RCT of TeachTown in Autism Support Classrooms: Innovation and Exnovation

 描述（申请人提供）：这项研究包括一项随机对照试验，以检查1）TeachTown：Basics的有效性，这是自闭症学生唯一的循证计算机辅助干预（CAI）软件包之一; 2）教师按照设计的方式实施TeachTown的程度; 3）其使用对其他循证实践的影响;以及4）组织和教师变量，当TeachTown被引入时，这些变量介导了循证实践的使用变化。虽然人们急于利用CAI，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，以及在社区环境中是否可行或可持续。虽然CAI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使用其他基于证据的实践，包括学生接受的人际（而不是计算机）指导的数量。30多年来，人们一直用exabling、de-implementation和de-adoption等相关概念来描述这一现象，但很少对它们进行系统研究。 这项拟议中的研究利用了费城学区正在进行的TeachTown推广。TeachTown包括一个计算机化的教学组件，结合离线，学生和教师之间的人际指导。目前还不知道公立学校是否有资源来实施这样的项目，不管它们的效果如何，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，现有的循证实践是否会随着TeachTown的实施而发生变化。为了解决这些问题，我们依靠与美国第八大学区费城学区的长期合作。在学年开始时，我们将清点相关技术，并观察它是如何在该地区的83个十到二年级自闭症支持教室使用。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，支持和奖励以及使用这些技术的态度，规范和自我效能。然后，我们将使用一个等待列表控制随机设计，以检查教学城的学生成绩和使用其他做法的影响。我们将通过直接观察和定性访谈，揭示TeachTown对现有循证实践的影响。等待名单的设计允许该地区推出干预所有教室，这是他们的意图。它还允许s增加我们的样本，以研究当引入新技术时，现有EBP的维持主持人。这项拟议的研究将是第一个纵向研究ASD儿童在学校环境中对新技术的吸收的研究之一，也是第一个解决CAI使用问题的研究。成功完成本研究将确定可进行干预的目标， 增加CAI的使用，如果这看起来是必要的，同时在社区环境中为自闭症儿童维持现有的EBP。

 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.