Dr. Cheryl Fielding, BCBA, a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas Pan American, has used many great collegiate teaching products to make her administrative duties easier. “Websites, manuals, test banks and online quizzes – these type of tools take a lot of the hard work out of teaching,” noted Dr. Fielding. “Autism Training Solutions (ATS) is better than anything I’ve used in the past.”

“Not only does Autism Training Solutions save me time, it better prepares my students to apply Applied Behavior Analysis interventions in the field,” noted Dr. Fielding.

Having taught for many years, Dr. Fielding had more than enough materials to use in her lecture, but the power of Autism Training Solutions’ video and online accountability system prompted her to change her entire class syllabus to center around ATS.

Value of Video

“The videos were validating because they showed exactly what I do in the field,” said Dr. Fielding, who also owns a private practice, Special Workshops, where she works directly with children on the spectrum. With ATS, students could view other professionals using Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) with children across the autism spectrum in their natural environment.

“The validity of the content and concepts covered in Autism Training Solutions matched my course – Autism Spectrum Disorders: Assessment and Program Planning – and closely follows the work of John O. Cooper, Timothy E. Heron and William L. Heward in their book Applied Behavior Analysis,” said Professor Fielding.  

Accountability Online

Accountability was the second factor in Dr. Fielding’s decision to utilize Autism Training Solutions.

With regular textbooks, Dr. Fielding couldn’t hold people accountable to reading the book. With book sharing a popular cost saver for students in her area, she knew most students were not able to complete all assigned reading. With ATS, she knew exactly when and what assignment each student finished – something she did not hide from her students. On the first day of class, she showed everyone the Supervisor Dashboard functionality, which allowed her to monitor their progress. Not only did Dr. Fielding check quiz and test scores through the ATS system, she looked to see what percentage of the assignment was completed before each class.

Student grades were also tied to the ATS system. In addition to ATS online exams, Dr. Fielding used our downloadable resources to create unique quizzes and final exams that were worth 60% of the final grade.

Professor Fielding said the students using Autism Training Solutions were better prepared than any other class she taught before and that she almost “felt guilty because her teacher preparation and administrative duties were so easy.”

Student Outcomes

Although 89% of the class were female teachers, they had diverse experience.

The university students were from different age ranges. All students currently held a Bachelor’s degree, with half of the class also holding a Master’s degree. Our most striking finding was that 56% of the class worked directly with children with autism but 66.7% of the class had received no formal training in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) prior to Professor Fielding’s course.

Gender                                                     Age                                                     Higher Education

Profession                                        Prior Experience with Autism                                  ABA Training 

Student pre-test scores mirrored their inexperience. Although students were familiar with important subject matter such as Functions of Behavior and Introduction to Autism, earning 69% and 86% pre-test scores, their scores diminished with the more intermediate ABA topics.

The students’ pre-tests showed a lack of knowledge in three important areas – Naturalistic Teaching Strategies (38%), Teaching New Behavior (39%) and Recording and Analyzing Behavior (39%).

After finishing Dr. Fielding’s course, students made marked improvement in all areas. 

Having now mastered three important new strategies, these teachers are able to increase their success in the classroom. For example,

• By understanding Naturalistic Teaching Strategies, teachers can arrange the classroom environment to increase motivation for learning and apply teaching methods in naturally occurring situations.
   
• By understanding Teaching New Behavior, teachers can use prompting and prompt fading to increase students’ independent skills such as communication, social skills and academics.
   
• By understanding Recording and Analyzing Behavior, teachers can analyze and collect data related to student progress so that they can make database decisions around students’ IEP.

Dr. Fielding’s students also enjoyed the online aspect of their course.

• 100% of university students said they were able to apply the knowledge learned through ATS videos to their daily life.
• 100% of university students recommend that Dr. Fielding continue to teach using ATS online training in conjunction with their college course.
  

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