or intervention supports is decided by the current data that has been taken such as Respond To Intervention Behavior (RTIB) within the educational setting, to focus on more intensive interventions for a student (King, 2019). Educators working alongside with BCBA or BCaBA, are concerned with the students developmental and curriculum components. With that being said, educators may not have the proper training as to how to manage problematic behaviors and promote rapid learning by implementing components of behavior principals. Practitioners could train educators as well as behavior tech’s by implementing components of Behavior Skill Training. BST is an evidence-based approach for staff members who provide services by implementing behavior change programs and related procedures (Parsons, Rollyson, & Reid, 2012).  BST or Behavior Skill Training is a behavioral intervention that teaches individuals of how to effectively prevent, teach, respond and reinforce specific behaviors, which can lead to an increase in academics among Tier 3 students. By not responding appropriately, this can lead to an increase in problematic behaviors which can lead to a possible transition accordioning to the student’s data to a more restrictive environment. Having effective trainings without the resource constraint of time, would be highly effective. Despite the effectiveness of BST, a practical concern or down fall is the amount of time it takes to conduct these trainings. (Parson et al., 2012). Of course, the behavior analyst conducting these trainings in responding to Tier 3 behaviors should have experience with theses specific behaviors in order to train educators and behavior techs within the educational setting.  

 

Numerous components of BST have been used to train educators and/or behavior techs on how to teach individuals with problematic behaviors or disabilities. It is similar to educators teaching students how to do long division as educators may engage in rehearsal, modeling and feedback when teaching students, which are components of BST. When teaching long division, educators will measure the student competency and performance which is similar BST. Behavior analyst should be trained when working in both the public and private sector among components of BST, to better serve students, educators and behavior techs. The significance of behavior analysts being skilled in BST is highlighted by demonstrations that without such skills, staff training is not likely to be consistently effective even if the staff trainer is skilled in implementing the behavior-change procedure that is being trained to staff (McGimsey, Green, & Lutzker, 1995; Parsons & Reid, 1995).  This will create the consistency of an intervention plan that can increase appropriate behaviors and decrease inappropriate behaviors, that will enhance the students educational experience, preventing a possible transition to a more restrictive environment. Meaning, within a 7.5 school hour day instead of managing a student’s behavior such as elopement or property destruction at a Tier 3 level, educators or behavior techs will respond appropriately to an individuals behavior and increase academics once BST as been conducted for specific staff members.  This will lead to problematic behaviors decreasing, and academics and/or appropriate behaviors increasing. 

 

King, I. (2020, March 16). What is the Difference Between Tier 1, 2 & 3 Behavior
Interventions? Retrieved January 17, 2021, from https://www.kickboardforschools.com/blog/post/rti-response-to-intervention/what-is-the-difference-between-tier-1-2-3-behavior-interventions/

 

McGimsey J. F., Greene B. F., Lutzker J. R. Competence in aspects of behavioral treatment and consultation: Implications for service delivery and graduate training. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. 1995;28:301–315

 

Parsons, M. B., Rollyson, J. H., & Reid, D. H. (2013). Teaching Practitioners to Conduct Behavioral Skills Training: A Pyramidal Approach for Training Multiple Human Service Staff. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 6(2), 4-16. doi:10.1007/bf03391798