Best Practice: Systematic Instruction

By Mike Flaherty, Organizational Consultant
The Rural Institute
The University of Montana

Last May, Ravalli Services in Hamilton, Montana hosted a Systematic Instruction seminar as part of its Montana Rural Employment Initiative project. Roger Shelley and I, Organization Consultants with the Rural Institute, conducted the workshop in this Best Practice employment and training technique. What the training participants learned was that Systematic Instruction, by definition and in practice, is a remarkable tool.

Systematic Instruction: Values and Application

Systematic Instruction is the brainchild of Marc Gold, a pioneer in developing the "try another way" approach for teaching people with disabilities. Marc Gold's values about people with disabilities are at the heart of Systematic Instruction. He believed that everyone is able to learn, although each of us acquires information in a variety of ways. Our essential role as teachers or trainers is to discover the ways that best convey information to the individual learner. We began our seminar at Ravalli Services by emphasizing these values. For Systematic Instruction to succeed, the teachers must embrace the idea that everyone can learn and expect the learner to succeed.

After discussing the values, we moved on to the application of Systematic Instruction methods. The training participants were the Ravalli Services's staff members who were learning how to be the "teachers." In order to give the teachers a chance to actually practice Systematic Instruction methods, we hired eight people with disabilities to be "consultant learners" for the seminar. The consultant learners were people receiving services from Ravalli Services. The job of the teachers was to teach the learners a specific task. In this case our demonstration task was assembling a Bendyx bicycle coaster brake. Assembling a bicycle brake is a complex task that involves a clear sequence of steps that can be systematically organized. There is only one correct way to assemble the brake in order for it to work. The teacher's role is first to discover how the learner learns best and then to teach the steps involved in the task.

How Learners Learn

A key element of Systematic Instruction training is teaching the teachers how to recognize which cues or prompts best help the individual learner complete the complex task. The cues or prompts are the most important of all the supports that the teachers use in the Systematic Instruction method. Discovering which cues work, in the least invasive way, requires teachers to remain attentive, flexible, accepting, persistent, and gentle. Each learner may respond to different cues. For example persons with visual impairments may respond to auditory prompts, while a person with deafness will use visual cues. There are a variety of types of cues/prompts to choose from:

• Demonstration-showing the person how to perform the task by doing it yourself
• Verbal-telling someone how to do a task
• Gestures-pointing, motioning with your hands
• Physical Assisting-using "hand on hand" approach, guiding the individual through the job steps
• Other-written symbols, instructions, audio tapes, physical adaptations to the task
(Guide for Employment Specialists, Condon/Hammis 1997)

Marc Gold's values also drive the decision about which cues to use. For Gold, natural is always best. Natural cues, therefore, are preferred. Mike Callahan, President of Marc Gold Associates, uses the Seven Phase Sequence Guidelines, which outlines the most natural and non-invasive ways to guide the learner through the task. Prompting and redirection springs from the most natural methods that occur in the workplace. The ultimate value of applying Systematic Instruction is it allows the natural environment of the work place to provide cues.

Seven Phase Sequence Guidelines
(balancing individual needs with the use of natural supports)
Mark Gold & Associates.

# 1 Determine Natural Ways (Culture, Methods, Contents, Assisting Relationships, Procedures)

# 2 Determine Natural Means (Training Approaches, Motivating Strategies, Rules)

# 3 Identify & Enlist Natural People (Supervisors, Co-Workers, Mentors)

# 4 Facilitate/Train (With Support From Job Trainer)

# 5 Support/Assist/Substitute For Natural People (Other Co-Workers, Job Facilitator)

# 6 Reconsider Natural Means (Determine Approaches Work Best, Are Some Motivating Strategies Working Better Than Others?)

# 7 Adapt/Modify/Change Natural Ways (What Works, What Needs Adaptation) (Callahan & Garner, 1997).

Ultimately this demonstration of Systematic Instruction and the Seven Phase Sequence relies on the efforts of teachers to diligently and consistently strive to uncover ("trying another way") the best teaching methods. Teachers work to understand how the individual learns and what works best to assist him/her to retain accepted levels of performance. "Trying another way" keeps options open and allows teachers to explore opportunities that might have never been utilized. New methods of learning are most valuable when the learner values and retains them.

The teachers need to recognize that as they use prompts/cues to teach the learners and guide them through new skills, they also need to start planning on how to fade those cues to maximize the learner's independence and minimize dependence on the teacher/trainer. It is key that the prompts and cues used do not cause the learner to become dependent on the teacher. The learner focuses on the work task itself, not on the teacher or on the relationship with the teacher. The principle benefit to professionals using Systematic Instruction is it reduces training and fading time.

Results of the Ravalli Services Workshop

The most remarkable element of this training was the interaction of teachers and learners. Perhaps the most important by-product of successfully learning new skills was the growth of pride and self-reliance in each of the consultant learners. This demonstration seminar afforded the consultant learners the opportunity to learn a complex task in a brief amount of time. The brake assembly exercise also proved to enlighten the teacher/staff members to the untapped learning potential of all the consultant learners participating in the exercises. The teacher/staff members expressed pleasant surprise at how quickly and correctly the learners completed the assembly task. Consultant learners demonstrated their newly learned skills with justifiable pride to both staff and their peers. Once again, Systematic Instruction proved to be a Best Practice training technique.

Conclusion

Systematic Instruction is under-utilized in the rehabilitation field today. Yet, it is the most effective tool we have for teaching complex tasks, assuring work success for people with significant disabilities that increases competency of workers and staff, and that provides a building block for getting all people out of segregated "make-work" settings. For training on Systematic Instruction, contact the Rural Institute Training Department at (877) 243-2476, Toll Free or Marc Gold Associates, Mike Callahan, President ( 228) 497-6999 or micallahan@aol.com.

References

Callahan, M.& Garner, J. (1997) Keys to the workplace. Baltimore: Brooks Publishing.

Condon, E., and Hammis, D. (1998) Guide for employment specialists. Missoula, MT: The Rural Institute/The University of Montana