ABA-Based Teaching Programs

DTT and VB
Discrete Trial Teaching and Verbal Behavior

What is DTT and VB?

DTT and VB are two types of individualized teaching approaches aimed at obtaining a child’s attention and then presenting an instruction of some type. The method used in these approaches is positive reinforcement. This involves identifying rewards and motivational items/activities for each child and then presenting these rewards in systematic ways upon desired responses. These structured approaches are aimed at teaching receptive/expressive language, language comprehension, social relations, toy/peer play, pre-academic concepts, self-help/adaptive abilities, and reducing/eliminating self-stimulatory and behavior problems.

How are DTT and VB different?

In DTT, skills are broken down into small, manageable tasks according to the child’s current level of ability. Initially, the child is provided with assistance early on in order to achieve success. Prompts are then gradually faded out and a ‘no-no-prompt’ sequence (prompting or cueing the correct response after two incorrect responses) begins.

VB is an errorless learning approach that involves prompting or cueing the correct response if the child does not respond correctly on the first try. This reciprocal teaching instruction also implements Natural Environmental Training (NET), where learning takes place around the environment versus at a table. Within NET, mand training or teaching the child to request desired items spontaneously is addressed as well.

Who would benefit from DTT and/or VB?

• a child with motor planning/sequencing difficulties
  
• a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder
• a child who is a visual learner or learns best through repetition
• a child who does not yet possess the foundational skills for learning (i.e., imitational skills, etc.)
  
  

PRT
Pivotal Response Teaching

What is PRT?

PRT (Koegel & Schreibman) is a comprehensive program that uses a developmental approach as well as ABA procedures. PRT aims to provide opportunities within the context of the child’s natural environment. Pivotal areas (core areas of deficits) that when targeted lead to large changes in other, often untargeted areas of functioning. Some of the core areas addressed includes:

• Motivation
  
• Joint attention
  
• Response to multiple cues (e.g., big red car vs. little blue car)
  
• Self-management
  
• Self-initiations
  
• Empathy

Research with this intervention program suggests that when these core deficits (pivotal areas) are treated, large intervention gains are observed in:

• Motivation to engage in social-communicative interactions
• Social initiations (initiated by the child), especially those of shared enjoyment and joint attention
• Self-regulation of behavior

These pivotal areas of development are addressed through four aspects of the program. They are 1) family involvement in the design and delivery of the intervention, 2) treatment in the natural environment, 3) treatment of key pivotal target behaviors as primary goals and 4) the implementation of intervention in both home and school contexts.

Who would benefit from PRT?

• a child with language and communication deficits
• a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder
• a child who has limited play skills
• a child who has limited social skills