Pilot study: a PRT parents’ group training for young children with Autism.

According to a recent study published in Nature magazine, PRT parent group training is a practical and effective method.

Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) is an effective intervention addressing core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with parent involvement as a key component.

In the intervention, two core areas were targeted: motivation and initiative.

PRT has shown promising results in the areas of initiative, language acquisition, social communication, and general performance. 

The pilot study showed that 91% of the parents were satisfied with the program and that they learned effective strategies for helping their children to communicate.

The study suggests that parent group training combined with individual parent-child sessions may improve social-communication skills and overall functioning in children with autism.

The results of this study have shown that PRT is an effective treatment method. However, there is a need for more studies to evaluate its effects on core social-communication skills, the severity of ASD symptoms, adaptive functioning, quality of life, and parenting stress.

In SocialMind, we have already identified the great potential of the PRT parent group training. We recently concluded a 3-month PRT training parent group led by Dr. Keren Sagiv Friedgut. We received some fantastic feedback from the participants. They shared that they learned a lot from other parents in the group and from Dr. Sagiv’s feedback in general. And now they can identify what they can improve with their own child because, generally, the situations and challenges are very similar.”

 As in the pilot study, our parents who participated in the training group felt the strategies we taught would be valuable to their children in becoming more communicative.