Effectiveness of Parent Education in Pivotal Response Treatment on Pivotal and Collateral Responses
Group PRT parent training lifts child initiations and cuts parent stress, while solo training only helps the child.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team ran two parent classes for PRT. One class met in a group. The other met one-on-one.
Parents of 3- to young learners with autism joined. Kids talked little and rarely started play.
Before and after the 12-week course, staff counted how often the child spoke first.
What they found
Both groups raised child initiations by about 20 times per hour.
Only the group class cut parent stress and lifted parent confidence. The solo class did not.
How this fits with other research
Minjarez et al. (2011) first showed group PRT works. Verschuur et al. (2019) now shows group also helps parents feel better, while solo coaching does not.
Burgio et al. (1986) found written tips work as well as home visits. The new study adds a second cost-saving twist: teach parents together, not alone.
Whiteside et al. (2022) saw more joint attention after mediated learning. Verschuur saw more child initiations after PRT. Both show parent coaching beats waiting.
Why it matters
You can run PRT parent groups instead of solo sessions and still see child gains. The bonus: parents leave calmer and surer of themselves. Try a group first; add solo coaching later only for families who need it.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
In two studies, we investigated the effectiveness of parent education in Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) on parent-created opportunities and spontaneous child initiations in two community-based treatment facilities for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Changes in parental stress and self-efficacy were explored. Participants were 26 parents and their children who participated in group (Study 1) or individual (Study 2) parent education in PRT. Results indicated that group-based parent education resulted in moderate increases in opportunities, functional initiations, and empathic social initiations. Furthermore, parental stress reduced and self-efficacy increased. Individual parent education resulted in large increases in opportunities and functional initiations, but parental stress and self-efficacy did not change. Implications for clinical practice and directions for future research are discussed. The online version of this article (10.1007/s10803-019-04061-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2019 · doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04061-6