How did the SCERTS Model evolve? Was it developed only in recent years?
The SCERTS Model is derived from an integration of more than 2 decades of empirical and clinical work and is consistent with recommended tenets of evidence-based practice espoused by researchers and clinical scholars focusing on autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and related disabilities (National Research Council, 2001; Prizant & Rubin, 1999). It was developed in response to encouragement and feedback from researchers and clinicians in the field of ASD, as well as from parents who were familiar with our work and desired an alternative to educational approaches currently available. More specifically, the developmental, social-pragmatic focus of the model has been the hallmark of our work for many years (Prizant, 1982; Prizant, Schuler, Wetherby, & Rydell, 1997; Prizant & Wetherby, 1985, 1987; Wetherby, Prizant & Schuler, 1997; Wetherby & Prutting, 1984) and has been influenced by other developmentally based communication intervention models outside of the field of ASD intervention (Bricke
