title: Extending the Reach of Early Intervention Training for Practitioners: A Preliminary Investigation of an Online Curriculum for Teaching Behavioral Intervention Knowledge in Autism to Families and Service Providers.
abstract: Early behavioral intervention, based on the methods of applied behavior analysis, has the strongest and most consistent scientific support as a means of teaching skills to young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and reducing their restricted and maladaptive behavior. Though individual ABA-based treatment plans are usually developed, designed and supervised by a senior-level clinician, they are most often implemented by a practitioner, such as a parent, direct service provider, aide, or an early childhood professional from a related discipline. Unfortunately, few practitioner-orientated training programs are available to geographically disparate persons. Online distance-learning education offers a potential solution to this problem. Fifty-one individuals participated in an initial study of a short, three-module online course. The results showed a highly statistically significant difference between the mean pre-test and post-test score. The outcomes suggest the feasibility and user satisfaction of teaching BI knowledge acquisition online, and thus bolster confidence that future, larger-scale curricula aimed at teaching BI in a distance-learning format is warranted.
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts Medical School, Shriver Center, 200 Trapelo Rd. Waltham, MA 02452.
authors.forename: Charles D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Hamad
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Serna
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fleming
keywords: Autism; Behavior Modification; Child; Children; Developmental Disabilities; Developmental Disorders; Disabled; Early Intervention (Education); Health Education; Intellectual Disability