The Pivotal Response Training (PRT) is a behavioral treatment intervention that has very similar methods to those involved in the Applied Behavioral Analysis (A.B.A.). Researchers have identified two pivotal behaviors that affect a broad range of child behaviors: motivation and responsiveness to multiple cues. The concept of The Pivotal Response Training Model is that positive changes in these two pivotal behaviors should have a widespread positive influence on behaviors that are not specifically targeted in the training. The intervention was designed by Drs. Bob and Lynn Koegel at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Through this behavioral therapy, a child’s language, play, and social interaction can excel.

 

Pivotal Response Training increases a child’s motivation to be active by incorporating activities and exercises that focus on turn taking, making choices, motivation, and reinforcement. For example, imagine a therapist wants to increase a child’s interest in learning and communicating about the different colors. A child would be motivated to speak about colors if they were asked to verbally request a colored candy from an assortment of different colored candies. Once the child realizes that it is appropriate to use words to request something, he or she will be more willing to learn new words and use them to express what he or she wants in the future.

 

This is why the training is so successful! The learning and applying of new words itself becomes a motivator for children to cooperate and focus, because they know that they will be rewarded as a direct result of their efforts. Once a child grasps this single pivotal behavior, he or she will benefit in other areas as well, such as language development, cognitive development, and social connection.     

 

This treatment is not very costly simply because it targets only a few key behaviors, requiring relatively little time.  The theory behind the treatment is that by targeting only a few key behaviors, children are able to improve in a number of other functional areas that were not the direct focus. Also, by increasing motivation itself, children learn and progress much faster than in other treatments.

 

Sources:

 

[Pivotal Response Training http://psy3.ucsd.edu/~autism/prttraining.html]

[Interview with Robert Koegel < http://brookespublishing.com/autism/prt/interview.htm>

Pivotal Response Training][http://www.mcesa.k12.mi.us/Documents/AI%20Tip%20sheets/Pivotal%20Response%20Training.pdf]