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Training paraprofessionals who work with students with intellectual and developmental disabilities: What does the research say?
Author(s) -
Brock Matthew E.,
Anderson Eric J.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
psychology in the schools
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1520-6807
pISSN - 0033-3085
DOI - 10.1002/pits.22386
Subject(s) - psychology , checklist , medical education , psychological intervention , best practice , test (biology) , special education , training (meteorology) , intellectual disability , learning disability , applied psychology , pedagogy , developmental psychology , medicine , paleontology , management , psychiatry , economics , cognitive psychology , biology , physics , meteorology
Federal law allows for paraprofessionals to provide instruction to students with developmental disabilities if they are adequately trained and supervised, but how to best provide this training and support remains unclear. In this paper, we update a systematic review of experimental studies that test the efficacy of paraprofessional‐implemented interventions for students with developmental disabilities. We identified 36 studies published 2012–2019. An exciting development is that some researchers are shifting to testing teacher‐implemented training, therefore beginning to address important questions about the feasibility of widespread implementation under real‐world conditions. Based on findings across studies, recommendations for practice include that (a) paraprofessional roles be well‐defined and focused on the implementation of evidence‐based practices; (b) paraprofessional training should feature modeling, an implementation checklist, and performance feedback that is sustained over time; and (c) administrators should ensure that teachers have the time and support that are required for effective paraprofessional training and supervision.