Project Description:
Project TAPP: Tackling Autism via Paraprofessional Preparation. Autism Grant Program: 2020-2021 Board Certified Behavior Analyst Training for Teachers/Paraprofessionals funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Funded $471,662 for 2 years (2020-2022).
Investigators: Thompson, J. L. (PI), Whiteside, E. (Co-PI)
1. Project Description: In this project, we will support students with autism spectrum disorder through a tiered training and coaching model on the foundations and applications of behavior analysis for paraprofessionals who serve students with ASD. Further, we will incorporate, maintain, and update as needed the videos developed in our centers ongoing project: Preparing Researchers, Educators, and Parents (PREP): Tools for Autism and Behavior. We will refer to the project as Project TAPP. Our target population are paraprofessionals who serve students with ASD in public and charter schools. Our goal is to provide direct services to 850 students with ASD by training 170 paraprofessionals through ABA-based workshops, tiered model of training and support, and ongoing access to continuing education training videos. We will achieve this by engaging in high-impact recruitment strategies, developing thorough and updated workshops to support paraprofessionals in the acquisition of applied behavior analysis intervention skills, taking part in regular evaluation and continuous improvement, using behavior skills training and a tiered approach to continue to support and coach workshop participants once workshops have concluded, and ensuring up-to-date ongoing access to continuing education videos by maintaining and revising videos as-needed.
2. Funding Information: We received $471,662 from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Autism Grant Program
3. Number of participants: We have trained 284 paraprofessionals across Texas who serve 1530 student with ASD.
4. Evaluation Data: Demographic data on para-professionals, Count of number of students served by each paraprofessional, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale, ALCOT (Autism and Low Incidence Classroom Observation Assessment)
5. Partners: Dr. Erinn Whiteside is co-PI, Education Service Centers Region 20 (San Antonio and surrounding region), Ms. Janet Enriquez, Autism Specialist for Region 20, approximately 4500 students with autism in 18 counties, 53 school districts, and 31 charter schools, Region 6 (Huntsville and surrounding region), Ms. Laura Brinkley, Autism Specialist for Region 6 serves 15 counties, 57 school districts, and 8 charter schools.
6. Products developed (flyers, website, newsletter, curriculum, poster or research papers, presentations, etc.)
a. https://blinc.tamu.edu/projects/tapp/
b. Flyers (coming soon)
c. We have created the following six training modules for paraprofessionals
D. we presented at TXaba (see reference below)
Whiteside, E. & Thompson, J. L. (2021, February). Getting Everyone on the Same Page: Workshops in ABA for Paraprofessionals. Texas Association for Behavior Analysts 36th Annual Conference on Behavior Analysis, Virtual Conference.
i. Introduction to Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis
ii. Responding to Problem Behavior
iii. Teaching Independence
iv. Prompting
v. Communication
vi. Small Group Instruction
FY 2021 Trainings:
Trainings Provided:
12/2/2020 - Project TAPP Informational Session (1 Hour).
Keyword(s):
Paraprofessional, Autism, Video Training, Distance, virtual
Core Function(s):
Training Trainees, Performing Research or Evaluation, Developing & Disseminating Information, Other Direct/Model Services
