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Date of Graduation
8-7-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Educational Specialist (EdS)
Department
Department of Graduate Psychology
Advisor(s)
Tiffany Hornsby
Deborah Kipps-Vaughan
Sara Snyder
Abstract
A review of literature has shown that siblings of students with intellectual disability benefit from various types of interventions and value supports (Prusty, 2016). Few studies investigate intervention acceptability and effectiveness of such interventions in the educational environment despite the major role that school plays in children’s lives. Professionals such as exceptional education teachers, school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers often serve these populations of students and their families, are involved in behavioral support teams, and play a key role in intervention development and implementation. In the present study, the Behavior Intervention Rating Scale (BIRS; Elliot & Treuting, 1991) was utilized to measure this group of professionals’ views of acceptability, effectiveness, and time of effectiveness of a school-based group for siblings of students with intellectual disability. Participants reviewed a vignette of a student struggling with deficits in skills such as peer interactions, problem solving, and coping and intervention materials and completed the BIRS. No significant correlations were found between demographic information and BIRS ratings. Results indicated support of the intervention across BIRS subscales with the acceptability scale obtaining the highest ratings. No significant differences were found among ratings of different professional membership groups. Future directions include expanding the sample size, surveying students, and utilizing treatment acceptability scales as pre- and post-measures surrounding intervention implementation in the educational setting. The present study contributes to the existing literature base of social validity and treatment acceptability, sibling interventions, and supporting service delivery and fidelity while gaining input from important stakeholders.
Recommended Citation
Bryant, Michelle, "Siblings of children with intellectual disability: Social validity of a skills group experience" (2020). Educational Specialist, 2020-current. 5.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/edspec202029/5
