Using Evidence- Based Practices: Practical E-Learning Tools For Practitioners Serving Learners with ASD

Kara Hume, Ph.D. - Associate Professor, School of Education, works with the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute.

Key Terms: EBP- Evidence based practices

This presentation will specifically be focusing on children from age zero up to age 21

How are EBP’s defined?

Research that is going to produce specific behavioral and developmental outcomes for a child. Evidence that has demonstrated to be effective in applied research literature. Research that can be successfully implemented in an educational setting.

The current study

For this research a large systematic review of the literature of articles that were published in the last 27 years from 1990 to 2017 that had to do with targeting the outcomes of school aged children with autism. The first search found 60,000 articles in the 2 year time period. All of these were looked through to make sure that the abstracted matched what was needed. The research needed to be peer reviewed, and fit the goal of the EBP. All of these studies were looked through and narrowed down to 972 articles that met all od the criteria for inclusion and quality. Out of those articles, 28 of them fit the requirements. From here, they were looked over to analyze successful treatments and interventions.

https://ncaep.fpg.unc.edu/research- resources (LINK TO FULL REPORT)
This is a great place for teachers and families to start when looking for interventions because this research has been replicated and evidence suggests that these are successful interventions for school aged children with autism

Why do we use EBPS?

It is known that they work based off of empirically based evidence
They can be implemented effectively
It is easy to see if the child is making progress or if a shift needs to be made

Overview of the EBPS process

Select and plan for the EBP
Implement the EBP with fidelity
Assess the progress

Select and plan for the EBP

Think about the child who you will be using the intervention with

What is this child like?
What are their behavioral goals?
What have they been struggling with?

The Matrix can then be used to identify which of the 28 EBPs will be the most useful for this child

The matrix is broken down into three age categories

0-5
6-14
15-22

The top row indicates all of the desired learning outcomes and the first column indicates all of the EBP’s and this can be used to identify which EBP is going to work the best for your child

When selecting an EBP Consider:

Child and family characteristics
Clues found in the outcome and goal
Teacher/ team characteristics
Other available resources

Implement with Fidelity

Planning

Choose the skill and behavior
Collect the baseline data
Make specific decisions related to the EBP

Implementing

Check your fidelity of implementation related to that EBP

Monitoring

Collect data on child and your implementation

AFIRM is a useful tool to help implement any of the EBP’s with fidelity and was launched 5 years ago
- The target audience of this platform is special educators, general education teachers, related service personal, and early interventionists
- Helps with the planning, selecting and monitoring of EBPS
  - Full of videos that will help walk you through this process
- Supplemental materials through AFIRM include implementation checklist, step by step practice guides, parents guide, tip sheet for professionals, data sheets and it is all evidence based.
- They are short modules that are really conscious of not taking up too much time out of the day but are jam packed with useful information
- Modules also include information on how to switch to a new EBP if the current intervention is not working.

Assess Progress

Gather and analyze the progress of the student

This includes the student process (goal based data collection)
Implementer Progress (implementation checklist)
Revise the plan when needed

COVID RESOURCES

https://afirm.fpg.unc.edu/sup porting-individuals-autism- through-uncertain-times
https://afirm.fpg.unc.edu/adu lt-resources
https://afirm.fpg.unc.edu/onli ne-learning-resources