Prompting Tips
There are 4 main types of prompts. These prompts are listed from most intrusive (physical) to least intrusive (gestural).
Physical Prompt (full to partial): involves touching the student, such as hand-over-hand to touching their hand or shoulder to start the response. Before physically assisting a student to perform a task, ensure they are comfortable with being touched.
Works when the amount of help given matches the amount of help needed – less is often better. E.g.; tapping shoulder to remind to raise hand, only holding coat open to put arm in sleeve
Verbal Prompt (direct to indirect): means providing verbal instruction or cues, such as giving the first sound or syllable to whole word or full phrases. An indirect verbal prompt are phrases such as: What’s next? Now what? (signaling there is another step or more to do, but not saying what it is).
Be specific and clear – often short phrases are sufficient
Limit prompts in this area, as they are very difficult to fade!
Visual Prompt (objects, photos, pictorial): the object or images act as a cue for the student to know what to do (i.e.: visual schedule, step by step visuals for routines such as washing hands, setting up a science experiment, following a recipe)
Teach student to use visuals – this will mean that once they are familiar with the routines you can point / gesture to them in silence!
Modeling / Gestural Prompt (pointing, positional): includes demonstrating the response hoping the student will imitate; arranging materials so that the correct response is in a position obvious to the student; and pointing at, looking at, or touching an item or area to indicate a correct response.
Ensure student is looking at you when using these prompts and that the physical actions are clearly understood
Start with the least amount of prompting necessary. This will vary from student to student, and whether or not a student is learning a new skill or they are already familiar with a routine.
Giving verbal prompts is intrusive and can make a student rely on you, so teach yourself to support students by saying as little as possible. This approach is considered being supportive in guiding a student to become more independent.
Some students become dependent on prompts and wait for the educator to assist them before they make any type of response. This is a learned response. To avoid this, use time delay or a wait strategy and fade as soon as the student begins to show acquisition of the skill or routine you have been instructing.
Time Delay: pausing to give enough time for the student to figure out what to do and respond before any assistance is given. This amount of time varies from student to student, and for different types of tasks.
Fading: is a process of gradually reducing the need, strength or level of the prompt. The time to do this is when the student has acquired the skill and is moving towards using it easily and in most of the situations when they need to use the skill. Pay attention to what prompts you are giving and how well the student is learning. Adjust to being less intrusive over time – you should not need to give the same amount or type of prompting when you first start to support a student and week/months later when they have actually learned to do what you have been instructing. Pay attention to your actions – as you can change what you say or do, and be intentional with supporting a student to become more independent.