The purpose of this five year NIMH grant (PI Robert Koegel, collaborative with Laura Schreibman, Aubyn Stahmer, and Lynn Koegel) is to further investigate the Pivotal Response model of intervention for autism and the use of motivational procedures in improving the communication abilities of young, nonverbal children with autism. Though Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) has traditionally targeted language directly through verbal instruction, the philosophy underlying this approach does not exclude the possibility of using visual aids to achieve these same goals. In order to further investigate the issue, this grant will compare two conditions: a verbal condition and an augmentative condition. Both approaches are consistent with the underlying Pivotal Response philosophy in that they can both make use of natural opportunities for communication and employ the key variables of motivation, child self-initiations, contingent and natural reinforcement of responding.

Overall, this study will compare two interventions designed to improve communicative skills of children with autism in order to investigate and  understand whether these two interventions produce differing development of verbal and nonverbal communication and changes in the symptoms and condition of autism.

Click here for more information on the current NIMH Project (PDF format)