Competence in aspects of behavioral treatment and consultation: implications for service delivery and graduate training.

McGimsey et al. (1995) worked with graduate students who were learning to teach parents how to use time-out. One group got the usual lecture and demo. The other group got that plus explicit coaching on how to explain, show, and give feedback to parents.

The researchers then watched each student run a parent-training session. They scored how well the parents actually used time-out at home.

Only the coached students got parents to use time-out correctly. Knowing the time-out steps themselves did nothing. The parents needed the student to teach, not just tell.

In short, being able to do a skill is different from being able to teach it.

Slane et al. (2021) looked at twenty later studies and found the same pattern: brief BST always lifts adult fidelity. The 1995 paper is one of the earliest dots in that line.

Neely et al. (2022) moved the same idea online. Four BCBAs hit 100% fidelity in telehealth parent training after four BST sessions, showing the method still works through a screen.

Gatzunis et al. (2023) added empathy and cultural responsiveness to the same BST package for graduate students. Skills still improved, proving the core model can expand.

If you supervise RBTs, teachers, or parents, do not assume they can train others just because they can do the procedure. Build a quick BST loop: model the teaching talk, let them rehearse, give feedback, and repeat until they can coach someone else. Five extra minutes of rehearsal beats weeks of patch-up later.