Short Mobile Training Is Effective and Efficient in Preparing Educational Personnel to Interact With Students With Cerebral Palsy Who Utilize Augmentative and Alternative Communication With Eye Tracking.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a short tablet-based training for educational personnel working with students with cerebral palsy who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Method: The study used a pretest-posttest control group design; participants (N = 12) were quasirandomly assigned to a training or control group. All participants completed two separate interactions with one of two students who used AAC (Time 1 and Time 2). Between the two interactions, the training group viewed a short, self-paced, mobile training (using the INSTRUCT application), which included a checklist and video modeling to teach the school staff a strategy to interact more effectively with students who used eye-tracking AAC devices. The INSTRUCT platform was specifically designed for the creation and delivery of highquality AAC-related training to communication partners. The control group did not complete the training. The pre- and post-interactions (Time 1 and Time 2) were video-recorded and analyzed to determine the communication partners' use of the steps of the target strategy. Gain scores from Time 1 to Time 2 were calculated for each participant; an independent t test was used to compare gain scores between the control and training groups. A secondary analysis looked at the frequency of communication turns by the student that included content beyond a yes/no response or selecting from a binary choice to contribute to the interaction. Results: The training provided within the INSTRUCT platform resulted in the educational personnel increasing their use of the target strategy in comparison to those who did not receive the training; the difference was statistically significant (t = -6.21, p < .01). Moreover, the students who used AAC also demonstrated increased communication with the staff in the training group. Conclusions: The study found the short mobile training delivered in the context of the INSTRUCT app was effective in shaping the interaction behaviors of the educational professionals. These findings suggest that quick, focused trainings can be an effective means to teach communication partners strategies to support interactions with students who use AAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]