Pivotal Response Training (PRT)

Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) is a naturalistic intervention model derived from ABA approaches. Rather than target individual behaviors one at a time, PRT targets pivotal areas of a child’s development, such as motivation, responsivity to multiple cues, self-management, and social initiations. By targeting these critical areas, PRT results in widespread, collateral improvements in other social, communicative, and behavioral areas that are not specifically targeted.

The underlying motivational strategies of PRT are incorporated throughout intervention as often as possible, and they include child choice, task variation, interspersing maintenance tasks, rewarding attempts, and the use of direct and natural reinforcers. The child plays a crucial role in determining the activities and objects that will be used in the PRT exchange. Intentful attempts at the target behavior are rewarded with a natural reinforcer (e.g, if a child attempts a request for a stuffed animal, the child receives the animal, not a piece of candy or other unrelated reinforcer). Pivotal Response Treatment is used to teach language, decrease disruptive/self-stimulatory behaviors, and increase social, communication, and academic skills.

The differences between PRT and Discrete Trial Training (DTT): DTT breaks a skill into smaller parts teaching each subpart one at a time. PRT focuses on strategies that motivate the child to attempt the larger task, and by reinforcing these attempts, the child’s rate of responsivity is improved. Further, studies show that child affect improves using the motivational procedures. DTT is more structured and often uses flash cards and drill-type activities, wherein PRT uses activities found in the child’s everyday environment with task variation, in addition to following the lead of the child. PRT uses reinforcement directly related to the task in most cases; DTT uses a reinforcer not necessarily related to the task (such as a small edible).