Do you want to learn how to effectively implement behavioral strategies? Or do you have staff members that you want to teach new teaching strategies to? Have you tried the standard model of training or maybe even some in-person coaching, but neither seemed to be effective? Bug-In-Ear is your solution!
Bug-In-Ear coaching (BIE) is the use of technology to coach staff members on effective implementation of behavioral interventions. The direct service provider wears a wireless earpiece while working with the student and delivering the intervention, while the coach watches remotely via video and provides real-time feedback into the earpiece. Several recent studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of this intervention on behavior analyst students (Artman-Meeker, et al., 2017) and paraprofessionals (Rosenburg, et al., 2020). Studies have shown promising results of the effectiveness of this intervention at training adults due to the real time feedback. Staff are able to immediately change their behavior in the moment instead of receiving feedback after working with students and then have to remember to change behavior in the future.
How does it work?
Staff set up a laptop or other device with a camera and position it to face the target student and/or adult. The adult that is being coached wears an earpiece. On the other end, I watch the video and am able to talk into the earpiece to provide the adult with immediate feedback. I can tell the adult exactly when to provide praise or other reinforcement or to prompt the student. I can help support the adult through an escalation of a student and walk them through effective ways to teach their student replacement behaviors. I can coach staff on the implementation of a BIP so that all components of the plan are implemented with fidelity. All this can be done without an added person in the room, so that students act the way they normally act. (We have all had the experience of calling in the extra person to observe and then the said student is an absolute angel whenever someone else comes in the room.) BIE coaching takes away the reactivity of students and allows for seamless coaching without interruptions in instruction so that educators can continue teaching while also learning valuable behavioral strategies.
BIE coaching can be awkward at first, but it is truly an effective way to change adult behavior and become an effective and proficient BCBA and/or educator in order to best support the individuals we are working with!
References:
Rosenberg N, Artman-Meeker K, Kelly E, Yang X. The effects of a bug-in-ear coaching package on implementation of incidental teaching by paraprofessionals in a K-12 school. Journal of Behavioral Education. 2020;29:409–432.
Rosenberg N, Artman-Meeker K, Kelly E, Yang X. The effects of a bug-in-ear coaching package on implementation of incidental teaching by paraprofessionals in a K-12 school. Journal of Behavioral Education. 2020;29:409–432.
Leave a Reply