Preliminary Findings of Culturally Responsive Consultation with Educators

Neely et al. (2020) coached five teachers who worked with Latinx students. The team added cultural touches to a standard BST package. They used Spanish examples, talked about family values, and let teachers pick goals tied to their kids' lives.

Coaches gave instructions, modeled skills, watched teachers practice, and gave feedback. The study checked if teachers used the new steps correctly before and after the coaching.

All five teachers improved their fidelity scores after the culturally tuned coaching. Social validity was high; teachers liked the steps and said the cultural pieces felt respectful and useful.

Vargas Londono et al. (2024) ran a similar idea with Spanish-speaking caregivers of autistic children. They found faster skill gains when BST was delivered in Spanish rather than English. Together, these two studies show that matching language and culture boosts BST results for Latino families.

Sivaraman et al. (2020) tested culturally adapted training in India. Parents and professionals there also reached high fidelity. The pattern repeats across countries: add local culture, get better outcomes.

Gormley et al. (2019) ran a large RCT with ID staff but left culture out. Their BST still worked, yet the gains were smaller and slower. The newer cultural studies suggest we can do better than plain BST.

If you coach teachers or parents who speak another language, fold their culture into every step. Swap in familiar examples, use their first language, and ask what matters most to their families. One extra hour of prep can save weeks of retraining later.