Using the prevent-teach-reinforce model with families of young children with ASD.
Parents can reliably run PTR at home to cut problem behavior and boost replacement skills across routines.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Two families of preschoolers with autism learned to run the Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) plan at home.
A coach met each family in person, walked them through the three PTR steps, then faded back.
Parents collected data during normal routines like meals and play for several weeks.
What they found
Both families carried out PTR with high accuracy.
Child problem behavior dropped and replacement skills rose in every routine.
Parents said the plan was easy, useful, and fit their lives.
How this fits with other research
Gauert et al. (2022) and Fischbacher et al. (2024) later showed parents can reach the same high fidelity without any in-person visits, using only telehealth or online modules.
Turgeon et al. (2021) ran a web-only version and still saw parent-reported behavior drops, but many parents quit and gains were only on questionnaires, not direct observation.
The 2013 PTR study and the 2021 web study seem to clash: both cut problem behavior, yet one used live coaching and the other used self-guided lessons. The gap closes when you note the 2013 paper measured behavior directly and kept every family, while the 2021 paper relied on parent checklists and lost a third of families.
Why it matters
You can hand parents a concise PTR manual, give a single home visit, and still get strong behavior change that lasts across meals, play, and bedtime. If travel is tough, swap the visit for a Zoom call or short videos—later studies show it works just as well. Either way, build in quick fidelity checks and keep measuring behavior directly so you know the plan is really working.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study was conducted to examine the feasibility and potential efficacy of implementing an adapted, family-centered version of the school-based prevent-teach-reinforce (PTR) model. The research included two families who implemented the PTR process for their children in collaboration with the researchers. The adapted PTR was tested using a multiple baseline design across routines to examine changes in child behavior across experimental conditions. Results indicated that the adapted PTR intervention was associated with reduction in child problem behavior and increases in alternative behavior in both target and non-target routines. The results also indicated that the parents were able to implement the behavior intervention plan with fidelity and successfully use the PTR process for a novel routine. The PTR intervention also had high social validity ratings; both self- and novel-rated validity indicated that the PTR intervention was acceptable to both families and the community at large. The data are discussed in terms of the expanding evidence related to the PTR model and the extension to a family context.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2013 · doi:10.1007/s10803-012-1646-1