TEACHING STAFF TO IMPLEMENT MAND TRAINING WITH CHILDREN WITH ASD THROUGH TELEHEALTH

Telehealth services have increased substantially in the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, though little research exists to empirically evaluate the efficacy of direct ABA telehealth treatment or more specifically, how behavior technicians can be trained to implement such treatment. The present investigation utilized a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants to evaluate the use of an online behavioral skills training (BST) approach to teach behavior technicians to implement 20-min mand training sessions via telehealth with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The training phase of the study consisted of both role-play with feedback as well as feedback during sessions with the child participant. Results showed increases in behavior technician’s percentage of accurate implementation and rate of fully correct trials implemented following the training. Child participants also showed increased rates of independent mands following the BST implementation. Thus, BST may be an effective approach to teach behavior technicians to deliver mand training via telehealth.