An evaluation of a self-instructional manual for teaching individuals to administer the revised ABLA test to persons with developmental disabilities
Date
2013-09-23
Authors
Boris, Ashley
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Abstract
The Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) is a valuable tool that is used to assess the
learning ability of individuals with developmental disabilities (DD). The ABLA was recently
revised and is now referred to as the ABLA-R. A self-instructional manual was recently
prepared to teach individuals how to administer the ABLA-R (DeWiele, Martin, Martin, Yu, &
Thomson, 2011). Using a modified multiple-baseline design across a pair of university students,
and replicated across four pairs, I evaluated the effectiveness of the ABLA-R self-instructional
manual for teaching the students to administer the ABLA-R to individuals with DD. Each
student: (a) after studying a brief description of the ABLA-R, attempted to administer the
ABLA-R to a confederate role-playing an individual with DD (Baseline); (b) studied the ABLAR
self-instructional manual (Training); and (c) once again, attempted to administer the ABLA-R
to a confederate (Post-Training Assessment). Participants who achieved at least 90% accuracy in
conducting the ABLA-R in their Post-Training Assessment with a confederate then administered
the ABLA-R to an individual with DD in a Generalization phase. In Baseline, Post-training, and
Generalization phases I scored each participant’s performance using the ABLA-R Tester
Evaluation Form. The overall results indicate that the self-instructional manual is an effective
method for training individuals to accurately administer the ABLA-R.
Description
Keywords
developmental disabilities, ABLA