Behavioral skills training as an effective intervention for teaching rapport building skills to staff

Abstract

Psychologists have emphasized the importance of rapport in building successful therapeutic relationships. Problem behavior exhibited by individuals with developmental disabilities poses a danger to the individual themselves and the registered behavior technicians (RBTs). Research has supported the use of Behavioral Skills Training (BST) with teachers and staff as a way of teaching a variety of skills. The purpose of this study was to train RBTs on rapport building skills and to examine if the acquisition of rapport building skills created a decrease in the frequency of problem behavior. The data in this study indicated that the BST approach produced swift and considerable improvements in the participants' acquisition of rapport building skills. This study showed that the application of BST implemented across 2 days was successful at teaching RBTs rapport building skills.