Evaluating a supervision program for developing and maintaining therapeutic staff-resident interactions during...

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Applied Behavior Analysis

Background:

• Effective communication strategies are crucial for the development of profoundly handicapped children.
• Routine care tasks offer opportunities for therapeutic language interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a program designed to teach and maintain language training interactions between institutional staff and profoundly handicapped children.
• To assess the impact of these interactions on child vocalizations and staff behavior during routine care.

Main Methods:

• A multiple baseline design was employed to sequentially train staff in vocalizations, praise, imitation, and prompting during bath time.
• Supervisory prompts and feedback were utilized during in-service training sessions.

Main Results:

• Staff successfully acquired and generalized language interaction skills to dressing tasks.
• Supervision requirements decreased significantly during the maintenance period, indicating sustained staff behavior.
• Child vocalization frequencies increased, and interactions did not negatively affect care quality or duration.

Conclusions:

• Therapeutic interactions integrated into care routines are beneficial for profoundly handicapped children.
• Effective staff management techniques are essential for the long-term maintenance of these beneficial interactions.