Developing Procedures to Improve Therapist–Child Rapport in Early Intervention

Lugo et al. (2017) built a short BST package that teaches early-intervention staff how to do presession pairing.

Trainers gave clear steps, showed a demo, let staff practice, and gave praise and fixes.

The goal was simple: grown-ups enter play, offer a favorite toy, and get smiles before work starts.

After BST, staff used the pairing moves more often and more smoothly.

Kids stayed happy and cooperative when teaching later began.

The study says the package can turn vague “build rapport” advice into clear, doable actions.

Harper et al. (2023) used the same BST recipe to teach nurses how to prep and speak at team meetings. Both studies hit high fidelity, showing BST works across very different skills.

Callahan et al. (2022) moved BST online and taught adults with disabilities to use Zoom tools. Their success means you can keep the Lugo pairing steps but deliver training remotely if needed.

Maliki et al. (2025) stretched BST into Arabic for parenting coaches in the UAE. Together these papers say BST is sturdy—it travels across languages, settings, and time zones.

You no longer need to hope staff “click” with kids. Run a 20-minute BST block: model the three pairing moves, have them practice with you, and give instant feedback. Start your next session with newly trained staff, watch them hand a preferred car to the child, join the car race for 30 seconds, then slide in the first instruction. You’ll see fewer escape behaviors and faster teaching trials.