Key Components of PRI

Koegel, Koegel, Harrower, and Carter (1999) focus on the following four specific areas which will be discussed in more detail below.

• Responding to multiple environmental cues
• Motivation
• Self-management
• Self-initiation

Responding to multiple environmental cues

Individuals with ASD are known for demonstrating stimulus overselectivity (Matthews, Shute, & Rees, 2001). That is, they tend to respond to restricted numbers of cues or stimuli, including unimportant, irrelevant cues. For example, Marco, age 8, learned the sequence of using the toilet, and then washing and drying his hands at home, but he could not do so in a public restroom because he did not understand that paper towels served the same purpose as the cloth towels he used at home. Thus, for Marco the first pivotal area for remediation is response to multiple cues (Koegel, Koegel, Harrower, & Carter, 1999). Students are taught to respond to multiple cues in the environment. Methods of teaching multiple cue responding are discussed in the section, Responding to Multiple Cues – How to Teach.

Motivation

The second key pivotal area of intervention is motivation (Koegel et al., 1999). This refers to observable, measurable responses that indicate child motivation, including frequency of responding, latency of responding (i.e., the amount of time between the cue and the individual’s response), and observable indications of affect (e.g., pleasure, excitement) (Koegel, Koegel, Harrower, & Carter, 1999). Child motivation is addressed in a number of ways, including incorporating choice (e.g., student chosen items, child-led instruction); reinforcing students with naturally occurring rewards (e.g., identifying the name of the child’s “lovie” results in access to it); teaching new, difficult tasks between easy, mastered ones; and shaping behavior by rewarding approximate responses (Koegel, Koegel, Harrower, & Carter, 1999). Possible activities for incorporating student motivation will be given in the section, Motivation – How to Incorporate It into Teaching.

Self-management

The third pivotal area of intervention suggested by Koegel, Koegel, Harrower, & Carter, (1999), involves teaching individuals with ASD to be aware of their inappropriate behaviors, to collect data on those behaviors, and to reinforce themselves or to request rewards from others. By doing so, students become less dependent on teachers, parents, and therapists to monitor their behaviors. Steps involved in teaching self-management, as well as examples, are provided in the section, Self-Management – Steps and Examples.

Self-initiation

The last pivotal behavior, self-initiation (Koegel, Koegel, Harrower et al., 1999), involves teaching children to spontaneously (i.e., without prompting) make initiations as a result of natural cues in the environment. This is frequently addressed by teaching the child to spontaneously ask questions to gain information. Section, Self-Initiations – What to Do, provides examples of self-initiation.