Effects of embedded instruction provided by preschool teachers on acquisition of target behaviors by children in inclusive classrooms

This study aims to examine the effects of embedded instruction provided by pre-school teachers on acquisition of target behaviors by children in inclusive classrooms. Preschool teachers who work in general education settings were trained to provide simultaneous prompting procedure within embedded instruction to four children with developmental disabilities in their classrooms. The independent variable of the study is preschool teachers' implementation of simultaneous prompting procedure within embedded instruction. Dependent variable of the study is the percentage of correct responses of children with developmental disabilities for their target behaviors. A multiple probe design with probe trials across peers, a single subject experimental design, was used to investigate the relationship between independent and dependent variables. The findings of the study show that preschool teachers could prepare instructional plans for embedding instruction using a simultaneous prompting procedure and generalize these skills to another discrete behavior. At the end of the instruction delivered with a high procedural reliability, all the children met the criterion for target behaviors. The plans for generalization across materials have been prepared and conducted correctly by teachers. It was found that preschool teachers maintained acquired skills on follow-up sessions which was implemented five weeks after instruction ended. Children maintained acquired target behaviors on follow-up sessions conducted one, four and eight weeks after instruction ended. Moreover, children with developmental disabilities generalized acquired target behaviors to different people, settings and materials. When social comparison data related to social validity analyzed, it was found that children with developmental disabilities reached the level of their peers for target behavior. Additionally, it was found that preschool teachers and families of participating children had positive opinions about embedded instruction. Keywords: Preschool teacher training, Embedded instruction, Simultaneous prompting procedure, Children with developmental disabilities, Inclusion.