Creating communicative opportunities through a combined in‐service training and supervision package

Abstract

The training of staff has been recognized as an important factor in increasing the probability that communication intervention for persons with profound disabilities is successful. Most staff training efforts have difficulties with scheduling staff away from regular duties and with providing feedback to a large number of staff. One way to handle these difficulties is to provide pyramidal training. This article describes the effects of a combined staff in‐service training and supervision package in communication intervention with persons with profound mental retardation using pyramidal training. Seventeen occupational therapists and psychologists were, for a period of one year, trained and supervised in communication intervention and collaborative problem‐solving methods. In addition, they were instructed to train 100 care‐providers using the same format and content. Effects of training on clients, direct‐care staff and supervisors were measured. The results give preliminary support to the hypothesis that a pyramidal model is effective in training supervisors and direct‐care staff in communication intervention and problem‐solving methods.