Evaluating the effect of a staff training package for paraprofessionals to teach communicative behavior to students with special needs

The use of paraprofessionals to support the education of students with disabilities is increasingly common in special education. Too often, paraprofessionals are expected to assume instructional roles without sufficient preparation and supervision. Children with severe disabilities reportedly receive a high percentage of their education from paraprofessionals. Because these students learn best from carefully implemented systematic instruction, receiving instruction from adults with insufficient training puts these students at a high risk of not learning the skills required for lifelong independence. In this study, these concerns were addressed by teaching paraprofessionals to facilitate communicative behavior in children with disabilities by (a) setting up salient situations that increase the likelihood of child communication, (b) allowing sufficient response time, (c) using a systematic prompting strategy, (d) providing error correction, and (e) honoring children’s requests