Prompting

Happy family playing and baby learning to walk at home

Prompting is a strategic approach used to increase the likelihood that your child will give the targeted response. It is a measure or a type of help that allows them to respond correctly (Rivière, 2006). Prompts make it possible to develop targeted skills faster and more effectively by bridging the gap between their current skill level and the level you are hoping to reach.

Think of small children who are learning to walk: they sometimes learn to stand on their own, but usually need help to take their first steps. The help they receive allows them to gain self-confidence, experience success, and safely train to walk. When they are ready to be more independent, parents can gradually fade the prompt. Few children take their first steps on the first try, without any help.

This same principle can apply to learning in general. Whether it's learning to walk, run, talk, tie shoelaces, read, interact with others, drive a car, or have a job interview, we need prompts to develop new skills.

Selecting Prompts

When choosing the type of prompt to use, consider the skill to be taught, and ask yourself what would be appropriate and acceptable to your child. It is important to consider the following elements when choosing the appropriate type of prompt:

The type of response you want your child to produce (e.g., verbal prompting might help when teaching expressive identification);
Your child’s strengths and challenges (e.g., textual prompts need to be used with learners who can read);
The degree of intensity required to facilitate learning (the least intrusive possible).

This table compares commonly used prompts by providing a description of the prompt and some useful additional information. It should be noted that the prompts are listed from the most intrusive to the least intrusive.

Prompt	Description	Additional Information	Video
Physical	Physically guide the child’s movements throughout the response, especially to teach physical skills.	This type of prompt is often used with younger children and is more intrusive. It is important to warn your child before physically prompting them (e.g., “I'm going to touch your arm now”). Example of a physical prompt: Guide the child's movements to help them wash their hands.	Physical Guidance/Prompting
Gestural	Make movements with your hands, arms or even eyes that suggest the targeted behaviour to the child.	This type of prompt can allow your child to deduce what is expected of them. This may be pointing, tapping, or looking at the object that the child should choose or use. Be careful not to make any accidental gestural prompts (i.e., without realizing it). Example of a gestural prompt: Give the instruction “Sit next to Jennifer, please?” while pointing to Jennifer.	Gestural Prompting
Verbal	Say words or make sounds that help the child provide the targeted behaviour.	This may be words or utterances that are offered in addition to instructions. This type of prompt is often used to help the child provide a verbal response. It is less intrusive, but it is easier to create a dependency to verbal prompts and it is the most difficult to fade. Example of a verbal prompt: Ask the question "What's your name? "and immediately say "Isaac" to get the child to repeat the correct answer.	Verbal Prompts
Modeling	Demonstrate or present the targeted behaviour to the child.	Modeling can be effective in encouraging behaviour, especially in children who are good at imitation or have good attention skills. In order for modeling to be effective, the child must already be able to perform some of the skill sought. For example, if we want to model the skill “tying your shoes”, the child must be able to hold laces in their hands. This type of prompt can be used to teach many skills, including social interaction skills, fine or gross motor skills and daily living skills. Example of a modeling prompt: Demonstrate the steps to brushing your teeth to a child	Modeling
Visual	Offer images, pictures, photos, or drawings to the child to help them provide the targeted behaviour.	It may be visual schedules, a stopwatch or a timer, checklists, images illustrating the steps of a task or pictures as a clue for the targeted behaviour. Example of a visual prompt: Place a picture of a book on the corner of the table to remind your child to put their book in their backpack	Visual Prompts
Textual	Offer written clues such as checklists, scenarios or written instructions to the child to help them provide the targeted behaviour.	This type of prompt is particularly useful for children who have difficulties with receptive language (understanding what is said). It can be written directions to support verbal instructions, key words placed at the child’s sight or even examples of sentences or written passages that are available when the child needs them. In order for this strategy to be effective, the child must have reading skills and the text must be appropriate to their reading level. Example of a textual prompt: Offer the child some sample written sentences that they can use to start a conversation with others.	Textual Prompts

Click here for a printable summary of the different types of prompts.

Implementing prompts

Here are some principles to consider when implementing prompts with your child:

Fading Prompts

Here are two techniques that can be used to fade prompts:

1 - Most-to-Least Prompting

This strategy usually involves using a more intrusive prompt at a more intensive level (e.g., physical prompt) and then switching to a less intrusive prompt at a less intensive level (e.g., gestural prompt). For example, if you were teaching your child to eat with a spoon and your prompting consisted initially of putting your hand over theirs and completing the sequence of scooping up some food and bringing it to their mouth, then fading could consist of loosening your grip over their hand, then simply nudging their hand, touching their hand, pointing to the spoon and so on and so forth until your child is completing the sequence independently. Most-to-least prompting can be done with different sequences of prompts, as described in the previous example, or within a single prompting technique. For example, if you were teaching your child to write their name, you could use only visual prompting and have them trace over an already existing line, then, progressively fade the prompt by having them trace over a dotted line and so forth until your child can independently write their name without any prompts. In both examples, teaching started off with the highest level of prompting necessary to ensure the child’s success and then the prompt was slowly faded until the child can respond independently.

2 - Time Delay

You can also delay your prompt to gradually fade it. This means that the period of time between the instruction and the prompt is gradually increased. The delay must be short at the beginning and can be increased when your child responds correctly several times with that technique or until they respond independently.

For example, this strategy can be used to help your child answer the question “What’s your name?” During the first attempts, you follow the question “What is your name?” with the verbal prompt “Mark.” You immediately reinforce if your child responds correctly by repeating “Mark.” During the following attempts, you insert a delay of one second between the question “What is your name?” and the “Mark” prompt. If your child responds correctly when the delay is inserted, you gradually increase the time (usually by one second at a time) until they begin to respond before receiving the prompt.

Defect,childcare,medicine and people concept- happy mother and son with down syndrome playing in a garden.

Final Thoughts

When learning new skills, your child needs help to bridge the gap between their current skill level and the level you are trying to reach. Without prompting, your child may be placed in a situation of repeated failure and would not have the chance to acquire the skill you are attempting to teach them. Prompting and prompt fading can be difficult to implement. Reach out to the professionals involved in your child’s preschool or school intervention plan. They are most likely implementing these strategies within their own interventions and can offer you some coaching and support in continuing to do so at home.

References

Rivière, V. (2006). Analyse du comportement appliquée à l’enfant et à l’adolescent. France : Presses Universitaires du Septentrion.