Evaluating the efficacy of Online Verbal Behaviour Training to ABA-Practitioners working with autistic individuals

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, online training platforms have become more popular as a training delivery method. Given the importance of the Verbal Behaviour (VB) approach in teaching communication skills to autistic individuals, the current research was designed to evaluate the efficacy of a bespoke online VB training platform for practitioners. A quasiexperimental design was utilised to compare the effectiveness of the training platform with an experimental group (n = 20) who accessed the online VB platform and a control group (n = 20) who received hard copies of the training materials. Linear multiple regression analysis demonstrated that the online learning platform was significantly more effective in increasing practitioner knowledge of VB in comparison to receiving hard copies of the teaching materials.