Despite the evidence that supports the benefits of a holistic, collaborative approach to autism intervention, but there is little training to teach those skills to professionals. Behavior analysts working in applied settings will often partner with different individuals from very different backgrounds and disciplines. Skilled Dialogue has been recommended as an approach to conversations that values everyone's contributions in fostering compassionate, collaborative, and culturally responsive care to benefit the children served. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a training workshop to teach the concept and strategies of skilled dialogue to behavior analysts in training. The participants were taught and practiced using the six strategies of Skilled Dialogue: welcoming, allowing, sense-making, appreciating, joining, and harmonizing through use of instructions, rationales, activities, simulations, and feedback. The success of the training was evaluated using a multiple baseline design across training components. Audio and video responses to role-play scenarios were recorded, transcribed, and scored to measure the results of the training workshop on communication skills. The results suggested that the training workshop was an effective method to teaching future behavior analysts how to engage in the strategies and components of skilled dialogue, increasingly the likelihood of collaborative, and children centered communication and care.
