Thursday, March 23, 2006
9:00-10:00
Welcome & Key Note Address: The History and Development of PRT
Robert L. Koegel, Ph.D.
Dr. Koegel will discuss the historical evolution of intervention for individuals with autism, detailing early behavioral methodologies and contrasting them to current naturalistic interventions. Dr. Koegel will also detail the motivational components of PRT. PRT has been described in the literature as a family-centered approach that may be implemented throughout the day and across natural environments such as in the home, at school, or in the community. Moreover, Dr. Koegel will highlight the development of Pivotal Response Treatment, including its roots in the Natural Language Paradigm, and present the areas of treatment that have been identified as “pivotal” through three decades of research, including motivation, responsivity to multiple-cues, self-management, and self-initiations.
10:00-11:00
The Motivational Procedures of PRT & Teaching First Words
Daniel Openden, Ph.D. & Nicolette Nefdt, M.A.
Researchers, practitioners, and families alike agree on the importance of learning expressive language, however, this is undeniably one of the greatest challenges facing individuals with autism. Throughout the last several decades, the motivational procedures of PRT have successfully been used to teach language to children with autism. Dr. Openden will discuss procedures for improving the pivotal response of motivation to produce generalized improvements in language and reductions in disruptive behaviors. Ms. Nefdt will outline the process of teaching first words using PRT and provide practical procedures for using the strategies. Video examples will be used to illustrate how parents and professionals can implement the procedures throughout the day and across settings.
11:00-11:15 Break
11:15-11:45
Teaching Functional Speech: Transferring Stimulus Control from TV to Live Voice
Grace Werner, M.A.
Often times, families and professionals encounter extraordinary roadblocks in the process of teaching first words to children with autism. This study examines the use of a stimulus fading procedure in promoting initial functional speech in children with autism who exhibit only a few non-functional words under restricted stimulus conditions. A stimulus fading procedure was used in which the controlling artificial stimulus was paired with the desired stimulus (a live voice) and systematically faded according to a changing criterion design. Results indicated rapid transfer of stimulus control to the desired live voice stimulus and follow-up data indicated continued responding and rapid growth in functional vocabulary.
11:45-12:45
Catered Lunch
12:45-1:45
Key Note Address: The Importance of Initiations and How to Teach Question-Asking
Lynn Kern Koegel, Ph.D.
Typically developing children engage in a variety of initiations, both nonverbal and verbal, starting at very young ages. However, research has documented that children and adults with autism will rarely engage in initiations without direct intervention. Dr. Lynn Koegel will discuss in detail the pivotal area of initiations, including the landmark research identifying that children with autism who initiated toward others are likely to have a more favorable outcome. Additionally, Dr. Koegel will present the procedures for teaching question-asking, including “What’s that?”, “Where is it?”, “What happened?”, and “Whose is it?”
1:45-2:15
Promoting Play Date Interactions between Children with Autism and Typically Developing Peers
Grace Werner, M.A.
Children with autism often exhibit difficulties in social interaction and friendship formation. Specifically, children with autism may demonstrate difficulty with appropriately initiating and maintaining conversation, as well as with engaging in interactive play with peers. Data will be presented to illustrate how a package, consisting of the use of mutually reinforcing activities and cooperative arrangements with natural reinforcers, may be successfully implemented in play dates to increase positive interactions between children with autism and typically developing peers. These results are discussed in the context of developing a comprehensive social-skills package to encourage and sustain friendship development among children with autism and their peers.
2:15-2:30
Break
2:30-3:00
Training Paraprofessionals to Facilitate Social Interactions between Children with Autism and Their Peers in an Inclusive Summer Camp Setting
Eileen Klein, M.A.
The literature suggests that paraprofessional support personnel sometimes engage in hovering behavior, which could impede the delivery of treatment for the social development of children with autism in inclusive settings. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to assess whether paraprofessionals could be trained to facilitate social interactions between children with autism and their typically developing peers. The results showed that the paraprofessionals could easily learn to decrease hovering behavior and increase their social facilitation behavior and that the social behavior of the children with autism with their nondisabled peers increased.
3:00-3:30
Improving the Quantity and Quality of Peer Interactions of Adolescents with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism
Jane Lacy Talebi, M.A. & Ty Vernon
Currently, there are few empirically supported social-communication interventions for adolescents with Asperger Syndrome (AS) or high-functioning autism (HFA), who are typically higher-functioning in cognitive and language areas. This study investigates procedures for improving the quantity and quality of peer interactions of adolescents with AS/HFA. Specifically, the concepts of using a group format, including typically developing adolescents, structured and collaborative activities, and incorporating motivational topics were combined to form a Motivational Extracurricular Activity during lunchtime at school.
3:30-4:00
Desensitizing Children with Autism to Auditory Stimuli
Daniel Openden, Ph.D.
Many children with autism display reactions to auditory stimuli that seem as if the stimuli were painful or otherwise extremely aversive. This presentation describes how the procedures of systematic desensitization can be used to treat hypersensitivity to auditory stimuli in three young children with autism. Stimuli included the sounds from a vacuum cleaner, blender, hand-mixer, toilet flushing, and specific animal sounds from musical toys. The data show that the children's responses could be modified to the point where they were comfortable with these noises. Furthermore, this level of comfort was maintained at follow-up.
4:00-5:00
Social Hour
Conference participants are welcome to stay and engage in dialogue with presenters and staff from the Koegel Autism Consultants. This is an opportunity to provide conference participants with personal interactions with interventionists and researchers who use PRT on a regular basis.
9:00-9:10
Welcome
Robert L. Koegel, Ph.D.
The program for the second and final day of the conference will be discussed, including details about PRT Certification.
9:10-9:30
Review of PRT
Daniel Openden, Ph.D.
A brief synopsis of PRT will be presented as a refresher. A video vignette illustrating the progression of development from first words to social interaction will also be provided.
9:30-9:55
Antecedent Stimuli for Disruptive and Avoidant Behavior in Pivotal Response Treatment for Young Nonverbal Children with Autism
Amanda Mossman Servesko, M.A.
This study examines the effects of several antecedent stimuli in language opportunities in pivotal response treatment in young nonverbal children with autism. Specifically, in Experiment 1, two conditions were identified: in order to provide a language opportunity, (1) the child’s action is interrupted or (2) the child’s action is not interrupted. In Experiment 2, an ABAB reversal design documents a technique in which the interruption of the child’s action is used as a reinforcer to change the antecedent stimuli of the interruption. The data indicate dramatic decreases in disruptive and avoidant behavior, and increases in responsivity and child affect under such conditions.
9:55-10:25
Decreasing Overselectivity in Young Children with Autism
Ariella Eichenbaum, M.A.
Literature on overselective responding to the components of complex stimuli suggests that children with autism may have difficulty acquiring speech because they may overselectively respond to only some of the components of complex speech sounds. The purpose of the present study was to systematically assess whether nonverbal children with autism who have had difficulty acquiring their first words and selectively respond to individual components within words can be directed to the missing relevant components when these components are presented alone. The results showed a decrease in overselective responding to components of target words and generalization across new words.
10:25-10:40
Break
10:40-11:40
Applying PRT to the Classroom
Daniel Openden, Ph.D. & Rosy Fredeen, Ph.D.
Strategies for facilitating the inclusion and participation of children with autism in the school system will be presented and discussed. In particular, participants will be provided with practical information about how to apply the motivational procedures of PRT throughout classroom activities, such as circle time and writing. In addition, the strategy of priming will be introduced and its procedures detailed. Finally, tools for data collection and home-school collaboration will be provided.
11:40-12:10
Training Paraprofessionals to Facilitate Social Interactions Between Children with Autism and Their Typically Developing Peers in Full Inclusion Educational Settings
Suzanne Babko, M.A.
The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of training paraprofessionals to facilitate social interactions between children with autism and their typical peers in full inclusion school settings. Specifically, paraprofessionals were taught to incorporate PRT and peer-mediation strategies (e.g., peer-delivered antecedents and consequences) within the natural routines of the classroom. The paraprofessionals were trained using modeling and in vivo feedback procedures. Results showed that (a) prior to training the paraprofessionals rarely prompted the children with autism to engage in social interactions, (b) following the training the paraprofessionals evoked social responses from the children with autism, and (c) social interactions between children with autism and their peers immediately increased and maintained at follow-up.
12:10-1:10
Catered Lunch
1:10-1:40
Increasing Motivation during Homework in School-Aged Children with Autism
Quy Tran, M.A.
The present study examined the effects of specifically applying PRT techniques to improve child motivation to complete homework assignments and facilitate homework performance among children with autism. The effects of applying PRT through a parent-education model with three school-aged children with autism was assessed and results indicate that using PRT improved child performance and attitude toward homework while decreasing disruptive behaviors and increasing child's affect and positive statements surrounding homework. These findings support the educating of parents in PRT and its specific application toward homework to improve the nature of interaction between parent and child, and the performance of children with autism on school assigned work.
1:40-2:35
Using Functional Assessment to Determine the Function of Disruptive Behavior and Identify Functionally-Equivalent Replacement Behaviors
Daniel Openden, Ph.D.
A frequently cited concern of parents and professionals is the presence of problem behavior (e.g., tantrumming, aggression). Problem behavior can lead to serious roadblocks in the treatment and inclusion of children with autism, particularly in the classroom. This presentation will detail the procedures of functional assessment and how this tool can help families and professionals understand problem behavior and develop support plans. Case examples for young children as well as school-aged children will be provided.
2:35-2:50
Break
2:50-3:20
Increasing Initiations towards Peers in Children with Autism Using PRT and Collateral Gains in Quality of Initiations
Rosy Fredeen, Ph.D.
Children with autism exhibit pervasive impairments in the ability to initiate, both in terms of quantity and quality. The purpose of this study was to empirically assess the effects of using PRT on the quantity and quality of initiations toward peers exhibited by children with autism. Specifically, the current study examined the following variables: (1) quantity of initiations toward peers; (2) collateral gains in quality of initiations toward peers; (3) quantity of initiations typically developing children make toward other typically developing peers; and (4) quality of initiations typically developing children make toward other typically developing peers. Data suggest improvements in both the quantity and quality of initiations toward peers.
3:20-3:45
Improving the Social-Conversation Skills of Children and Adolescents with Autism
Rosy Fredeen, Ph.D.
Despite making great gains in receptive and expressive language skills, many children and adolescents with autism continue to experience difficulty engaging in social conversations with others, especially if the topic of conversation is neutral and non-perseverative. Procedures for improving social-conversations skills will be presented in detail, including how to teach children to ask on-topic questions and make on-topic comments using self-management.
3:45-4:00
A Model for Increasing Social Interventions in Inclusive Community Settings: Statewide Dissemination and Replication
Daniel Openden, Ph.D.
The purpose of this project was to expand the use of effective social interventions in community settings using a cost-effective service delivery model for children with autism and related severe disabilities. First, this project recruited, trained, and supervised paraprofessionals to support children with autism in after-school extracurricular activities and at summer camps. Next, this project collaborated with universities, regional centers, state agencies, and families to provide training workshops that disseminated materials and intervention procedures so that the demonstration model could be replicated throughout the State of California.
4:00-5:00
Conclusion & Social Hour
Dr. Robert Koegel with provide a few concluding statements then invite conference participants to join staff from Koegel Autism Consultants a final opportunity for interactions with interventionists and researchers who use PRT on a regular basis.
