As stated before, with the transition to online distance learning, parents and other caregivers occupy a prominent place in the educational process even despite them. For that reason, it is important to develop procedures to support caregivers in helping the teaching team and the student with special needs. The focus of these activities is to give them the possibility to be ready to participate, as much as they can/want, to the instructional activities. Stenhoff and his collaborators (2020) presented guidelines to train caregivers to provide instructional support for students with autism spectrum disorders. Nevertheless, the general model behind the guidelines is useful for any situation where caregivers’ help is inevitable. The authors consider that caregiver supports falls into one of three categories:
(a) providing instructions;
(b) providing single-training sessions;
(c) ongoing coaching.
These three types of support can coexist, according to the specific instructional task at hand. The authors recommend that teachers develop a training package, directed at teachers, addressing four components:
- Describing the skills.
- Modelling the skills to the caregivers.
- Providing the caregivers an opportunity to practice the skills.
- Providing feedback on the caregivers’ performance.
