Effects of Multilevel Supports on Special Education Preschool Teacher Implementation of Function-Based Interventions

Early childhood special education teachers require training and support in implementing function-based intervention for challenging behavior. Yet, teacher professional development practices are not universally effective,and teachers may benefit from differentiated supports. The purpose of this study was to pilot and evaluate a multilevel approach to teacher professional development for function-based intervention. The multilevel approach included behavioral skills training, practice-based coaching, and teacher self-monitoring and was evaluated using a multiple baseline across participants single-case research design. Results demonstrated that while all teachers benefited from the professional development, teachers required different levels of support within the multilevel approach. These findings support a growing body of work suggesting that teachers may require varying levels of support to implement evidence-based practices.