Training Paraeducators to Promote Communication Opportunities for Students with Complex Communication Needs

Paraeducators are often tasked with supporting students with complex communication needs (CCN) without being well prepared to promote their communication. Previous studies have focused on training paraeducators to promote communication during non-instructional contexts for limited or unspecified communication types. We extend the literature by targeting the diversity of communication opportunities during academic instruction. We used a multiple-probe-across-participants design to test the effects of behavioral skills training to increase the number and variety of communication opportunities (i.e., mands, tacts, and intraverbals) provided by three paraeducators providing instruction for students on the autism spectrum with CCN. The training package resulted in improvements in communication opportunities across all paraeducator-learner dyads. This study serves as an example of one method to promote diverse communication opportunities for students with CCN during academic instruction.