Utilizing the AIM Curriculum to Improve Job Performance in an Educational Setting for Children With Autism and...

The current study evaluated the effect of brief, daily present moment awareness activities on the work performance of paraprofessionals working at a school for children with disabilities. A nonconcurrent multiple-baseline design across three participants evaluated changes in staff-initiated interactions with students and staff's accuracy of data collection on student behavior. Relative to baseline, participants demonstrated an average increase in staff-initiated interactions and an increase in the average percentage accuracy of data collection. Participants averaged 10.02 (range 3.4-16.67) staff-initiated interactions during baseline and 15.38 (range 9.75-24.4) during the intervention phase. Relative to baseline, two of the three participants demonstrated an increase in their average accuracy of data collection on student behavior. Participants' average data collection accuracy was 56.9% (range 40%-86.67%) during baseline and 91.98% (range 86.41%-100%) during intervention. The average percentage of nonoverlapping data was 61.67% (range 25%-100%) for staff-initiated interactions and 33.33% (range 0%-100%) for data collection accuracy. Implications and possibilities for future research related to acceptance and commitment training interventions in workplace environments are discussed.