📙 We previously discussed the background of the PRT approach in autism treatment and the first pivotal skill—motivation—which is crucial for engaging children in therapy.
For those who want a refresher, you can read here: https://shorturl.at/HPRPp .
💥 The second pivotal skill in the PRT approach focuses on initiations. 💥
📙 Communication occurs at different levels. A relatively basic level involves producing communication to request desired items, such as: "Mom, give me the green truck."
Initiations such as asking questions and sharing are considered higher in the communication hierarchy, as their purpose is to express interest, curiosity, and share experiences with others.
❓ In asking questions, we teach children to initiate and use all Wh-questions (e.g., "What is this?", "Where?", "What happened?", "Whose is this?", and more).
For example, teaching a child to ask "What is this❓" involves a dual process—the very act of asking the question fosters interest and initiative, while the response they receive helps expand their vocabulary and word knowledge.
Similarly, asking "Where❓" teaches children both how to initiate a question and the meaning of prepositions such as under, above, inside, outside.
An example of a declarative statement for sharing is: "Dad, look❗️an airplane✈️."
Here, the child is engaging the parent or peer, sharing an exciting moment.
At more advanced stages, sharing can involve describing past experiences, adding emotional depth and strengthening the parent-child connection.
📙 Beyond its emotional significance, initiations have both social and educational benefits:
✅ Socially, they open the door to reciprocal interactions with parents, therapists, or peers.
✅ Educationally, as children participate in these interactions, they expand their vocabulary, develop their language skills, and learn essential social communication behaviors.
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