Caregiver Telehealth Training on Antecedent Strategies to Increase Children’s Instruction Following in the Home

In two studies, three caregivers of neurotypical children were trained via telehealth to deliver two antecedent strategies to increase instruction following in the home. Dependent measures included initiation latency and task completion with high- and low-probability instructions. In Study 1, a modified pretrial delivery procedure was evaluated in which caregivers jointly engaged with their child in a moderately preferred activity prior to the issuance of a predetermined instruction. Results showed that initiation latencies for low- p instructions trended downward for two of three children, while latencies for high- p instructions remained low and stable for two of three children. In Study 2, the three low- p instructions with the highest initiation latencies in Study 1 were further targeted with the high-probability instructional sequence. Using a multiple baseline across behaviors design, results showed decreased initiation latencies and increased levels of task completion for all three children. The results of both evaluations are discussed and practical issues are considered for future research on the use of technology to support caregiver’s delivery of instruction-following programs in homes.