AN EVALUATION OF BRIEF PARENT TRAINING IN PIVOTAL RESPONSE TREATMENT FOR PRESCHOOLERS WITH AUTISM

Background: Evidence of improved outcomes with early behavioural intervention has placed the early treatment of autism as a health research priority. However, long waiting lists for treatment preclude timely access, despite recommendations that intervention be provided as early as possible to optimize the children’s outcomes. Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) has been shown to be effective at promoting social-communication in children with autism (e.g., Koegel & Brookman, 2003). Moreover, an integral component of PRT is parent training, as parents are considered to be the primary implementers in the PRT model. To date, research on parent training has focused primarily on a 25-hour program; however some evidence suggests that less intensive training may still be effective.

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of brief training in PRT for parents of preschoolers with autism, who were awaiting, or unable to access, more comprehensive treatment.

Methods: Eight preschoolers with ASD and their parents participated in the study using a non-concurrent multiple (across-participants) baseline design. Parents were seen for three 2-hour training sessions on PRT. Measures focusing on parent and child outcomes, using questionnaires and coding of behaviour from video, were obtained before, immediately after, and 2- to 4-months following training.

Results: Parent’s fidelity in implementing PRT techniques improved after training. Concurrent with this, the children’s production of functional verbal utterances increased following training (mean change from pre- to post- training = 25%, range = 4.5%-57%). These changes also were maintained at follow-up. Overall, parental stress tended to decrease and self-efficacy increased, although these varied across parent participants.

Conclusions: Based on these findings, brief parent training promises to provide an immediate cost-effective intervention that could be adopted widely. Discussion will also focus on qualitative information that provides insight into how parent training could be improved.