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Pivital Response Training continued..... According to the Koegels, the following are “pivotal
areas” that serve as potential focal points for intervention: responsivity to multiple
cues, motivation to initiate and respond appropriately to social and environmental stimuli, and self-direction
of behavior including self-management and self-initiations of behavior Within PRT, motivation is assessed by “observable characteristics of
a child’s responding”. An improvement in motivation is defined as “an increase in responsiveness
to social and environmental stimuli”. Improved motivation is marked by increased response to taught
stimuli (increased response using skills taught within therapy), decreased response latency (child will respond quicker to
stimuli, such as directives) and changes in affect (improved interest, enthusiasm or happiness). PRT relies on motivational techniques as the central core of the intervention. Research
by Koegal, O’Dell and Koegel (1987) showed that motivational techniques were crucial to the production of generalized
and spontaneous language acquisition in non-verbal children. The primary motivational variables utilized
in PRT are child-choice, use of natural reinforcers and reinforcement of attempts. “Child choice” refers to designing interventions around materials or topics for which the child
expresses a preference. This can be accomplished by allowing the child to select stimulus materials from a pool of potential
candidates or by selecting a known preferred object to teach a desired skill (i.e., using candy wrapped in colored wrappers
to teach colors rather than color flash cards). Efforts are made to incorporate child-choice into routine activities (i.e.,
selecting which shirt to wear or which food to eat). In PRT, the planned reward for the child is something
that flows naturally from the child’s actions or verbalization (which contrasts sharply with arbitrary reinforcers,
such as M&Ms, which are used extensively in the Lovaas-type Discrete Trial Training format). Koegel
and Williams (1980) found that children rapidly acquired tasks only if the reinforcer was directly related to the task in
a logical way. This principal was demonstrated in an experiment that consisted of teaching the skill of opening a clear glass
bottle. If there was candy in the bottle, the child rapidly acquired the skills needed to open the bottle. If the child was
asked to open the lid of an empty container with the contingent reinforcer being a food reward given at the successful completion
of the task, the child did not comply with the request. The children showed rapid acquisition only when the target behavior
was a direct part of the chain leading to the reinforcer. An example of this technique within the naturalistic environment:
a child could be asked to say “juice” in order to obtain a juice, or “open” in order to gain
access to a preferred toy that is in a container. The reinforcers (juice, the open container) are both
direct consequences of the child’s verbalization. As opposed to techniques that require an “accurate” response at each trial, PRT also calls for
reinforcement whenever the child makes any attempt to produce the desired behavior (referred to as “loose shaping criteria). Within PRT, Self-Direction is
also emphasized, which includes a focus on child initiations.The relates directly to the language characteristics
of autistic children, which often include low-levels or complete absence of question-asking, apparent low levels of curiosity
and the use of language to obtain desired objects but not to initiate conversation. Lynn Kern Koegel (1998) demonstrated that
autistic children could be taught to ask a simple question (“What’s that?”). The children were then able
to generalize the question to other appropriate circumstances. The use of WH questions can lead to an increased
ability to learn verbs and increased mean length of utterances. Other techniques to increase self-initiations include utilizing
additional “Wh” questions and learning to ask for help. WH questions can also lead to the ability to initiate
and maintain reciprocal conversations with others.
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