AN EVALUATION OF THE USE OF BST TO TEACH A DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE TO PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

Author

Kirsten L. Dvorak, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

12-1-2014

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Behavior Analysis and Therapy

First Advisor

Ringdahl, Joel

Abstract

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Kirsten Dvorak, for the Master's of Science degree in Behavior Analysis and Therapy, presented on *October 17, 2014, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: AN EVALUATION OF THE USE OF BST TO TEACH A DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE TO PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Joel Ringdahl Behavioral skills training (BST) has been utilized with many different populations for a variety of purposes. This training package has been employed for the purposes of either behavior reduction or skill acquisition and has been successfully employed with staff, parents, and individuals with intellectual disabilities. This present study utilized a BST training package to teach ABC data collection to three parents of children with disabilities. This study extended Shand and Miltenberger's (2013) study by including a post-BST component where the parents collected data on their own children. This study included this component to help determine if the skills learned during BST could be generalized. Two week follow-up sessions were conducted as well. Results indicated that the percentage of correct ABC data forms increased post-BST, and were maintained at follow-up. The study suggested that the skills were generalized to the parent's own children. These results propose that behavioral skills training is an effective method to teach parents to collect data on their children. Future research should be conducted to include longer follow up sessions, and future research should also replicate the study. Replication with similar results would further prove that the skills were generalized to children of the participants following the BST training package.