Since naturalistic interventions occur throughout the day, several adults may need to be taught how to elicit the target behavior.

a) Decide who will teach the skill

Identify the early interventionist(s), family members, and other adults who will facilitate the interactions to elicit target behaviors. These adults may include parents and other family members, teachers, caregivers, therapists, paraprofessionals, other community members and volunteers. Having multiple adults interact with the toddler encourages generalization. Adults who naturally interact with toddlers should be prepared to use naturalistic intervention strategies.

b) Provide adequate training to adult team members involved in the intervention before initiating naturalistic intervention

Adults who will be interacting with learners must understand:

• the target behavior including how it will be observed and measured,
• strategies used to elicit and reinforce that skill, and
• data collection strategies used to assess baseline and monitor progress toward achieving target behaviors.

Depending on the situation, different levels of training may be necessary. For example, in a center-based setting, the teacher may need to arrange the environment and model the strategies used to elicit the skill for assistants and volunteers. An early intervention home visitor might teach strategies to parents and older siblings.

All learning facilitators must understand the entire process to successfully use naturalistic strategies at appropriate times throughout the day. Coaching and ongoing support with a team lead and/or professional development consultant may be required to achieve consistency and success in implementing naturalistic intervention throughout the day when multiple adults and settings are involved. 

c) Develop a training plan

It is useful to develop a plan that identifies the full team of people who are involved in a naturalistic intervention and what type of training, support, and ongoing coaching each member will receive based on their needs and roles. The plan should also include the team leader and how the training will be carried out.

Although some naturalistic practices, such as milieu teaching, have traditionally been implemented by teachers and therapists, research also has demonstrated the effectiveness of training parents, caregivers, and/or other professionals to implement the teaching. Parents are often taught specific parts of the practice, such as reciprocal interaction techniques, while the toddler also participates in sessions that involve behavioral techniques such as modeling to elicit responses (within an environment adapted for the toddler’s own interests). Parents also can be taught to implement all aspects of the intervention in home and community settings. Parent involvement may be especially important for infants and toddlers, for whom multiple therapy sessions per week in a clinic or other out-of-home settings may not be appropriate. In these situations, parents are often the most appropriate and most effective intervention partners.

Refer to the AIM module on Parent Implemented Interventions for more information on this topic.

The training of team members is essential to ensure all identified interventionists understand the step-by-step directions for eliciting the target behavior.

Scripts provide a way to ensure that step-by step directions are available to all team members.

Sample scripts can be found in Step 2.2a.