Abstract
The purpose of this study was to utilize pivotal response training (PRT) to promote social communication skills for a child with developmental delays. The targeted 5-year-old participant has been diagnosed as being severe developmental delays and placed in a public self-contained class.The participant’s language level was about 2 and 2 ½ years old. The single-subject withdrawal design has been utilized to investigate the effects of this PRT intervention. The independent variable was PRT, and dependent variable was social communication skills (eye gaze, polite expression, complete sentence expression, proper communication with others). The targeted participant received 60 minutes of interventions one day per week, and total were around 10 weeks of intervention. Data analysis included the visual analysis, interobserver agreement, and procedural fidelity. Further evidence of social validity has been included to understand the participant’s needs. The results showed that social communication skills, including eye gaze, polite expression, and complete sentence expression, have been increased in the intervention phase and maintained in the follow-up phase. However, the length of intervention phase might affect the effects of four targeted behaviors. Further evidence of efficacy of this intervention was found in the results of social validity.