![]() When I first became a special education teacher, I was caught off guard by the expectation that I, little old me, fresh out of college, was expected to train other staff members. Granted, it wasn't formal training workshops or evaluating staff, but I was definitely expected to help other adults implement behavior strategies with my students! And I struggled, HARD. I could teach students all day, but when it came to teaching staff, it just didn't come naturally to me, and I sure wasn't taught in undergrad either. And yet it didn't feel fair to ask staff to support students when they didn't have the skills to do so! I had to go out and learn about it on my own, so I could better support the adults around me too. Now, I want to share what I've learned, so you don't have to make the mistakes I made! Here's a step-by-step process to training school staff members on behavior strategies for students. Whether you're training paraprofessionals, teachers, related service providers, or even administrators, these steps will help staff members learn, implement, and track behavior strategies your students need. All of these steps are integrated into our "Staff Skills Spotlight" training system, so you can easily put them in practice. However, you can follow these steps on their own too.
Step 1: Choose a skill When choosing what skill to train staff members on, you need to ask two questions. First, what strategies does the student need? Second, what can the staff already do? For example, a student might need antecedent choice, but the staff might not be familiar with providing choice. You might choose to train the staff on choice first, then antecedent choice, but might put less priority to training them on a different skill, say, non-contingent breaks. This is why Staff Skills Spotlight has three levels, so you can choose what skills to work on based on the trainee's prior experience. Step 2: Print and prep your materials. I suggest having materials for instruction, visual reminders for staff while working with students, and checklists for both competency (understanding of the skill) and implementation (the fidelity with which the skill is used with students). Having these materials prepared in advance will help give structure to your training time and keep you focused and effective - just like lesson planning! The best method I've found is to have a binder for each staff member, where all of the materials can be stored. When you get the Staff Skills Spotlight, you'll have instructional materials, visuals, and checklists included, along with a skill tracker for determining when a strategy has been mastered! Step 3: Complete a competency pre-assessment Since you are training (not evaluating) staff, this "assessment" is really a conversation. You want to determine if a staff member can (1) define the skill, (2) give examples of the skill, (3) model the skill, and (4) use the skill consistently with students. Using a competency checklist with a rating scale like the one in Staff Skills Spotlight can help you quantify the skills staff members already have. This helps you know how much training is needed! Step 4: Train on the Skill The gold standard in the field of applied behavior analysis for training staff is something called BST, or Behavioral Skills Training. You can learn about BST here, but this is the gist:
Step 5: Complete Competency and Implementation Checklists ongoing. As staff begin to use the strategy with students, make sure you are checking in with them. See step 3 for suggestions on having a conversation using a competency checklist, and do this maybe once a week or so. When staff are actually using the strategy with students, though, it's important to do brief observations to see if the skill is being used with fidelity. The worst thing is to think a skill is being used correctly with students when it's not! An implementation checklist (or fidelity checklist) is one way to monitor this. It contains a list of the steps staff should follow, a yes/no column to check if the step was done correctly, and an error column to take notes on any mistakes. The goal is to get all "YES" on the checklist! All skills in the Staff Skills Spotlight have an implementation checklist already included. An important note: Observing and giving feedback can be touchy. When using an implementation checklist...
Step 6: Track Staff Progress Have a list of skills that have been trained and the results of the competency checklists and implementation checklists. If using the Staff Skills Spotlights, we include a skill tracker that requires a 12/12 score on one competency checklist and All Yes on three implementation checks, for the skill to be considered complete. This also informs you of what higher level strategies you can train on next! Step 7: Utilize Staff Skills Once a staff member has completed a skill, you can use this information to assign them specific tasks or students! For example, a paraprofessional who has completed all levels of choice skills might do well as a 1:1 for a student who frequently engages in power struggles. A teacher who has a variety of skills completed could be equipped to have a student with challenging behaviors in their class or caseload. If two staff have good rapport, one who has completed a skill could do an implementation check on the other who has not yet completed it. Yes, this is a lot! But whether you're a special education teacher or behavior specialist, you have a skill set to share with other school staff. Give these steps a try on your own, or grab the Staff Skill Spotlight to get started on supporting your staff as you work together to support students. And please, let us know how it goes!
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Meet JennyI'm a special education teacher turned BSEL coach. If I'm not geeking out on the research, I'm probably snuggling up on the couch with my husband and our two cats, Gibson and Binks. Categories
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