Practitioner Development

Effectiveness of instruction and video feedback on staff's use of prompts and children's adaptive responses during one-to-one training in children with severe to profound intellectual disability.

van Vonderen et al. (2010) · Research in developmental disabilities 2010
★ The Verdict

Brief teaching plus short, personal video clips rapidly lifts staff prompting skill and student responses in severe-ID classrooms.

✓ Read this if BCBAs who train aides in self-contained or life-skills classrooms.
✗ Skip if Teams that already use daily video coaching or have no camera access.

01Research in Context

01

What this study did

Four staff-child pairs took part. Each child had severe to profound intellectual disability.

Workers first got a short lesson on how to prompt. Then they watched short clips of their own teaching. The clips showed what they did right and wrong.

The study used a multiple baseline across staff. This means the video feedback started at different times for each pair.

02

What they found

Right after the video feedback began, staff prompting scores jumped. The gains were large and stayed high.

Children also showed more correct responses. Better staff prompts led to better child learning during one-to-one work.

03

How this fits with other research

Petscher et al. (2006) got similar staff gains with only self-monitoring and prompts. The new study shows video adds power without extra class time.

Phaneuf et al. (2007) used generic training videos for moms. van Vonderen et al. (2010) moved past that. Personal clips of each worker beat one-size-fits-all models.

Cameron et al. (1996) tried an older lesson plan and saw only tiny staff changes. The 2010 video package replaces that weak method with clear, strong gains.

Long et al. (2026) later used the same video loop in autism screening clinics. The idea travels well beyond the classroom.

04

Why it matters

You can copy this in one afternoon. Record a five-minute trial, watch it with the aide, point out two good prompts and one fix, then run the next trial. No long lectures. No big cost. Expect quick gains for both staff and kids with severe ID.

Free CEUs

Want CEUs on This Topic?

The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.

Join Free →
→ Action — try this Monday

Film today’s first trial, watch the two-minute clip with the aide at lunch, praise one correct prompt, and rehearse the next trial before the afternoon session.

02At a glance

Intervention
behavioral skills training
Design
multiple baseline across participants
Sample size
4
Population
intellectual disability
Finding
positive
Magnitude
large

03Original abstract

Although relatively many studies have addressed staff training and its effect on trainer behavior, the effects of staff training on trainee's adaptive behaviors have seldom been examined. We therefore assessed effectiveness of staff training, consisting of instruction and video feedback, on (a) staff's response prompting, and (b) staff's trainer behavior during one-to-one training with four direct-care staff who acted as trainers. Next to this, we evaluated the effects of staff training on adaptive skills in four children with severe to profound intellectual disability. A non-concurrent multiple baseline design across staff-trainee dyads was used. Intervention resulted in an immediate and substantial increase in percentage correct response prompting and percentage correct trainer behavior by staff. The intervention was also effective in increasing percentage of trainee's correct responses. Staff rated instruction and video feedback as effective and acceptable. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for future research.

Research in developmental disabilities, 2010 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2010.02.008