Staff Training to Improve the Preschool Educational Environment for Children with Special Needs
A brief workshop plus biweekly coach visits lifted preschool quality and child lunch skills in two of three classrooms.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Tryggestad et al. (2025) ran a 17-week coaching plan in three inclusive preschools. First, staff sat through a four-hour workshop. Then a coach visited every other week and helped them hit APERS-P-SE goals and handle tough moments with kids.
The team used a multiple-baseline design across classrooms. They tracked environment quality scores and how well children joined lunch-time routines.
What they found
Two of the three preschools jumped from poor to good on the APERS-P-SE rating. Kids in those rooms started serving themselves, asking for items, and staying seated more often.
The third room improved only a little. Coaches noted that the third teacher missed several visits, so follow-through was spotty.
How this fits with other research
van Vonderen et al. (2010) and Lawer et al. (2009) did similar workshop-plus-feedback packages. Their staff also got better fast, but they filmed short one-to-one lessons. Tryggestad stretches the idea to whole-room inclusive settings and longer coaching.
Green et al. (2023) used bug-in-ear coaching for math time. Real-time cues worked there, while Tryggestad shows biweekly in-person visits can still lift quality when earpieces are not an option.
Laermans et al. (2025) trained teachers to run peer play sessions. Both studies used behavioral skills training and multiple-baseline designs, but P focused on child social play while Tryggestad looked at the whole classroom climate.
Why it matters
If you consult in inclusive preschools, pair a short live workshop with steady coaching visits. Two visits a month kept gains going for four months and raised lunch-time engagement. Track APERS-P-SE items so teachers see concrete targets, and secure admin backup so every coach visit really happens.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Abstract Ensuring high-quality general and special education in preschools is crucial for the positive development of at-risk children and children with special needs. However, recent reports suggest inconsistencies in general education quality and challenges in implementing special education support and early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI). These results indicate that further training is needed to improve the quality of services for preschool children with special needs. The current study employed a delayed multiple probe design to evaluate a staff training program’s influence on the quality of general education, EIBI, and evocative situations in three inclusive preschool units. The intervention lasted 17 weeks, consisting of a 4-h post-baseline workshop and biweekly coaching with the entire staff group. The quality of the teaching and learning environment, measured by the Autism Program Environment Rating Scale (APERS-P-SE), improved in two preschools. We observed improvement in the quality of evocative situations with a large effect size, increased children’s response rate during lunch, improved EIBI quality, and good social validity. This indicates that using APERS-P-SE to establish objectives for inclusive practices and training the entire staff group with a focus on evocative situations may be one way to improve the implementation of EIBI and the quality of preschools’ teaching and learning environment.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2025 · doi:10.1007/s40617-025-01123-3