School Psychology Forum

Effectiveness of Incremental Rehearsal When Implemented by a Paraprofessional

By Shawna Petersen-Brown, Carlos J. Panahon & Cassandra M. Schreiber

Cross-Cultural Action Research in School Psychology, pp. 52-62

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ABSTRACT: A growing body of research has established incremental rehearsal (IR) as an effective intervention for teaching basic skills in various student populations. However, there have been no published studies to date in which interventionists have been school-based personnel rather than researchers. In this study, a paraprofessional implemented IR with two third-grade students identified as struggling readers. A multiple baseline design across participants was used, and students were taught high-utility words. Retention of words and implementation fidelity were the dependent variables. Both students retained more words during the IR phase than during baseline, and large effect sizes were found (improvement rate difference 5 1.00; Tau U 5 .88–.94). Mean implementation fidelity was 98.2%. Overall, these findings suggest that IR may be implemented successfully by a trained and coached paraprofessional, although more research in this area is needed if IR is to be successfully implemented in schools.