The Multicomponent teacher training (Barkley, 2000) consists of a teacher-training program intervention combined with a parent and child interventions. Parents are trained in the same way as the teachers are by a child psychologist. In particular, teachers follow the instruction of an expert teacher and child psychologist regarding the different behavioral treatments to employ in classroom.
The training activity guides teachers to know defiant behaviors but also how to apply a behavioral strategy (setting up a home token system, rewarding children for non-disruptive behavior, time out, response cost and managing children in public places with ‘think aloud-think ahead’ strategies) to misbehavior. The program sessions take advantage of special treatment classes where the parent can try the application of strategies. A slightly modified version of Barkley’s parent training program applied to the Swedish context is the “Strategies in Everyday Life” (Ostberg and Rydell, 2012).
The Irvine Paraprofessional Program (IPP) (Kotkin, 1995) is a school-based reinforcement program composed by 12 week intensive intervention in a general education classrooms. The program includes (a) direct intervention with children with ADHD by specially trained paraprofessionals, (b) teacher consultation by the school psychologist on the use of effective classroom management strategies, (c) school-based reinforcement, and (d) social skills training out of class. The experts as facilitators help teacher during the lesson to apply the behavior management strategies and a token economy with the intention to fade out their presence by the end of the program.
The Promoting Academic Success in ADHD Students (PASS, DuPaul et al., 2004) is an assessment-based, school intervention package (e.g., instructional modifications) aimed at modify the instructional methods adopted by teachers for improving the reading fluency, reading comprehension, math fluency and math problem solving of elementary school children with ADHD.
The Multicomponent program of Miranda et al. (2002) is another effective program for treating ADHD pupils, carried out by teachers in a classroom context. It includes:
- A first training session dedicated to general knowledge about ADHD.
- The second and third sessions during which teachers received training on behavior modification procedures.
- A fourth session providing teachers with guidelines concerning instructional management procedures for students with ADHD that would complement the individual demands of these students and that would improve their learning.
- A fifth and sixth session dedicated to cognitive behavioral techniques. In particular, teachers are trained in the use of self-instruction (Session 5) and reinforced self-evaluation (Session 6) techniques that may be applied to the whole class, during this session.
The Teacher Training Program of Sanches-Ferreira et al. (2012) has a duration of 50-hours divided in two 25-hours parts, one of instructive group training sessions (6 sessions) and the other of field work. The structure outline of the instructive group training sessions provides a comprehensive account of the teaching and learning process used:
1st Session: Theoretical background-Activate the previous knowledge of learners and the introduction of new knowledge, materials and practices.
2nd Session: Modeling learners’ practices – demonstration; thinking aloud strategy (put questions and strategies to solve them) and asking for the learners’ active participation.
3rd and 4th Sessions: engage learners in supervised practice - Analysis of a case history in small working groups (4/5 elements) with the aim to practice and generalise new knowledge into daily routines
5th and 6th sessions: Presentation of an individual’s work to share information with other learners; Engage learners in natural practice and provision of feedback.
In all the instructive training sessions teachers were given assignments to provide opportunities to put into practice (field work) the new learning each from the session. At the beginning of the following session, teachers were asked to present the results from the previous assignment they had introduced.
The CE.D.AP. Teacher Training Program consists of an integrated approach that combines on-going training with intervention in the classroom, where the expert acts as both support and model for the teacher. This proposal can be varied according to the needs of the school, reducing or increasing the estimated hours. Generally we have found that for the work to be effective 81 hours of training are required. This is subdivided as follows over the school year:
- 15 hours of initial observation in a sample class, divided into: 9 hours of casual observation and 6 hours of structured observation of the internal classroom dynamics. This observation is carried out using grids identifying problem behaviours and based on the scheme ABC (antecedent, behaviour, consequence) for the compilation of the initial baseline.
- 6 hours of structured observation in the classroom for the final baseline.
- 15 hours of teacher training in group settings (group supervision).
- 15 hours of theoretical training.
- 30 hours of intervention in the sample class. In this context, strategies identified during supervision meetings of dealing with specific problems are tested. Then, the expert supports teachers in the classroom by acting as a model in the management of certain situations, for example by setting up a token economy in the classroom, etc. The presence of this supportive figure will be progressively reduced, allowing the teacher to take charge and work on his/her own.
The hours of teacher training are divided into two specific periods, one spent in theoretical training and the other in supervising the class committee of the sample class chosen by the school.
The general training proposes the following programme, which is divided into 4 modules:
1st module: teacher stress and cognitive restructuring
2nd module: assertive communication
3rd module: laws of learning for an effective class management and motivation of difficult pupils
4th module: intervention with difficult pupils and class management: operative strategies
The contents of the course program are organized with emphasis on the practical application of methods of self-evaluation and self-knowledge. Teachers are also given the opportunity to report on their daily experiences.
More details of the above mentioned programs at
http://www.whaamproject.eu/images/documents/FrameworkLicense.html