The effects of culturally-based accommodations on behavioral skills training

Abstract

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) come from different ethnicities and backgrounds. With the growing Hispanic population and increased prevalence of ASD, it is imperative that our evidence-based practices support and assist Hispanic families. Behavioral Skills Training (BST) is a supported practice that satisfies evidence-based criteria and has been used to train caregivers in applied behavior analysis (ABA) techniques to teach their children new skills and manage challenging behaviors. We completed a quality improvement project on a BST based parent training program used to teach parents ABA interventions. We evaluated the fidelity of implementation of the intervention during a training provided in English via a video interpreter and fidelity of implementation during a training provided with cultural accommodations (a bilingual clinician and documentation translated into the participant's dominant language). Fidelity of implementation was evaluated with a clinician and with the participant's child during in-vivo trials. This program was completed with three participants using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across skills for each participant. BST with cultural accommodations was needed for training to mastery in at least one ABA intervention across all participants, however the skill that required accommodations varied. For some, there was a clear difference between rates of acquisition in clinician trials and in-vivo trials. Social validity measures showed that parent preference for treatment presentation was related to their response on level of proficiency in either language.