#Maintain a brisk pace of instruction trial#

#Maintain a brisk pace of instruction trial#

As a technology, DI is 100% transferrable and applicable to behavior analytic practice.īehavior analysts have successfully adopted, applied, refined, and transferred the technology of discrete trial instruction (Carbone et al., 2007 Leaf et al., 2017 Patterson & Hicks, 2020), yet the technology of DI remains underutilized. In a way, DI is a technology that guides the planning and promotion of small learning increments through carefully defined and prescribed teaching behaviors. Fortunately for behavior analysts and their clients, DI is not only a program or curriculum it is a model for teaching that integrates specialized design principles with effective strategies of instructional delivery (Engelmann & Carnine, 1991). Although the published DI curricula are the quickest and easiest ways to apply DI in practice, behavior analysts do not need to be limited to the commercialized programs. Over the years and with various coauthors, his programs underwent refinement and expansion and most are currently available through McGraw Hill SRA publishers (e.g., Reading Mastery, Connecting Math Concepts, Language for Learning, and Reasoning and Writing). Engelmann’s drive to ensure all children are taught effectively and efficiently led to the development of several curricula to teach reading, writing, spelling, and math in the 1960s (Engelmann, 1992).

Motivated by dire educational conditions, Siegfried Engelmann went to work to create a powerful instructional model known as Direct Instruction (DI see Barbash, 2021 Kame’enui, 2021). In doing so, behavior analysts can take up the torch of Direct Instruction, extend this remarkable instructional approach into their research and practice, and strengthen the behavioral technology available to behavior analytic practitioners. Behavior analysts can follow this sequence of design efforts and refer to the guiding questions as they develop efficient instruction for their learners. The 10 instructional design efforts are summarized in a Direct Instruction Planning Guide. The purpose of this article is to introduce 10 critical instructional design efforts that behavior analysts can use in their practice, regardless of the population they serve and repertoires they build. What makes Direct Instruction so powerful is that it emphasizes the development of generative repertoires and establishes them efficiently. Direct Instruction is a specialized technology that capitalizes on sophisticated instructional design and highly effective delivery strategies.

Although behavior analysts are trained in discrete trial instruction, other instructional approaches like Direct Instruction are underutilized in behavior analytic practice.