Prompting

Response Prompts

• Prompts that directly impact the student’s response
• Arranged in a hierarchy from the most intrusive to the least intrusive
• Differentiated between Motor Response Prompts and Verbal Response Prompts

Motor Response Prompts

Verbal Response Prompts

Full Physical (Hand-over-hand)

Instructor physically moves the student’s limb(s) to perform the target response

Echoic

Instructor states the correct verbal response for the student to echo/repeat

Partial Physical

Instructor physically assists the student to initiate the response, but the student completes the target response independently

Modeling

Instructor demonstrates the target response for the student to imitate

Partial Echoic

Instructor provides part of the verbal response for the student to complete

Gestural

Instructor points to/taps/looks at the target item/limb to help the student initiate the target response

Visual

A visual (e.g. picture, checklist, written instruction) that shows or reminds the student what to do is provided

Textual

Instructor provides a written/visual representation of the verbal response for the student to read

Instructional Sequence

Stimulus Prompts

• Any change embedded in the stimulus itself that helps the learner make the desired response

Positional Prompts

Redundancy Cues

• The target stimulus is placed in a way that makes it more likely for the student to select it (e.g. closer to the student, near their dominant hand)

• One or more dimensions of the stimulus (such as shape, size, color) are exaggerated to indicate it is the correct stimulus

Most-to-Least Prompting

Least-to-Most Prompting

Time Delay

Definition

• The instructor provides whatever prompts necessary for the student to complete the skill successfully. Over time, the prompt type is gradually decreased (towards less intrusive prompts) until the student performs the skill independently (i.e. without prompts)

• The instructor provides a sequence of prompts that starts with the least intrusive prompt and gradually progresses to more intrusive prompts as the student does not respond correctly within a specified time

• A procedure used to fade prompts and promote independent responding by inserting a brief delay between the natural instruction/cue and the prompt
•  The time delay can either be constant or progressive

When to use it

• Teaching a new skill

• Determining a student’s current skills
• Generalizing a learned skill to a new context

• Promoting independent responding