Best Practices in Training Caregivers to Implement Behavioral Interventions

It has been well documented in the literature that behavioral interventions are effective in reducing a wide variety of maladaptive behaviors such as aggression, self-injury and destructive behaviors (Allen & Warzak, 2000; Campbell, 2003). Despite the success of these interventions, they are often implemented in tightly controlled settings with third party individuals that are able to implement procedures with a high degree of integrity (Fryling, 2014). Due to the complexities of the natural environment, caregivers may be less likely to implement behavioral interventions with the same degree of integrity and have limited available time for training on procedures. Therefore, it is important to evaluate efficient and effective strategies for caregiver training. This presentation will review common challenges to caregiver training and outline procedures for caregiver training that are aimed at decreasing the time needed as well as increasing caregiver treatment integrity. Specifically, the advantages and disadvantages of didactics, role play and in vivo instruction will be discussed