Essential Reading
Read this below learning conversation between a BCBA called Susan and an RBT called Dinah.
Dinah: Hi Susan! I have a question about prompting. I know it’s an important technique in ABA. Can you explain to me the purpose of prompting?
Susan: Of course, Dinah! Prompting is a strategy we use to help individuals learn and perform specific behaviors. It provides additional cues or assistance to guide them towards the correct response. The purpose is to increase the likelihood of the desired behavior occurring.
Dinah: That makes sense, Susan. So, I’ve heard of response prompts and stimulus prompts. Can you explain the difference between them?
Susan: Absolutely, Dinah! A response prompt is an additional stimulus that evokes a desired behavior and takes the form of another person’s behavior. It involves someone actively doing or saying something to elicit the correct response. On the other hand, a stimulus prompt involves making changes to the physical properties of an existing stimulus or adding something to the learning environment to make the correct response more likely.
Dinah: I see, Susan. Response prompts act on the learner’s response, while stimulus prompts act on the antecedent stimuli to make the correct response easier to identify or perform. I’ve also heard of other types of prompts – verbal prompts, gestural prompts, visual prompts, modeling prompts, and physical prompts. What do these look like in real life?
Susan: Of course, Dinah! Let’s say we’re teaching a child to tie their shoelaces. A verbal prompt could be saying, “Cross the laces.” A gestural prompt could be pointing to the laces. A visual prompt could be providing a picture guide. A model prompt could involve demonstrating the steps of tying shoelaces. And a physical prompt could be physically guiding the child’s hands to perform the task.
Dinah: Thanks for the examples, Susan. That helps me understand the different types of prompts. Are there any categories of prompts we should be aware of?
Susan: Yes, Dinah. Prompts can be categorized based on their intrusiveness. We have least-to-most prompts and most-to-least prompts. Least-to-most prompts start with the least intrusive prompt and gradually increase in intrusiveness until the individual responds. Most-to-least prompts start with a more intrusive prompt initially and then fade to less intrusive prompts as the individual becomes more independent. Sometimes, a teaching procedure might specify a current target prompt level. For example, it might tell you to use a full physical prompt. That would mean you’d use full physical prompts for all of the learning opportunities for that program until the learner met the criteria to fade the prompt. Then you might move on to a partial physical prompt until you met the criteria to fade it to removing the prompt entirely.
Dinah: So it’s like using most to least prompting, just across sessions rather than within them?
Susan: Exactly.
Dinah: I understand now, Susan. It’s important to find the right balance between providing enough support to help the learner succeed and gradually reducing that support to promote independence.
Susan: Absolutely! Using the appropriate prompt type is essential to effectively support learning and skill development.
Optional Video
In this video from the South Asian Autism Awareness Centre, you will see models of different types of prompts. This video will help you understand what different prompting tactics look like in practice.
For more information on how to use different types of prompts, visit the VCU Autism Centre for Excellence. There you can select “Prompting” from the “How to” menu to see 5-minute videos on model prompts, verbal prompts, visual prompts, physical prompts and gestural prompts.
Conversation Exercise
In the bottom right-hand corner of your screen, you’ll see a conversation icon. Click on this to begin the conversation exercise with FRED our AI-powered chatbot. Alternatively, click this link to open the chat interface directly.
If you have not already, read this article to learn how to get the most from your learning conversation with FRED.
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