Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge

Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge (PEAK) is designed for participants who have difficulty bridging the gap between language and cognitive skills that have been taught to them in unfamiliar situations.
Often, individuals diagnosed with autism cannot apply the skills learned from one person to interactions with others, nor can they transfer these skills across stimuli, context or, different settings. For instance, a child might learn their phone number and recite it when prompted by their ABA therapist, but fail to do so when asked by a community member, parent or emergency situation.
Additionally, this program caters to individuals who, despite achieving their personal goals, find it challenging to create and maintain lasting changes across measurement tools such as the Vineland-3, SRS-2, or PDD-BI.
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Common Questions

What is the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge (PEAK)?

The Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge (PEAK) Relational Training System is designed to assess and foster the development of language skills within a contemporary behavioral analysis framework. This comprehensive ABA Therapy system combines traditional verbal behavior techniques with modern methods that promote the development of relational frames, facilitating diverse responses. This approach helps individuals acquire abstract language proficiency by understanding the intricate relationships between stimuli. Before addressing areas of need, the PEAK-PCA assessment must be conducted first.

What is the PEAK-PCA?

Developed by Dr. Mark Dixon, this is a standardized evaluation of language and cognition within the ABA framework. The assessment comprises 344 items divided across five subtests: Direct Training, Generalization, Equivalence, Transformation Receptive, and Transformation Expressive. Each section is administered directly to the participant by a trained BCBA and evaluates expressive, receptive, and motor performances, with items evenly distributed among the various PCA subtests.
The main goal of the PCA is to gauge an individual’s foundational developmental aptitude and their potential for learning. The assessment provides administrators with a consistent tool for producing scores that indicate the presence or absence of specific skills. Predominantly, the PCA assesses both expressive and receptive language abilities, spanning from elementary pre-verbal expressions and motor actions to sophisticated cognitive skills such as abstract reasoning and deduction. It serves as a measure of an individual’s comprehensive capabilities.

How do you determine what PEAK program to teach?

For participants facing severe behavioral challenges, we initially adopt the PFA-SBT approach (please refer to our page on PFA-SBT). Once we progress to CAB 3, we can choose to either conduct the PEAK assessment (if it hasn’t been completed previously) or incorporate the programs identified through the PEAK-PCA into one or more branches of their SBT program. On the other hand, for participants without significant behavioral issues, components of the PEAK program can be integrated, either partially or wholly, into their ABA sessions.

After successfully completing the PEAK-PCA assessment, the BCBA will select programs from all four domains to devise a comprehensive program. This program is designed to promote language and cognitive development and bridge the gap between instructed and untaught stimuli through relational-frame training. This approach ensures participants not only grasp the directly taught material but also develop the ability to learn and connect their existing skills.

Additionally, this learning system is employed to foster social skills and emotional regulation.

How is PEAK offered?

  • Directly to participants in 1:1 sessions
  • Directly by parent/caregiver as part of a home SBT program
  • CEU course for professionals

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