Pivotal response treatment

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Pivotal response treatment (PRT), also referred to as pivotal response training, is a naturalistic form of applied behavior analysis used as an early intervention for children with autism that was pioneered by Robert Koegel and Lynn Kern Koegel. PRT advocates contend that behavior hinges on "pivotal" behavioral skills—motivation and the ability to respond to multiple cues—and that development of these skills will result in collateral behavioral improvements. In 2005, Richard Simpson of the University of Kansas identified pivotal response treatment as one of the four scientifically based treatments for autism.^[1]