Dr. Athanasios (Thanos) Vostanis

Precision teaching has historically been primarily applied to academic skills. This study aimed to show how precision teaching could enhance the application of existing evidence-based interventions focused on crucial pre-academic skills, such as joint attention. Joint attention is typically broken into two categories: responding to bids for joint attention (RJA) and initiating joint attention (IJA). This study developed RJA using precision teaching and play-based, natural environment teaching… Show more

Precision teaching has historically been primarily applied to academic skills. This study aimed to show how precision teaching could enhance the application of existing evidence-based interventions focused on crucial pre-academic skills, such as joint attention. Joint attention is typically broken into two categories: responding to bids for joint attention (RJA) and initiating joint attention (IJA). This study developed RJA using precision teaching and play-based, natural environment teaching. Four autistic students, aged between 5–6, attending a special education school in England participated. Six prerequisite skills were trained in two triads during 15min sessions for three weeks. RJA was then targeted, and participants needed three, four, five, and seven days, respectively, to master it. A concurrent multiple baseline design across participants was used for all skills. Participants improved across all skills with moderate effect sizes that were maintained five weeks post-intervention. Moreover, participants demonstrated steep learning rates measured via celeration, low variability measured via the bounce metric, and a maintenance of performance improvements during the assessment of Endurance, Stability, and Generalization. The results suggest that autistic students can quickly improve their RJA skills and demonstrate fluency in them. However, the results are tentative and require replication while addressing the limitations that have been identified. Integrating precision teaching and naturalistic approaches could offer practitioners additional information about the impact of existing evidence-based interventions on developing RJA and related skills. Show less

This study evaluated the effects of Precision Teaching in improving typically developing students’ mathematical skills when delivered via teleconferencing in India. Four students received Precision Teaching, while nine acted as control participants. Precision teaching involved instruction in three mathematical skills; two prerequisite skills and the primary skill of mixed addition and subtraction facts. Instruction included untimed practice, timed practice, goal-setting, graphing, and a token… Show more

This study evaluated the effects of Precision Teaching in improving typically developing students’ mathematical skills when delivered via teleconferencing in India. Four students received Precision Teaching, while nine acted as control participants. Precision teaching involved instruction in three mathematical skills; two prerequisite skills and the primary skill of mixed addition and subtraction facts. Instruction included untimed practice, timed practice, goal-setting, graphing, and a token economy. Participants who received Precision Teaching received ten practice sessions for the prerequisite skills and 55 sessions for the primary skill. The results demonstrated improvements in the prerequisite skills of varied magnitude and considerable improvements in the primary skill, which were maintained above baseline performance levels. In addition, those who received Precision Teaching were below the 15th percentile rank at the initial assessment and above the 65th percentile at the post-intervention assessment in the math fluency subtest of the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement—Third Edition. Control participants did not demonstrate similar improvements. Results suggest that Precision Teaching could produce accelerated outcomes even when delivered via teleconferencing. Therefore, it could be a valuable system for helping students ameliorate potential learning losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Show less

This study compared two goal-setting approaches found in the Precision Teaching literature, namely the minimum celeration line and the beat your personal best during the mathematical practice of three male students diagnosed with autism, aged 8–9. An adapted alternating treatments design with a control condition was embedded in a concurrent multiple baseline across participants design. Each approach was randomly allocated to either the multiplication/division (×÷) table of 18 or 19, while no… Show more

This study compared two goal-setting approaches found in the Precision Teaching literature, namely the minimum celeration line and the beat your personal best during the mathematical practice of three male students diagnosed with autism, aged 8–9. An adapted alternating treatments design with a control condition was embedded in a concurrent multiple baseline across participants design. Each approach was randomly allocated to either the multiplication/division (×÷) table of 18 or 19, while no approach was allocated to the ×÷14 table that acted as a control. Instruction utilized number families and consisted of (a) untimed practice, (b) frequency-building, (c) performance criteria, (d) graphing, and (e) a token economy. Upon practice completion, an assessment of maintenance, endurance, stability, and application (MESA) was conducted. Participants improved with both conditions and maintained their performance well, while improvements with the control condition were weak. The beat your personal best approach was highlighted as slightly more effective in terms of average performance and more efficient in terms of timings needed to achieve criterion. No differences were identified in terms of learning rate (i.e., celeration) or performance on the MESA. More research is warranted to identify which goal-setting procedure is more appropriate for students in special education. Show less

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been shown to improve performance on a multitude of cognitive tasks. These are, however, often simple tasks, testing only one cognitive domain at a time. Therefore, the efficacy of brain stimulation for complex tasks has yet to be understood. Using a task designed to increase learning efficiency, this study investigates whether anodal tDCS over the left DLPFC can modulate both learning… Show more

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been shown to improve performance on a multitude of cognitive tasks. These are, however, often simple tasks, testing only one cognitive domain at a time. Therefore, the efficacy of brain stimulation for complex tasks has yet to be understood. Using a task designed to increase learning efficiency, this study investigates whether anodal tDCS over the left DLPFC can modulate both learning ability and subsequent long-term memory retention. Using a within-subject design, participants (N = 25) took part in 6 training sessions over consecutive days in which active or sham stimulation was administered randomly (3 of each). A computer-based task was used, containing flags from countries unknown to the participants. Each training session consisted of the repetition of 8 pairs of flag/country names. Subsequently, in three testing sessions, free, cued, and timed cued recall, participants were assessed on all 48 flags they had learnt. No difference in learning speed between active and sham tDCS was found. Furthermore, in the timed cued recall phase, flags learnt in the sham tDCS sessions were recalled significantly better than flags learnt in the active tDCS sessions. This effect was stronger in the second testing session. It was also found that for the flags answered incorrectly; thus, meaning they were presented more frequently, subsequent long-term retention was improved. These results suggest that for a complex task, anodal tDCS is ineffective at improving learning speed and potentially detrimental to long-term retention when employed during encoding. This serves to highlight the complex nature of brain stimulation, providing a greater understanding of its limitations and drawbacks. Show less

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a precision teaching (PT) framework on the mathematical ability of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We also examined if students of moderate mathematical ability could perform as well as their peers with fewer difficulties with their math skills. Sixteen students participated and were divided into three groups. One group engaged in PT, and the other two groups functioned as comparisons. The PT group practiced six… Show more

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a precision teaching (PT) framework on the mathematical ability of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We also examined if students of moderate mathematical ability could perform as well as their peers with fewer difficulties with their math skills. Sixteen students participated and were divided into three groups. One group engaged in PT, and the other two groups functioned as comparisons. The PT group practiced six skills introduced linearly. An A-B design was used for the five component skills, and a multiple baseline across participants design was used for the composite skill (addition). The intervention led to a significant improvement in all skills, including addition, and this was associated with a large effect size; student performance met or exceeded that of their peers. Overall, the findings suggest that PT is an efficient and effective approach for teaching students with IDDs. Show less