Teaching virtual job interview skills to college students with IDD using literacy-based behavioral interventions

College students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) face challenges searching for jobs, often lacking communication and social skills needed during formal interviews. The COVID-19 pandemic complicates interviews, forcing students to search online and attend virtual interviews. This study used a multiple probe design across participants to examine the acquisition of literacy-based behavioral interventions (LBBIs) on virtual job interviews. Using a video conference platform, students answered interview questions from researchers acting as employers. LBBIs were customized, incorporating students' input. Results indicated that LBBIs were effective for teaching and maintaining virtual job interview skills, and across novel employers. The findings have implications for using LBBIs to teach virtual job interview skills to students with IDD, and for researchers including these students in remote instruction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Using Mnemonics, Remote Coaching, and the Range-Bound Changing Criterion Design to Teach College Students with IDD to Make Employment Decisions

Adults with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) increasingly are accessing inclusive college programs to gain academic and employment preparation for future community living. Decision-making and self-determination are two inter-related skills taught in these programs. In this study, we investigated an intervention that combined remote audio coaching (RAC) and a mnemonic strategy to teach employment decision- making skills to three college students with IDD. We evaluated the intervention using the range-bound changing criterion design to assess students' stepwise progress. All students substantially increased their employment decision-making skills, generalized those skills to a novel job coach who was not part of the intervention, and maintained the skills after the intervention was removed. We discuss implications of the procedures and results of this decision-making intervention, as well as the goodness-of-fit of the experimental design for evaluating controlled, gradual skill increases.

Teaching Job Search Skills to College Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities through Screensharing and Remote Audio Coaching

Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are more frequently unemployed or under-employed than individuals without disabilities. Job search skills are one of the most direct ways to counter unemployment. Remote audio coaching (RAC) has shown to be an effective, remote method for teaching skills to adults with IDD. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for flexible intervention delivery options, we explored the effectiveness of using RAC to teach job search skills to college students with IDD. A multiple probe design across students was used to examine the impact of RAC on increasing job search skills. Results demonstrated that RAC was effective at increasing this skill. All students maintained the skill upon removai of the intervention. Implications and future research are discussed.

Teaching Virtual Job Interview Skills to College Students With IDD Using Literacy-Based Behavioral Interventions

College students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) face challenges searching for jobs, often lacking communication and social skills needed during formal interviews. The COVID-19 pandemic complicates interviews, forcing students to search online and attend virtual interviews. This study used a multiple probe design across participants to examine the acquisition of literacy-based behavioral interventions (LBBIs) on virtual job interviews. Using a video conference platform, students answered interview questions from researchers acting as employers. LBBIs were customized, incorporating students? input. Results indicated that LBBIs were effective for teaching and maintaining virtual job interview skills, and across novel employers. The findings have implications for using LBBIs to teach virtual job interview skills to students with IDD, and for researchers including these students in remote instruction.

Teaching Small Talk: Increasing On-Topic Conversational Exchanges in College Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Using Remote Audio Coaching.

Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often have deficits in interpersonal skills due to limited social-communication opportunities. Knowing how to engage in "small talk" or simple social conversational exchanges can be beneficial in postsecondary schooling, employment sites, community environments, and social gatherings. Recently, covert audio coaching (CAC) showed a positive impact on increasing conversational exchanges. As the COVID-19 pandemic increased the need for remote delivery tools, we explored the effectiveness of remote audio coaching (RAC) to teach this skill to college students with IDD. We used a multiple baseline design across participants to examine whether RAC might increase on-topic, small talk conversational exchanges. Results demonstrated that RAC effectively increased small talk skills between participants and a confederate. Upon removal of RAC, all participants still performed above their baselines, with two participants maintaining near mastery levels 2 weeks after the intervention was removed. Limitations and future research are discussed.