Pivotal Response Treatment is one of the best behavioral treatment for autism. PRT targets the pivotal areas of the development of a child. The example of the pivotal areas includes motivation, self-management, response to multiple cues, and initiation of social interactions. The philosophy of PRT is for it to produce improvements in communication, sociability, behavior and academic skill development by targeting the critical areas.
Motivation is an important part of PRT. For example, if the child asks for a stuffed toy, the reward is also a stuffed toy, not a candy or other reward which is not related to what is asked. PRT is not only done among children, but it could also help the adolescents and young adults. Autism-affected people of all ages could benefit in the procedures of the PRT.
According to Psych Central, the researchers at the Brain and Mind Centre were documenting the good effects of oxytocin in humans, which revealed the effects such as enhancement of eye gaze, emotion recognition and memory across a range of the population.
An autism expert of Brain and Mind Centre, Doctor Adam Gaustella found out that the social responsiveness of the children with autism in the therapy rooms of Brain and Mind Centre had an improvement following the oxytocin treatment. This is the first time of medical care for autism to show these types of success.
The co-author of this study, Doctor Ian Hickie emphasized that these new findings are a critical step in the development of the medical treatment for the social disabilities that characterize the children with autism. He also said that the potential to use this treatment for the enhancement of the long-term benefits of the therapies is exciting.
According to Autism Speaks, the researchers are looking forward to developing the oxytocin-based intervention for the children with autism. Their next step is to know how oxytocin changes the brain circuitry which results in the improvement in social behavior and to document the other relatable treatments of oxytocin to boost the social learning intervention.
