Supporting the Implementation of Behavioral Interventions using a Smart Technology Platform

Abstract

A smart technology platform that guides behavior-change agents in the implementation of behavioral interventions may be useful for maintaining high, long-term treatment fidelity. The current study evaluated (a) whether the smart technology platform is effective in increasing and maintaining high levels of treatment fidelity in untrained individuals, and (b) whether behavioral interventions implemented with the support of the smart technology platform promote the acquisition or generalization of skills by children with autism. Two experiments were conducted at a university-based autism clinic. Participants were five untrained staff and three children with autism. The results of Experiment 1 show that participants’ treatment integrity increased by 20% on average when it was guided by the smart technology platform. However, there was no increase in the children’s correct responding compared to the baseline. The results of Experiment 2 indicated that the participants’ treatment integrity increased by 30% and 32% when guided by the smart technology platform, again with no increase in the children’s correct responding compared to the baseline. Maintenance probes conducted 6 weeks after the last session in Experiment 2 indicated that the smart technology platform maintained the same level of treatment integrity for both participants. The results of this study suggest the smart technology platform may be a useful tool for increasing and maintaining high levels of treatment fidelity in untrained individuals.