A code for assessing teaching skills of parents of developmentally disabled children

The reliability of a code to measure teaching skills was assessed by using it to evaluate a behavioral training program for parents of developmentally disabled children. Twelve sets of parents participated in a program to give them the skills needed to be teachers in the areas of behavior management and language acquisition. Using group meetings and home visits, parents were taught general principles of behavior change as well as intervention strategies for specific problems. A sample of parents' teaching behaviors with their children was videotaped three times before and once after treatment. There were no significant changes in teaching behavior before treatment. After training, the results showed that the observation code could discriminate reliably between parents' correct and incorrect use of eight discrete and specifiable behavior modification skills. The significance of these findings and the uses and limitations of the code were discussed.