EVALUATING THE INSTRUCTIONAL BEHAVIORS OF PEERS WITH MILD DISABILITIES WHO SERVED AS 1ST-AID INSTRUCTORS FOR STUDENTS WITH MODERATE DISABILITIES

The instructional behaviors demonstrated by peers with mild disabiliti es who served as first-aid instructors for participants with moderate disabilities were evaluated. Participant data were reported in another investigation (Marchand-Martella, Martella, Agran et al., 1992). Two peer instructors received first-aid skill training-specifically, to tr eat abrasions, burns, and severe cuts. Following this training, the in structors were taught the following instructional behaviors: (a) model ing first-aid skills; (b) error correction (i.e., praise the attempt; model correct performance, tell participant what to do, or indicate wh at was done incorrectly; and tell the participant to try the step agai n); (c) praise techniques; and (d) data collection. Each peer was assi gned to work with two grade-level participants. Data were collected on the instructional behaviors of the peer instructors. Results indicate d that the instructors were able to teach the first-aid skills to thei r peers. Verification of the integrity of the independent variable (pe er instruction) indicated that the instructors could effectively model , correct errors, provide praise, and collect performance data reliabl y. Additionally, the participants demonstrated both immediate acquisit ion of the first-aid skills and performance above 66.7% of the steps c ompleted correctly during a training phase involving a partial withdra wal of the peer instruction training components. More importantly, the participants' skills generalized to the home and to novel simulated-i njury locations, with 100% of the skills demonstrated correctly across participants at a 3-month follow-up assessment.