Case applications in a professional development program for 
communication partners: Reported changes in participant skills, 
knowledge and concerns

Michael Arthur
The University of Newcastle

Nancy Butterfield
NSW Department of School Education

David McKinnon
Charles Sturt University

Abstract

Communication partners of students with a severe intellectual 
disability participated in a three session inservicing program 
offered at two locations in each of the ten educational regions 
of NSW.  The program introduced a process for assessment, 
programming and instruction predicated on the reciprocity of 
communication and the influence of ecological factors in the 
development of functional communication.  Participants were 
encouraged to apply content and strategies between sessions to 
the needs of one student and evaluate the intervention process 
using this practical aspect of the program.

Using pre and post questionnaire data, analyses of variance 
indicated a number of significant reported changes within and 
across participant groups (teachers, therapists, aides).  The 
program appeared to be successful in addressing participant 
concerns regarding information about and the impact of 
communication interventions.  Data suggested an increase in the 
reported skills and knowledge of personnel in the areas of 
communication assessment, programming and instruction. 

Potential applications of this case approach to staff development 
will be explored in thecontext of this project.  

INTRODUCTIONÄ

The crucial role that partners play in the communication 
experiences of students with severe disability is steadily 
receiving more attention in the special education and 
professional development area.  Whilst a number of writers have 
discussed the link between research and practice in communication 
intervention, highlighting the communicative context as a key 
variable (Arthur, 1994: Mirenda, Iacono, & Williams, 1990), 
others have attempted to define and support specific partner 
behaviours as a way of enhancing the quality of interaction in 
classrooms and other educational settings (see, for example, two 
recent studies by Sigafoos, Kerr, Roberts, & Couzens, in press;
Sigafoos, Roberts, Kerr, Couzens, & Baglioni, in press).

This paper describes some preliminary findings from a largeİscale 
professional development program designed to support teachers and 
other communication partners working with students with severe 
disability in educational settings.  The data was generated from 
the third phase of a four phase project, outlined below and 
described inmore detail in Butterfield and Arthur (1994).

* Statewide questionnaire to identify teacher needs and concerns

* Development and piloting of responsive instructional manual

* Development of an evaluation instrument for the manual and 
 accompanying inservice program.  Implementation of program.

* Evaluation of data from phase 3.

The inservicing program took a case application approach in order to 
encourage participants to use the suggested intervention 
processes whilst recognising and incorporating individual 
differences in partner and student needs.  Features of the case 
application approach are described in the next section.


METHOD

Subjects
Preİintervention data was collected from 301 participants, with 179 
again completing the postİinstrument.  The sample consisted of 
teachers, teachers aides and speech pathologists.  A small number 
of parents and student teachers attended but were not included in 
the analysis due to the size of the cohorts.

Scale construction
A 39 item Likert scale, discussed elsewhere (Butterfield & Arthur, 
1994; McKinnon, Arthur, & Butterfield, 1994), was developed to 
measure reported changes in participant skills, knowledge and 
concerns.  A 5İpoint scale was used, moving through O = not
relevant to me in my current role, to 4 =  very true of me now.  
Participants were asked to complete the instrument prior to the 
first inservice session and again at the completion of the final 
meeting.  Details of role and educational region were requested 
but noidentifying code for individuals was used.

Procedure
The inservice program was offered in two locations in each of the ten 
educational regions of NSW.  Three sessions, separated by breaks 
of three weeks were conducted.  Although further details on the 
program are provided elsewhere, the following case application
themes were introduced into the planning and implementation of the 
program;

* Sequential and cumulative sessions

* Trial, practice and adaptation

* Multiİdisciplinary participation

* Recognition of individual differences

* Collective problem solving.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This paper provides an overview of reported whole group changes in 
skills and knowledge, following the provision of an inservicing 
program for communication partners.  A major flaw in the design 
of this evaluation is the lack of point to point comparison of 
change.  That is, although participants can be identified by 
region and role, the necessity for anonymity meant that 
individual preİpost comparison of reports isnot possible.

In an attempt to explore the data, therefore, we conducted a series of 
analyses of variance (ANOVA) on the pre/post response means 
(Table 1), systematically dropping off groups in which there was 
a large drop in the number of respondents.  This technique wasdesigned 
to investigate the hypothesis that there would continue to be 
evidence of an intervention effect across the range of group 
responses.  The size (and continuing significance) of the 
resultant Fİratio's, derived from the means presented in Table 1,
although slowly dropping as the degrees of freedom shrink, suggests 
that the program was effective in increasing participants 
reported skills and knowledge.  The analyses of variance 
consistently indicated a statistically significant pre/post 
change at a group level, at p < 0.0005 or better.  This pattern 
suggests an intervention effect, despite an aggregated data base 
and the inability to make point to point comparisons.

PLEASE INSERT TABLE 1 HERE

Further analyses are needed to explore within group changes, perhaps 
considering a range of demographic variables such as educational 
region, type of setting and participant role. Despite some of the 
constraints to analysis, these data do suggest that largeİscale
professional development programs, grounded in the identification of 
participant needs and a realistic caseİbased approach to the 
application of new skills and knowledge acquired by participants, 
hold promise for bridging the gap between exemplary researchand 
best practice.  It may now be appropriate to pursue finelyİgrained 
studies of change in partner communication behaviour, 
incorporating a multiplicity of both controlled and openİended, 
interpretive approaches to research.


REFERENCES

Arthur, M.  (1994).  Communication instruction in the 1990's: An 
overview of future directions.  Ch. 7 in K. Linfoot (Ed.), Communication 
strategies for people with developmental disabilities: Issues from theory to 
practice.  Sydney: MacLennan and Petty/Paul. H. Brookes.

Butterfield, N., & Arthur, M.  (1994).  Addressing teacher needs and 
concerns in communication interventions for students with intellectual 
disability: A report of work in progress.  International Journal 
of Disability, Development and Education, 41.

McKinnon, D., Arthur, M., & Butterfield, N.  (1994).  Creating 
Communicative Contexts: A factor analysis of the inservicing 
questionnaire raises an interesting question.  Proceedings of the 
Annual Conference of The Australian Association for Research in 
Education, Newcastle.

Mirenda, P., Iacono, T., & Williams, R.  (1990).  Communication options 
for persons with severe and profound disabilities: State of the 
art and future directions. Journal of The Association for Persons 
with Severe Handicaps, 15, 1, 3-21.

Sigafoos, J., Kerr, M., Roberts, D., & Couzens, D.  (in press).  
Increasing opportunities for requesting in classrooms serving 
children with developmental disabilities. Journal of Autism and 
Developmental Disorders.

Sigafoos, J., Roberts, D., Kerr, M., Couzens, D., & Baglioni, A.  (in 
press). Opportunities for communication in classrooms serving children with

developmental disabilities.  Journal of Autism andDevelopmental Disorders.


Table 1

Pre/Post Means: Participant reports about assessment, programming and 
instruction