Evaluation of Caregiver Training Procedures to Teach Activities of Daily Living Skills
Live video feedback teaches parents ADL routines just as well as full BST, so use it when travel or time is tight.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Preas and team compared two ways to teach parents how to help their autistic kids with daily tasks.
One group got the usual BST package: instructions, model, practice, and later feedback.
The other group skipped the rehearsal; they got tiny fixes through an earpiece while they worked with their child.
Both groups learned the same ADL routine: prompt, wait, praise.
What they found
Parents in both groups nailed the steps and kept the skill weeks later.
Real-time feedback worked just as well as full BST, so the extra rehearsal round may not be needed for simple ADL routines.
How this fits with other research
Gillberg et al. (1983) did something similar in state homes. They added self-monitoring to BST and also saw staff keep the skill with almost no boss check-ins. Their residents gained independence too, showing the same BST bones still hold after forty years.
Falligant et al. (2021) tinkered with feedback style, not timing. They showed vague comments hurt learning, while specific, step-level notes helped. Preas moves that idea forward by giving the specifics live, not after the session ends.
Aciu et al. (2025) tested BST plus a click-like device for infant CPR. Every caregiver hit mastery, then the gadget came off—same pattern Preas saw with live video hints. Together they suggest: add a feedback tool, then fade it.
de Jonge et al. (2025) went fully virtual with an ECHO group model and still lifted caregiver know-how. Their telehealth reach extends Preas’s in-home video option, giving you a menu from face-to-face to screen-only.
Why it matters
You now have two equally strong choices for parent ADL training. If the family can meet in person, run classic BST. If traffic, jobs, or illness get in the way, switch to live video coaching and still hit mastery. Either way, plan to fade the camera or earpiece once the parent hits 90 % for two sessions—saving you travel time without losing quality.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Caregivers of children with an autism spectrum disorder are often responsible for assisting their children to complete activities of daily living skills. Effective and efficient caregiver training methods are needed to train caregivers. The present study used two concurrent multiple-baseline across-participants designs to evaluate the effects of real-time feedback and behavioral skills training on training eight caregivers to implement teaching procedures for activities of daily living skills with their child. We assessed caregivers’ accuracy and correct implementation of the six-component teaching procedure after they received either real-time feedback or behavioral skills training. Caregivers from both groups mastered and maintained correct implementation of the teaching procedures with their child. The overall results suggest that real-time feedback and behavioral skills training are efficacious to train caregivers to implement activities of daily living skills procedures with their children, and that real-time feedback may be an efficient alternative method to train caregivers. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40617-020-00513-z.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2021 · doi:10.1007/s40617-020-00513-z