Social skills deficits are a hallmark feature of children with autism, particularly in areas of shared engagement with peers. A central problem in the development of children with autism and other severe handicaps is a lack of motivation. Pivotal Response Training builds on learner initiative and interests, and is particularly effective for developing communication, language, play, and social behaviors. Pivotal Response Training was developed to create a more efficient and effective intervention by enhancing four pivotal learning variables: motivation, responding to multiple cues, self-management, and self-initiations. According to theory, these skills are pivotal because they are the foundational skills upon which learners with ASD can make widespread and generalized improvements in many other areas.
Recent research suggests that motivation may be increased leading to a dramatic effect upon the children's learning In 1987, Koegel, O'Dell and Koegel developed a program incorporating motivational techniques and functional language use. It is designed to be used in the natural environment and so it is ideally suited to home use. Pivotal Response Training (Pivotal Response Training) provides a guideline for teaching skills and has been most successful for language, play and social interaction skills in children with autism.
Early attempts to treat autism were mostly unsuccessful, and in the 1960s researchers began to focus on behavioral intervention therapies. Though these interventions enjoyed a degree of success, limitations included long hours needed for thousands of trials and limited generalization to new environments. Important work in connection with finding a model to develop verbal communication in children with autism emerged. Researchers theorized that, if and effort was focused on certain pivotal responses, intervention would be more successful and efficient. As they saw it, developing these pivotal behaviors will result in widespread improvement in other areas. Pivotal Response Theory is based on a belief that autism is a much less severe disorder than originally thought.
The ultimate goal of Pivotal Response Training is to provide learners with autism with the social and educational skills to participate independently in enriched and meaningful lives in inclusive settings. Pivotal Response Training emphasizes the importance of training parents as primary intervention agents; however, other family members (e.g., siblings, secondary caregiver), staff (e.g., teachers, school personnel, consultants), and typically developing peers are also included as intervention agents. As a result, Pivotal Response Training has been successfully implemented in a variety of naturalistic settings, including school, home, and community. Further, teaching in varied and more naturalistic environments has been demonstrated to promote generalization of skills.
About The Author:
J Mark Soveign