Developing Training Goals and Objectives – Active Teaching
Active Teaching is the term used to describe the process of teaching independent living skills to people. The expected outcome is to promote maximum independence.
As a staff person you are responsible for teaching skills that lead to independence and supporting person’s goals. Every encounter with an individual can provide a teaching opportunity. These are called “teachable moments”.
Active Teaching includes specialized and generalized training as well as services and supports that assist a person to acquire the skills and behaviors necessary to live in society with as much self-determination and independence as possible.
Active Teaching can prevent or slow down the regression in current functional skills.
Active Teaching is based on the premise that all people, regardless of their disability, grow and develop throughout their lives.
An Active Teaching program is the outgrowth of an accurate assessment of each individual’s strengths, needs, and interests with special emphasis on opportunity and choice. It can be a formal assessment using various testing methods, such as a Comprehensive Functional Assessment or it can be an informal assessment which may be simply reports from the person served, staff, family, and others, based on observations of the person. This method is also used in Person Centered Planning.
Each person that you support has an individual plan called an Individualized Support Plan (ISP).
This plan includes skills that the person is developing. The skills are written as goals with clearly defined expected outcomes. It defines specific recommendations to accomplish each goal and objective.
With independence as a primary goal, the ISP gives direction to the support staff in guiding an individual to work toward and achieve their maximum potential.
The ISP should be written in a way that supports the person in achieving a more independent life and reflects the interest and outcomes they desire in their life.
In Active Teaching the individual should do for themselves, to the extent possible, with staff providing only the minimal support that allows the individual to be successful.
Active Teaching must be consistently implemented not only formally but informally as the need arises and the opportunity presents itself.
Active Teaching also calls for collecting data on the formal goals and objectives.
This data is written documentation and it identifies if there is progress in meeting the objective.
Informal goals do not necessarily collect data. However, they still need to be implemented.
Implementation strategies detail how staff will assist the person in acquiring new skills and also build on existing skills
Intervention strategies describe what staff will do to support the individual for each objective established.
Praise and other means of positive reinforcement are an essential part of teaching new skills while at the same time strengthening existing ones.
In a teaching strategy the individual is encouraged to do a skill independently. The support staff then provides assistance with prompts or cues as necessary to help the person complete the task.
The cue or prompt level in the order of support required are:
· Natural
· Gestures
· Verbal Prompt
· Modeling
· Physical Prompt
Always begin by giving the individual the opportunity to initiate the task or skill. This promotes independence.
Proceed to each prompt level as needed to support the individual in completing the task.
This approach provides the opportunity to achieve success at any level.
It also uses a variety of techniques and allows for a variety of individual learning styles.
Goals are written for up to one year. At Peak the goals are usually written by a QMRP.
Goals should be realistic and obtainable.
For every goal there is an objective.
An objective is a “stepping stone” toward meeting the long term goal.
Objectives are usually written for three to six months. The individual should have an active role in establishing their goals and objectives.
The Three Parts to a Good Objective
Observable Behavior – observable behavior is the part of the objective that states the specific desired action. It should be a single target behavior, specific and measurable.
Examples:
· Brush teeth
· Eat with a fork
· Grasp an object
· Maintain eye contact
Condition – the second part of the objective and it answers the question: “under what circumstances or in what situations does this behavior happen?” The condition will describe something that will be provided by staff.
Example:
· Verbal cue
· Physical prompt
· Hand over hand assistance
· independently
Criteria – is the third part of the process. It states the measure of success.
Example:
· For five consecutive days
· Three out of six opportunities
· Each morning for seven days
· Ninety percent of times attempted
· Appropriate locations.
Once you have established your objectives and what the criteria is you need to choose the location from where you are going to run the objective.
Let the objective be your guide.
Use real life situations
Example:
· When teaching money skills use real money.
· When teaching pedestrian skills use the community not a mock up of a street corner in the gymnasium.
Documentation
The next phase of Developing Training Goals and Objectives – Active Teaching is documenting what you have done.
Documentation (the taking and recording of data) is done on all formal objectives. The data is a record of progress.
Documentation is a crucial part of the Active Teaching process.
Staff must document every time that an objective is run. If it is important enough to have an objective, it is important enough to document!
Guidelines for Active Teaching
The approach must be clearly written so everyone will implement it in exactly the same manner.
Objectives should be worked on and the approach followed as opportunities arise.
Prompts should be simple, clear, and easy to understand.
Physical disabilities may eliminate a prompt level ( gesture cue for someone who is visually impaired, verbal prompt for someone who can not hear).
All steps of the approach must be followed in the correct order so that the individual has the opportunity to succeed with the lowest level of staff intervention.
Barriers To Learning
Inability to think in abstract ways – use concrete examples
Limited learning capacity – teach the most important skills – prioritize those which will lead to more independence.
Inability to generalize – teach the skill where it will be used.
Poor self-concept – give every opportunity to experience success.
Limited environmental interaction – teach in the real world.
Processing deficits – find out how the individual learns best.
Short attention span – keep teaching session short.
Short memory span – repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.
Difficulty seeing cause and effect – rehearse behaviors and appropriate responses; be consistent in your interactions.
Main Points of Active Teaching
Talk with and listen to the individuals that you support.
“Teach” versus “do”
Focus on the individual’s dreams, interests, needs, and preferences.
