Examining Fidelity of Pivotal Response Treatment Implementation in Early Childhood Settings

Higher fidelity in the implementation of interventions has been associated with better outcomes for children with autism. Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) is an evidence-based naturalistic intervention designed to promote improvements in communication and social engagement of children with autism. We investigated the longitudinal maintenance of PRT implementation fidelity among 24 educators in early childhood settings. Our results demonstrated that fidelity started to significantly decrease six months following the initial training. Importantly, educators’ personal characteristics were not associated with the fidelity scores. However, we identified a significant correlation between the number of sessions required to initially reach fidelity and participants’ long-term fidelity outcomes. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.