Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 21, 2026
Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Published on: April 22, 2015
A Pivotal Response Treatment Package for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: An RCT
Grace W Gengoux1, Daniel A Abrams2, Rachel Schuck2
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California; ggengoux@stanford.edu.
Insights
Pivotal Response Treatment Package (PRT-P), combining parent training and clinician intervention, significantly improved communication skills in young children with autism spectrum disorder. Parents also successfully implemented PRT strategies.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Speech-Language Pathology
Background:
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often involves significant communication challenges.
- Early intervention is crucial for improving outcomes in children with ASD.
- Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) is a behavioral intervention targeting core deficits in ASD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of a Pivotal Response Treatment Package (PRT-P) for enhancing communication skills in young children with ASD.
- To assess the impact of parent training and clinician-delivered in-home intervention within the PRT-P framework.
- To determine if PRT-P leads to greater improvements compared to a delayed treatment control group.
Main Methods:
- A 24-week randomized controlled trial involving 48 children (2-5 years old) with ASD and language delay.
- Participants were randomly assigned to either the PRT-P group or a delayed treatment control group.
- Communication skills were assessed using behavioral coding of parent-child interactions, parent-report measures, and blinded clinician ratings.
Main Results:
- Children in the PRT-P group showed a statistically significant increase in the frequency of functional communication utterances compared to the control group.
- Parents in the PRT-P group demonstrated high fidelity (91%) in implementing PRT strategies within 24 weeks.
- Improvements were also observed in social communication measures and vocabulary size for children receiving PRT-P.
Conclusions:
- The PRT-P is an effective intervention for improving social communication skills in young children with ASD.
- PRT-P successfully equips parents with the skills to implement PRT.
- Further research is needed to optimize treatment parameters and identify factors influencing treatment response.
Objectives:
Our aim was to conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate a pivotal response treatment package (PRT-P) consisting of parent training and clinician-delivered in-home intervention on the communication skills of children with autism spectrum disorder.
Methods:
Forty-eight children with autism spectrum disorder and significant language delay between 2 and 5 years old were randomly assigned to PRT-P (n = 24) or the delayed treatment group (n = 24) for 24 weeks. The effect of treatment on child communication skills was assessed via behavioral coding of parent-child interactions, standardized parent-report measures, and blinded clinician ratings.
Results:
Analysis of child utterances during the structured laboratory observation revealed that, compared with the delayed treatment group, children in PRT-P demonstrated greater improvement in frequency of functional utterances (F1,41 = 6.07; P = .026; d = 0.61). The majority of parents in the PRT-P group (91%) were able to implement pivotal response treatment (PRT) with fidelity within 24 weeks. Children receiving PRT-P also demonstrated greater improvement on the Brief Observation of Social Communication Change, on the Clinical Global Impressions Improvement subscale, and in number of words used on a parent-report questionnaire.
Conclusions:
This is the first 24-week randomized controlled trial in which community treatment is compared with the combination of parent training and clinician-delivered PRT. PRT-P was effective for improving child social communication skills and for teaching parents to implement PRT. Additional research will be needed to understand the optimal combination of treatment settings, intensity, and duration, and to identify child and parent characteristics associated with treatment response.
More Related Videos
08:30Author Spotlight: Exploring Autism Spectrum Disorder Symptoms in Fruit Flies — Genetic Models and Behavioral Tests
Published on: September 6, 2024
08:17A Semantic Priming Event-related Potential ERP Task to Study Lexico-semantic and Visuo-semantic Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Published on: April 12, 2018
Related Concept Videos
01:19Autism Spectrum Disorder
These core symptoms manifest differently among individuals, ranging from mild to severe. The disorder's complexity extends beyond its clinical presentation, encompassing a diverse range of biological, cognitive, and sociocultural influences.
01:23Pivot Bearings
A pivot bearing is a specialized type of bearing designed to support axial loads on a rotating shaft. The bearing surface, or the pivot, is positioned at the end of a shaft to support the axial thrust. The pivot may...
01:24Treatment Strategies for Psychological Disorders
Psychological therapies focus on modifying emotions, thoughts, and behaviors through talking, interpreting, listening, rewarding, challenging, and modeling. Clinical psychologists, counselors, and social workers commonly practice psychotherapy. Clinical...
02:37The Electromagnetic Spectrum
00:58DNA Packaging
01:32Chromatin Packaging