The number of children diagnosed with Autism has increased geometrically in the last few decades with huge impacts on the public school system. While the demand for specialized and effective programs in the schools is increasing, the lack of training of school personnel has become a national issue. Most teachers and paraprofessionals report that they have inadequate training and often rely on ineffective procedures to deal with these children. Consequently, students with autism are not receiving optimal, or sometimes even minimal support in the schools, resulting in detrimental outcomes. This presentation will discuss Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT), an effective and evidence-based treatment package for addressing the comprehensive needs of students with autism. Our school training program will be described, and our methods for assuring that the treatment is implemented with Fidelity of Implementation will be presented. Video clips of children will be shown and key pivotal areas, such as motivation, socialization, and decreasing disruptive behavior will be described.
