Maintaining Staff Performance Following a Training Intervention: Suggestions from a 30-Year Case Example

A frequent challenge encountered by behavior analysts in human service agencies is maintaining effects of their training interventions with agency staff. A case example is provided to illustrate how effects of a staff training intervention initiated by a behavior analyst maintained for an extended period in a center-based program for adolescents and adults with severe disabilities. The process involved the behavior analyst working closely with the program supervisor and a professional staff member in a collaborative team approach to increase involvement of center participants in functional (vs. nonfunctional) educational tasks. Initially, the team jointly developed an intervention to increase staffs’ provision of functional tasks. The behavior analyst subsequently worked with the team members regarding how to implement the intervention by training their staff and providing feedback. The two team members then continued providing feedback during their respective supervisor tenures without continued presence of the behavior analyst. Results indicated that initial increases in participant involvement in functional tasks maintained during follow-up observations encompassing 30 years. Normative comparisons also showed that the levels were well above the level of functional task involvement in other center-based programs across that time period. Results are discussed regarding recommendations for behavior analysts to use a collaborative team approach with supervisors indigenous to an agency to help maintain staff behavior targeted for change by the behavior analysts.