RCT of TeachTown in Autism Support Classrooms: Innovation and Exnovation

 描述(由申请人提供)：这项研究包括一项随机对照试验，以检验1)Teachtown：Basics的有效性，这是仅有的针对自闭症学生的循证计算机辅助干预(CAI)包之一；2)教师按设计方式实施Teachtown的程度；3)它的使用对其他循证实践的影响；以及4)当Teachtown引入时，调解基于证据的实践使用变化的组织和教师变量。虽然人们急于利用计算机辅助教学，但很少有研究表明，它是否会为自闭症学生带来更好的结果，并在社区环境中可行或可持续。虽然计算机辅助教学有可能增加自闭症学生的教学时间，但它可能会导致教师减少其他循证实践的使用，包括学生接受的人际(而不是计算机)教学的数量。虽然30多年来，人们一直使用创新、去实施和去采纳等概念来描述这一现象，但很少有人对它们进行系统研究。这项拟议的研究利用了正在费城学区推出的Teachtown。Teachtown包括一个计算机化的教学部分，与学生和教师之间的线下人际教学相结合。目前尚不清楚公立学校是否有足够的资源来实施这样的项目，无论它们的效果如何，也不知道教师是否或如何将它们纳入教学日。一个特别重要的问题是，随着Teachtown的实施，现有的以证据为基础的做法是否会被淘汰。为了解决这些问题，我们依赖于我们与费城学区的长期合作，费城学区是美国第八大学区。开学时，我们将盘点相关技术，并观察其在全区83个幼儿园至二年级自闭症支持教室中的使用情况。我们还将调查教师和学校管理人员对使用这些技术的期望、支持和奖励，以及对使用这些技术的态度、规范和自我效能。然后，我们将使用等待名单控制的随机设计来检查Teachtown对学生结果的影响和其他实践的使用。我们将通过直接观察和定性访谈，揭示实施Teachtown对现有循证实践的影响。等待名单的设计允许学区将干预措施推广到所有教室，这是他们的意图。这也允许S在引入新技术时增加我们的样本，以研究现有EBPS持续的调节因素。这项拟议的研究将是第一个纵向考察自闭症儿童在学校环境中采用新技术的研究之一，也是第一个解决计算机辅助教学使用问题的研究。这项研究的成功完成将确定可延展的干预目标 如果似乎有必要，增加计算机辅助教学的使用，同时维持社区环境中现有的针对自闭症儿童的EBPS。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This study comprises a randomized controlled trial to examine 1) the effectiveness of TeachTown: Basics, one of the only evidence-based computer-assisted intervention (CAI) packages for students with autism; 2) the extent to which teachers implement TeachTown the way it was designed; 3) the effects of its use on other evidence-based practices; and 4) organizational and teacher variables that mediate changes in the use of evidence-based practices when TeachTown is introduced. While there has been a rush to take advantage of CAI, there is little research on whether it will result in better outcomes for student with autism, and be feasible or sustainable in community settings. While CAI has the potential to increase instructional time for students with autism, it may result instead in teachers reducing their use of other evidence-based practices, including the amount of interpersonal (as opposed to computer) instruction students receive. While the related constructs of exnovation, de-implementation and de-adoption have been used to describe this phenomenon for more than 30 years, they rarely have been systematically studied. The proposed study takes advantage of an ongoing rollout of TeachTown in the School District of Philadelphia. TeachTown includes a computerized instruction component, combined with offline, interpersonal instruction between the student and teacher. It is not known whether public schools have the resources to implement programs like this, regardless of their efficacy, or whether or how teachers will incorporate them into the instructional day. An especially important question is whether existing evidence-based practices are exnovated as TeachTown is implemented. To address these questions, we rely on our longstanding collaboration with the School District of Philadelphia, the 8th largest school district in the US. At the beginning of the school year, we will inventory relevant technology and observe how it is used in the District's 83 kindergarten-through-second-grade autism support classrooms. We also will survey teachers and school administrators about expectations, support and rewards for using these technologies and attitudes, norms and self-efficacy regarding the use of these technologies. We then will use a waitlist-control randomized design to examine TeachTown's effects on student outcomes and use of other practices. We will unpack the impact of the implementation of TeachTown on existing evidence-based practices using direct observation and through qualitative interviews. The waitlist design allows the district to roll out the intervention to all classrooms, which is their intent. It also allows s to increase our sample to study moderators of sustainment of existing EBPs when a new technology is introduced. The proposed study would be one of the first to examine longitudinally the uptake of new technology for children with ASD in school settings, and the first to address use of CAI. Successful completion of this study will identify malleable targets for intervention to increase the use of CAI, should that appear warranted, while sustaining existing EBPs for children with autism in community settings.