Prompting is a way of assisting a child to perform a specific response after a given instruction. The instructor/teacher provides a cue to elicit a specific behaviour from a child/student.

There are 5 types of prompts.

• Verbal Prompt: Providing verbal instruction or cue (emphasizing the correct response from a choice).
  A full verbal prompt may be providing the whole word or phrase, and a partial verbal prompt would be the first sound or syllable.
• Physical prompt: Involves touching the child. Full physical prompt may be assisting the child through the whole response, partial physical prompt may be just touching their hand/shoulder to start the response.
  Before physically assisting the child to perform a task, ensure they are comfortable with being touched in that manner (hand over hand, touching shoulders)
• Modeling: The adult or another child acts out the response, hoping that the individual will imitate.
• Gestural prompt: Includes pointing to, looking at, moving, or touching an item or area to indicate a correct response.
• Positional prompting: Involves arranging materials so that the correct item is in a position obvious to the child.

Prompting Tips

• These prompts are listed from most to least intrusive (verbal/physical = most, positional = least)
• When introducing a new skill you should start with the least instrusive level of prompting needed to help the child be successful with the task.
• If prompting is required for a learned skill, you should start with the least amount of prompting necessary
• Some children become dependent on prompts and wait for the adult to assist them before they make any type of response.
• To avoid this, prompting should be faded as soon as soon as the child begins to demonstrate mastery.
• All individuals supporting the child should be aware of their prompting levels, to avoid confusion.
• Prompting should gradually fade until the child is performing the specific action/response on their own.

Source:
Geneva Centre for Autism
112 Merton Street, Toronto, Ontario, M4S 2Z8
Tel: (416) 322-7877 – Toll Free: 1-866-Geneva-9 – Fax: (416) 322-5894
www.autism.net