Preferred Name
Cristina Cole
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7004-0795
Date of Graduation
5-16-2026
Semester of Graduation
Spring
Degree Name
Master of Education (MEd)
Department
Department of Educational Foundations and Exceptionalities
First Advisor
Benjamin Riden
Second Advisor
Joshua Pulos
Third Advisor
Sara Snyder
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of behavior skills training (BST) to improve a paraprofessional’s implementation fidelity of evidence-based strategies targeting transition-related behaviors in a student with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A changing criterion design was used to evaluate whether a functional relation between BST and the implementation of a task-analyzed transition protocol existed. The staff participant was assessed across baseline, three phases of BST intervention, and a mini-reversal phase included to further assess experimental control. Student data were collected tangentially in further evaluating experimental control. The paraprofessional participant demonstrated improving implementation fidelity trends within and between intervention phases across criterion shifts while the student participant demonstrated closely corresponding trends in latency. The mini-reversal phase provided additional evidence of experimental control for both paraprofessional and student performance. Findings suggest that BST was effective in improving implementation fidelity of a task-analyzed transition protocol.
