Principal Component Analysis of the PEAK Relational Training System

Promoting the emergence of advanced knowledge: A review of peak relational training system: Direct training module by Mark R. Dixon

“…Rowsey, Belisle, and Dixon () conducted a principal component analysis after administering the PEAK‐DTM to 98 children who had autism and other developmental disabilities. The results indicated that the PEAK‐DTM represents four factors related to language and learning abilities: foundational learning skills; perceptual learning skills; verbal comprehensive skills; and verbal reasoning, memory, and mathematical skills.…”

“…The interobserver reliability of the PEAK‐DTM has ranged from 85% to 90% when scores between practitioners and a highly skilled behavior analyst (Dixon, Carman, et al, ) and between two trained implementers (Dixon, Whiting, Rowsey, & Belisle, ; Rowsey et al, ) are compared. In studies of convergent validity, Dixon, Carman, et al () and Dixon et al () showed that the PEAK‐DTM correlated significantly with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Dunn & Dunn, ), the Illinois Early Learning Standards Test (Illinois State Board of Education, ), and the VB‐MAPP (Sundberg, ).…”

Student outcomes after 1 year of front line staff implementation of the PEAK curriculum

“…The Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Direct Training Module (PEAK‐DT; Dixon, ) is a protocol that contains both an assessment and corresponding curriculum and is one of only two protocols that have generated a body empirical support for both the reliability and validity of the assessment, as well as the effectiveness of the training curriculum. The PEAK‐DT assessment (PDA) is composed of 184 skills, ranging from prerequisite learning skills (e.g., eye contact and simple requests) to more complex language skills (e.g., simple mathematics and audience control; Rowsey, Belisle, & Dixon, ). The skills assessed are suitable up to the language skills expected of a typically developing 8‐year‐old (Dixon, Belisle, Whiting, & Rowsey, ), and participant scores on the PDA have been correlated with IQ (Dixon, Whiting, Rowsey, & Belisle, ), picture vocabulary (Dixon, Carman, et al, ), and scores on the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (Sundberg, ; Dixon, Belisle, Stanley, et al, ).…”

“…The PEAK‐DT curriculum contains 184 training programs, each corresponding directly to the items on the PDA, prescribing methods for teaching absent skills. The PEAK‐DT protocol teaches sequentially more advanced skills as the skills on the PDA sequentially increase in complexity (Rowsey et al, ). PEAK‐DT instruction is conducted in a discrete trial training format, whereby the implementer delivers an instruction or discriminative stimulus, the participant responds to the instruction, and the implementer reinforces correct responding or prompts the correct response (Dixon, Whiting, & Daar, ).…”

Utilizing PEAK Relational Training System to Teach Visual, Gustatory, and Auditory Relations to Adults with Developmental Disabilities

“…Results showed that the higher the PEAK assessment score, the higher the IQ of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Research and data has also suggested that PEAK may be especially useful as an assessment and curriculum guide for individuals with autism (Dixon, Belisle, Whiting, & Rowsey, 2014;McKeel, Dixon, Daar, Rowsey, & Szekely, 2015;Rowsey, Belisle, & Dixon, 2015). Current studies are beginning to address the validity of PEAK-E.…”