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Reducing Behavior Problems Among Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Coaching Teachers in a Mixed-Reality Setting

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Abstract

Most approaches aiming to reduce behavior problems among youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) focus on individual students; however, school personnel also need professional development to better support students. This study targeted teachers’ skill development to promote positive outcomes for students with ASD. The sample included 19 teachers in two non-public special education settings serving students with moderate to severe ASD. Participating teachers received professional development and coaching in classroom management, with guided practice in a mixed-reality simulator. Repeated-measures ANOVAs examining externally-conducted classroom observations revealed statistically significant improvements in teacher management and student behavior over time. Findings suggest that coaching and guided practice in a mixed-reality simulator is perceived as acceptable and may reduce behavior problems among students with ASD.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the developers of the Classroom Check-Up, Drs. Wendy Reinke and Keith Herman and TeachLivE™, Drs. Lisa Dieker, Charles Hughes, and Michael Hynes.

Author Contributions

ETP conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, conducted the data analyses, and drafted the manuscript; SRJ delivered the intervention, participated in the presentation of results, and helped to draft the manuscript; KL delivered the intervention and helped to draft and review the manuscript; LB conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, assisted with implementation, and provided critical review of the manuscript; RC conceived of the study, participated in the design, and provided critical review of the manuscript; CPB conceived of the study, participated in the design of the study, assisted with interpretation and presentation of results; and revised it for critical intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This study was funded by Wendy Klag Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. This was a faculty award to the first author. Additional support for this work comes from the Institute of Education Sciences (R305A150221; R324A110107) and National Institute of Mental Health (T32 MH019545-23).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 415 N. Washington Street, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Elise T. Pas, Stacy R. Johnson & Kristine E. Larson

  2. Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University, Graduate School of Education, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Linda Brandenburg & Robin Church

  3. Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Catherine P. Bradshaw

Authors
  1. Elise T. Pas
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  2. Stacy R. Johnson
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  3. Kristine E. Larson
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  4. Linda Brandenburg
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  5. Robin Church
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  6. Catherine P. Bradshaw
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elise T. Pas.

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Conflict of Interest

Each author declares that she has no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

The researchers’ Institutional Review Board reviewed this research and found it to be exempt. Therefore, this article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed Consent

Because this research was exempt, it was considered to not involve human participants.

Additional information

Kristine Larson was affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University, School of Education, Baltimore, Maryland, USA during the conduct of the study. She has been affiliated with the Bloomberg School of Public Health since the writing of this manuscript began.

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Pas, E.T., Johnson, S.R., Larson, K. et al. Reducing Behavior Problems Among Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Coaching Teachers in a Mixed-Reality Setting. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 3640–3652 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2898-y

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