Presently there is no consensus on the specific behavioral treatment of choice for targeting language in young nonverbal children with autism. This randomized clinical trial compared the effectiveness of a verbally-based intervention, Pivotal Response Training (PRT) to a pictorially-based behavioral intervention, the Picture Exchange Communication…

This study illustrates the types of information microgenetic methods can yield. Ninety-seven 5-year olds who had not mastered number conservation were given training in conservation or in reasoning about conservation. Results elucidate how changes in thinking occur and demonstrate children's efforts to understand other people's reasoning. (SLD)