Effectiveness of the Pivotal Response Treatment on the Degree of Question-Asking of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Single-Subject Research

One of the prevalent problems in children with autism spectrum disorder is that they face problem related to social initiation and initiation in questions asking. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the Pivotal Response Treatment on the degree of question-asking of children with autism spectrum disorder.
The research population included all children with autism spectrum disorder who were referred to the Omid Bavar Institute for Counseling and Treatment of Autism in Tehran. Accordingly, three children below 6 years were selected as the sample using purposive sampling. The research method was a single subject with an A-B design. To conduct the research, after the position of baseline, intervention started and during 12 sessions, training "how to ask" was presented to the subjects using Pivotal Response Treatment . The dependent variable (improving Question-Asking) was measured attentively by two observers.
After visual analysis of the charts of data, the intervention in the three subjects was found to be effective. The percentage non-coverage data in the two situations of baseline and intervention was 83%, 100% and 67% respectively.
Regarding the significance of initiation in Question-Asking, it is suggested that this method should be applied in treatment centers for children with autism spectrum disorder.