Nesrhtens…..

Neftdt, Koegel, Singer & Gerber has in this issue of Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions published results on applying a Self-Directed Learning Program to learn parents of children with autism to provide their children with Pivotal Response Training.

27 primary caretakers of children with autism participated in this study, and it indicates that the parents who went through this learning program, utilizing an interactive DVD, learned specific procedures of the PRT, and where more confident during parent-child interactions. This study also showed that after their primary caretakers had finished the learning program the children with autism showed a significant increase in use of functional verbal utterances.

As the authors points out, the research on self-directed programs is really important to provide services to more children with autism in a cost-effective manner. And may be specially useful in areas with sparse settlement. So far as I can see the material has not yet been published in a manner that makes it available to the general public, but I really hope it will be soon supporting more families in teaching and caring for their children with autism.