Training Manual
August 2014
Training provided by
Dr. Kimberley H. Smith, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Jeannie M. Janis, M.Ed
Overview of Staff Training Process
.
Training for each procedure or child specific program will involve:

Written instructions: You will receive a copy of the program/procedure with the
prompting/teaching steps, error correction, reinforcement and data collection procedures
clearly defined. You will also receive a copy of the training checklist that will be used to give you
constructive performance feedback.

Verbal review: Trainers will explain the program and allow time for questions to be asked.

Instructor or Video modeling: The trainer will role-play or show a video model demonstrating
the procedure and he/she will also review/describe/point out key features of the program as it
is modeled.

Practice role-playing with the trainer acting as the child (in at least 2 different situations or with
2 different behaviors) and trainer giving performance feedback via checklists,

Follow-up checklists in the actual classroom setting with the specific child the program are
designed for or with the entire classroom for general center procedures.
Checklists are objective ways to assess staff performance of procedures and involve answering
questions about each step of the procedure with Yes, No, or N/A. Initial checklists in the classroom
setting will occur during the week following the staff meeting in which the procedure was trained.
Checklists will occur on a regular basis until mastery criteria are met and then checklists will be done
intermittently to ensure maintenance of the skill. In order to reach mastery of a procedure, you MUST
correctly implement the procedure in the actual classroom setting THREE CONSECUTIVE times at 100%
correct.
Feedback is an essential component to staff training. The more feedback you receive, the more you will
succeed at a very difficult task so please don’t hesitate to ask for additional support. I will give it with a
smile. 
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Rules to Live By
1. Be persistent and consistent. Most kids love to test the limits with people. You must show them that
their inappropriate behavior will not get a reaction from you. This will cause them to try harder in the
beginning of a new procedure to get your reaction. You need to try your best to execute all of the
general program procedures and the child’s programs as you are trained. By doing this you will establish
yourself as someone that the kids will have fun with, but also as someone who enforces the rules and
isn’t deterred by undesirable behaviors (such as tantrums, aggression, threats, etc.) By giving attention
in the moment to these behaviors, you are giving the child what they desire.
2. Your data sheet is your new best friend. Record each hour how many tokens you award to him/her.
3. Behavior Programs both skill acquisition and behavior reduction programs are written so that each
person that works with the child is doing the EXACT same thing. Being very business like with him/her,
except when awarding tokens or praise is critical to the success of the BIP.

The details are VERY important, and knowing the gist of a program is just not enough.
4. If you don’t know ASK. . . don’t assume you’re right, or do it your own way and ask later. Building on
Rule #2, consistency is key and when behaviors are intermittently reinforced (i.e.: they “work”
sometimes but not others) they are very hard to “undo”.
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GIVING DIRECTIONS TO KIDS

Purpose: Teachers are often frustrated when they feel like the kids in their class aren’t listening to
their directions or requests. In order to help kids follow our directions more easily, we need to
figure out why the kids aren’t complying. By changing the way we give directions, we can help
kids learn to follow them.

Possible reasons why directions may not be followed: There are a number of reasons why kids
may not be doing what you ask them to do.
 The child may not understand the direction you are giving them.
 It may be too complicated. For example: “put the toys away, the books on the shelf,
and come line up”
 It may imply choice. For example: “Can you try going potty now?” “Can you pick up
your toys for me?”
 It may be given too far in advance of when it’s expected to be completed. For
example: “After snack I want you to get a book and read it on the carpet.”
 It may be too vague, or stated in terms that are difficult for the child to
understand. For example: “I need you to straighten up the books on the bookshelf”
 You may not have the child’s full attention when you give the direction.
 The child may be occupied with a toy or activity and not attend to your voice.
 The direction may be given from too far away. i.e.: across the room, etc.
 The child may not be motivated to follow your directions. They may have learned that
fussing, tantrums, or ignoring you lets them get out of following a direction.

Guidelines for Giving Directions Effectively:
 Give one direction at a time and keep directions short and simple.
 Make sure your directions do not imply that following them is a choice the child can make.
Give directions as FIRM STATEMENTS rather than QUESTIONS. When you say things like
“will you clean up for me?” the child has the option of saying “no”. So instead you should
say “You need to put the book away now.”
 Be specific about what you want the child to do. I.e.: Say, “Put the blocks in the bucket”
rather than saying, “Clean up”.
 Make sure you have the child’s attention. You may need to interrupt their play by standing
in front of them or controlling access to what they are playing with. Being within arms reach
and at their eye level increases chances of the child attending.
 State the direction in positive terms. Tell the child what to do rather than pointing out what
they should not be doing. The direction “Don’t run!” only tells kids what not to do, but the
direction “let’s use walking feet when we’re inside” teaches them what they should do.
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Least-to-Most Prompting Procedure
For use during any situation where she is not complying with adult directions.
•
Purpose: Tell, Show, Remind is a Least-to-most prompting procedure that is used to promote
independence in self-care, acquisition programming and compliance with adult instructions.
•
Description/Steps:
•
General Education: Give general directions to the class.
1. WAIT or Latency prompt-for an appropriate response. (1-2 minutes)
2. TELL or Say- “You need to ____________” or other verbal prompt. (Wait a few seconds
for an appropriate response) Make sure that it’s a simple and specific statement.
3. SHOW or Gesture- Give a visual cue, point to, or model what they need to do (wait a
few seconds for an appropriate response)
4. Remind of consequence: Remember, you are earning points for ________.
If ______ complies at any point, give behavior specific praise. Give more “excited” praise for
compliance at the Wait level of compliance and less “excited” if the Remind step is needed.
If ______ engages in problematic behavior at any time, continue with the procedure steps
and use Attend and Ignore. **Do not engage in any other talking with him/her during the
procedure.
5. Full Physical Prompt- Physically guide him/her through the task until completion. If
______ engages in problematic behavior at any time, continue with the procedure steps
and use Attend and Ignore.
**Do not engage in any other talking with him/her during the procedure.
• Important Tips
1) Do NOT start using this procedure unless you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that you can
follow through with all of the steps. If you continually start using it, and then don’t follow
through, the procedure loses its validity as a tool for promoting independence and ______
will quickly learn that your words don’t mean much (ie: that he doesn’t have to respond to
you).
2) The amount of time that you wait between steps should be around 10-15 seconds.
3) Behavior specific praise should follow compliance at any step.
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3-Step Guided Compliance: Tell, Show, Do
Least-to-Most Prompting Procedure Checklist
Person Observed: ________________________________
Please mark each column Y, N, or N/A and make comments as necessary.
Date:
Time Observed:
Observer:
Direction/Activity:
During the 5 minute observation did the person being observed do the following?
1. Provide direction to an individual child or group. (TELL)
2. Wait 3-5 seconds.
3. Provide enthusiastic and behavior specific praise for
compliance.
4. Provide direction to an individual child or group. (TELL)
5. Wait 3-5 seconds. Praise if correct response given.
6. Model or gesture the desired behavior. (SHOW)
7. Wait 3-5 seconds. Praise if correct response given.
8. If no response remind him/her of the goal on the token
board. (TELL)
9. Wait 3-5 seconds. Praise if correct response given.
10. Provide physical guidance to have child complete
task. (DO)
11. Provide a neutral confirmation once the task is
completed.
12. Repeat procedure for all steps of the task. (if
necessary).
If problems occur with this prompting procedure, consult the case manager.
Percentage Correct
Feedback given (trainee initials)
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Attend and Ignore

Purpose: All children are likely to engage in undesirable behaviors for peer or teacher
attention/reaction. Thus, it is important to have a consistent plan in place to deal with
these behaviors when they occur, which will help to minimize reinforcement provided for
inappropriate behaviors. In most cases, the following steps should be employed to
prevent and respond to these undesirable behaviors.

Description/Steps: Attend and Ignore is a procedure that attempts to prevent problem
behaviors by ensuring high levels of engagement (active involvement in an activity) and
positive teacher attention (behavior specific praise, interactive play, incidental teaching
episodes, etc.). You should provide praise and attention to appropriately engaged
children at least one time per five minutes.
When problem behaviors occur in spite of prevention efforts, Attend and Ignore involves
not directly attending to the problem behavior (i.e.: ignoring it unless potentially harmful),
praising other children who are behaving appropriately (if applicable) or modeling
appropriate play, etc. and ONLY attending to the child when his/her undesirable behavior
stops. For specific steps involved in the procedure see the checklist below.

Setting: Any location throughout the school where problem behaviors are occurring.

Occasions for use: Any time problem behaviors that will not cause harm to self, others or
property. Problem behaviors that may be addressed with Attend and Ignore include:
yelling, screaming, annoying noises (tapping fingers, stomping feet under the table, etc.)
whining, tattling, leaving seat, etc. In situations where the child is likely to injure
themselves or another child, staff should always intervene to prevent injury and ensure
safety while providing minimal attention.
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Attend and Ignore Checklist
Person Observed: ___________________________________
Please mark each column Y, N, or N/A and make comments as necessary.
Date:
Time Observed:
Observer:
Activity:
During the 5 minute observation did the person being observed do the following?
1. Praised and gave attention to children
behaving appropriately 1x per 3-4
minutes minute (5x’s during
observation period)
Tally in box 
Undesirable Behavior that Occurred
(list)
2. Did not attend to the behavior (e.g.,
did not talk about behavior, averted
eye gaze, no smiling, no laughing, had
neutral facial expression)
3. Interrupted behaviors that are
potentially harmful to child, others or
property with no verbal/nonverbal
reaction.
4. Immediately delivered behavior
specific praise and points when child
engaging in undesirable behavior
engaged in appropriate behavior.
5. If inappropriate behaviors began
again while praising/attending,
Attend-Ignore was re-implemented
immediately.
y n n/a
y n n/a
y n n/a
y n n/a
y n n/a
*NOTE: If the undesirable behavior continues after this procedure is implemented, contact the child’s
case manager.
Percentage Correct
Feedback received (trainee initials)
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Delivering Social Praise/Reinforcement

Purpose: Students often engage in undesirable behaviors that attract a lot of attention. By using
verbal praise and attention frequently throughout the day, students are receiving a lot of
attention for positive behaviors and less attention for negative behaviors.

Why do we use social praise?
 We use praise to reinforce behaviors we want to see more often
 We use social praise frequently because it is free and always available. Other forms of
reinforcement may include a punch card or other items to which the student wants to gain
access.

You must praise specific behaviors.
 Sometimes it’s difficult to find something good the student is doing but try!! It
may take a minute but they will do something good eventually. When they do
PRAISE IT!!
 Don’t be tempted to redirect inappropriate behaviors! Remember to use your
attend and ignore skills. Like we said, it may take a minute but something good will
happen. No matter how small it is find it and praise it.
 Deliver the praise RIGHT AWAY. It needs to happen as quickly after the behavior is
observed as possible. Wait too long and you may reinforce something you don’t
want to happen again.
 Make sure to praise the presence of a desirable behavior not the absence of an
undesirable behavior. You can only praise something they actually do not
something they didn’t do.
 Four types of social praise.
1. Individual call-out : call the person out by name. i.e “George! Thanks for
picking up that trash on your way out.”
2. Group call-out : Use any characteristic to define a group of students. i.e
“everyone on the left side of the class”.
3. Pivot : Use one student’s attending behavior to prompt another student to
do the same
4. Quiet: Something that is just between you and the individual. i.e thumbs
up, pat on the back, smile, etc.
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Guidelines for Delivering Verbal Praise:




Make sure to be specific. i.e: say “I love the way you are working that math problem out.”
Instead of “good work”.
Make sure to praise good things the student is doing not something they are not doing.
I.e.: Say, “Thanks for using nice words with the teacher” instead of saying “thanks for not
cussing.”
Deliver praise in a happy voice and with a smile and eye contact. Smile and make eye
contact while using an enthusiastic voice. It can be done quietly so as not to bother other
students.
Use one of the four types of verbal praise
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Delivering Social Praise/Reinforcement
Person Observed: ___________________________________
Please mark each column Y, N, or N/A and make comments as necessary.
Date:
Time Observed:
Observer:
Activity:
During the 5 minute observation did the person being observed do the following?
1. Delivered verbal praise at least one
time every two minutes during the
observation period
2. Praise was specific
3. Praised positive things the student
did, instead of commenting on things
the student did not do
4. Used a happy voice, made eye
contact, and smiled
5. Used one of the four types of verbal
praise
Percentage Correct
Feedback received (trainee initials)
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Awarding Tokens

Purpose: To ensure that he/she receives positive reinforcement throughout the day at intervals
necessary to prevent and decrease the likelihood that he/she will engage in maladaptive behavior
to get attention.

Why do we use a token system? This system could be implemented using points, tokens, coins, or
hole punches. The token system is convenient for him/her because they can easily see how many
more responses have to be made to contact reinforcement, and it is easily replaceable if they
destroy it, and it is easily transported from classroom to classroom.

Special Education Teacher Role: __________ will be responsible for conducting a
preference assessment when he/she arrives at school, and again mid-morning, and midafternoon.

All Teachers: Every 5 minutes if he/she has followed directions, remained on task, and used
appropriate language; he/she gets a token delivered. (may be silent affirmation if classroom
environment must be quiet) If he/she meets the criteria determined as their goal, they can
cash in the tokens for the reinforcer they selects.

All staff: Make sure to take time to let the student know you are proud of them for
earning their tokens at least once or twice a week.
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Awarding Hole Punches/Points/Tokens
Person Observed: ___________________________________
Please mark each column Y, N, or N/A and make comments as necessary.
Date:
Time Observed:
Observer:
Activity:
During the 5 minute observation did the person being observed do the following?
1. Staff conducts preference assessment
when student arrives at school and
mid-day. (more if needed)
2. Staff awards tokens for observation of
appropriate behaviors listed in BIP.
3. Staff provides verbal or non-verbal
affirmation of compliance with the
rules.
4. Teacher provides last token if all
tokens rewarded during class. Use
verbal praise when delivering them.
Percentage Correct
Feedback received (trainee initials)
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Notes:
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