Autism Resource #1: More on Pivotal Response Treatments (PRT)

We learned about PRT the day we were told that our child had autism. Our Paediatrician told us that there were three evidence based treatments for Autism: IBI, ABA and PRT. She went on to describe what PRT was. She said, “This one is kind of neat. Treatment is provided during everyday routines and everyday environments. Every time the child wants something, you get them to do something first”. While this might be a simplistic description of PRT, something that she said made me want to learn more. On her book list, there was a book titled “Overcoming Autism: Finding the answers, strategies and hope that can transform a child’s life” by Lynn Kern Koegel and Claire LaZebnik. I immediately purchased and read the book. It is a fantastic book because it is written by a clinician: Dr. Koegel and a parent: Claire LaZebnik. This started the path to learning everything I could about PRT. PRT uses the child’s motivation to provide learning opportunities (initially increasing language) in a play based format, in natural environments. This leads to improvements in areas that were not specifically targeted and it generalizes to new environments. For more information visit the following links to the Koegel’s website and UCSB autism website. I also highly encourage that you read the above mentioned book.

Koegel Autism Pivotal Response Treatment training services

UCSB Koegel Autism Centre