- 44 Main Street South, Brampton, ON L6W 2C4
- 905-463-2069
- info@eastwoodpsychologists.com
Behaviour Skills Training
BST is an evidence-based approach to teaching new skills. BST can be used to teach a wide variety of skills including social skills, adaptive (self-help) skills, communication skills, play skills, assertiveness, and safety skills.
The process of BST involves 4 steps:
- Instruction: First, the therapist describes and explains the skill to be learned, including the importance of the skill.
- Modeling: After explaining the new skill, the therapist models/demonstrates the new skill.
- Practice: The individual is then given the opportunity to practice the skill (in front of the therapist).
- Feedback: The therapist provides supportive feedback about what the individual did correctly and how they can improve.
BST is often helpful to support children and adults with neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism – ASD, ADHD, and ODD. Therapists can use BST to teach individuals a variety of skills including social communication and self-help skills.
BST can also be used for parent training. Particularly when children are young, it is important for parents to learn how to teach important skills to their child to promote their development. A few examples of skills that can be taught to parents using BST include:
- How to prompt desired behaviours and reward their child using positive attention and praise when they demonstrate desired behaviours.
- How to teach their child to have their needs met using appropriate behaviour (asking nicely), instead of inappropriate behaviour (aggression).
- How to respond consistently to challenging behaviours.
- How to increase their child’s compliance during daily routines.
BST recognizes that parents are our partners in helping their children learn and grow. By giving parents the skills and tools that they need to promote their child’s development, we hope the child’s day-to-day routines become learning opportunities.