Application of behavioural consultation to assist teachers of children with developmental disabilities

Abstract

This paper describes application of behavioural consultation in an Australian special education setting. Consultation focused on assisting teachers in the development, implementation and evaluation of systematic instructional programs in a number of priority goal areas (e.g., community, domestic, language, recreational, and vocational domains). Consultation occurred in four areas: (a) assessment, (b) goal selection and scaling, (c) developing and implementing instructional procedures, and (d) evaluating child outcomes. Five teachers and five of their students with developmental disabilities participated. After goals were selected, an initial rating of each child's level of performance with respect to these goals was made using Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS). Next, instructional procedures to achieve each goal were designed and implemented with a subsequent GAS rating made after six months. Progress was noted on 84% of the goals. This result suggests the model may be of some assistance to teachers of children with developmental disabilities. However, the present description should be viewed as a pilot project and case study. Further research would be needed to validate the approach described in this study.