Evaluating the Instructional Behaviors of Peers with Mild Disabilities Who Served as First-Aid Instructors for Students with Moderate Disabilities

Abstract

The instructional behaviors demonstrated by peers with mild disabilities who served as first-aid instructors for participants with moderate disabilities were evaluated. Participant data were reported in another investigation (Marchand-Martella, Martella, Agran et al., 1992). Two peer instructors received first-aid skill training-specifically, to treat abrasions, burns, and severe cuts. Following this training, the instructors were taught the following instructional behaviors: (a) modeling first-aid skills; (b) error correction (i.e., praise the attempt; model correct performance, tell participant what to do, or indicate what was done incorrectly; and tell the participant to try the step again); (c) praise techniques; and (d) data collection. Each peer was assigned to work with two grade-level participants. Data were collected on the instructors behaviors of the peer instructors. Results indicated that the instructors were able to teach the first-aid skills to their peers. Verification of the integrity of the independent variable (peer instruction) indicated that the instructors could effectively model, correct errors, provide praise, and collect performance data reliably. Additionally, the participants demonstrated both immediate acquisition of the first-aid skills and performance above 66.7% of the steps completed correctly during a training phase involving a partial withdrawal of the peer instruction training components. More importantly, the participants' skills generalized to the home and to novel simulated-injury locations, with 100% of the skills demonstrated correctly across participants at a 3-month follow-up assessment.