A component analysis of behavioral skills training with volunteers teaching motor skills to individuals with developmental disabilities
Use the whole BST package if you want volunteers to keep teaching motor skills correctly after training day.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Davis et al. (2019) asked which parts of behavioral skills training (BST) volunteers really need. They split the full package into single pieces: instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. Volunteers tried to teach motor skills to people with developmental disabilities under each piece. The team used an alternating-treatments design so every volunteer cycled through the pieces quickly.
What they found
Volunteers hit mastery with just one piece of BST, but the skill faded fast. Only the full package kept their teaching accurate over time. The study shows that partial training works short-term, yet the whole sequence is needed for lasting change.
How this fits with other research
Keene et al. (2026) ran a similar component test and found modeling alone was enough for teaching data collection. The difference: they measured mastery after two brief sessions, not long-term maintenance. Macadangdang et al. (2022) extended the idea to school staff teaching ball skills to students with ID/ASD and also saw gains, but they used the full BST package from the start. The pattern across papers: single pieces can pass a quick test, but lasting fidelity needs the full set.
Why it matters
When you train new staff, volunteers, or parents, skipping rehearsal or feedback saves time today but costs accuracy next month. Run the full BST loop every time you want the skill to stick. A short model or handout is fine for a teaser, but follow with practice and feedback if you expect them to keep doing it right.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study included a component analysis of behavioral skills training (BST) for teaching volunteers how to use this training method to support individuals with developmental disabilities in a physical education program. In an alternating treatment design embedded within a multiple baseline design across five participants, the number of BST steps that volunteers completed correctly while teaching four motor skills was measured. In the initial training phase, each motor skill was taught to volunteers using a specific component of BST (i.e., instructions, modeling, rehearsal, or feedback). In subsequent training phases, BST components were combined to teach the volunteers the motor skills for which they did not reach a predetermined mastery criterion (a score of four correct responses across two consecutive trials). Maintenance was assessed. Results indicated that individual components of BST alone were sufficient for volunteers to meet the mastery criterion; however, the full BST framework was necessary for skill maintenance. Strengths, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Behavioral Interventions, 2019 · doi:10.1002/bin.1688