Effects of a Training Package to Increase Teachers’ Fidelity of Naturalistic Instructional Procedures in Inclusive Preschool Classrooms

Teachers in inclusive preschool classrooms are required to provide supports and instruction to children with and without developmental delays. In addition, teachers are required to use research and evidence-based practices, such as naturistic instructional procedures. Despite a plethora of research on the effectiveness and utility of naturalistic instructional procedures, few studies have examined the training and coaching practices used to prepare teachers to use these procedures. In addition, few studies have examined the extent to which teachers view common training and coaching practices as ecologically valid or naturalistic instructional procedures as socially valid. The authors trained two preschool teachers of inclusive classrooms to use naturalistic instructional procedures within the context of their daily activities. The training package consisted of the most commonly utilized teacher training and coaching practices. Teachers evaluated the social and ecological validity of the training and coaching practices throughout the study. Results indicated that both teachers acquired target naturalistic instructional procedures with concomitant decreases in the number of unrelated task demands presented to children. Teachers reported idiosyncratic differences across social and ecological validity ratings. Implications for future research and teacher training are discussed.