Pivotal Response Treatment Parent Training for Autism: Findings from a 3-Month Follow-Up Evaluation.
This study's objective was to assess maintenance of treatment effects 3 months after completion of a 12-week Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) parent education group. Families who completed the active treatment (N = 23) were followed for an additional 12 weeks to measure changes in language and cognitive skills. Results indicated a significant improvement in frequency of functional utterances, with maintenance at 3-month follow-up [F(2, 21): 5.9, p = .009]. Children also made significant gains on the Vineland Communication Domain Standard Score [F(2, 12):11.74, p = .001] and the Mullen Scales of Early Learning Composite score [F(1, 20) = 5.43, p = .03]. These results suggest that a brief PRT parent group intervention can lead to improvements in language and cognitive functioning that are maintained 12 weeks post treatment.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, 401 Quarry Road, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA, ggengoux@stanford.edu.
Grace W
GW
Gengoux
Kari L
KL
Berquist
Emma
E
Salzman
Salena
S
Schapp
Jennifer M
JM
Phillips
Thomas W
TW
Frazier
Mendy B
MB
Minjarez
Antonio Y
AY
Hardan
D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education*