Prompting
Prompting (including Time Delay) is a broad term that includes anything that aids an individual to correctly complete a task or comply with an instruction or rule. There are many different prompting strategies that include visual prompts, verbal prompts, gestural prompts, modeling prompts, partial physical prompts, full physical prompts, textual prompts, etc. Common prompting procedures include:
- Least-to-most prompting is when the therapist/caregiver/teacher starts with the least intrusive prompt (e.g., visual prompt) and moves up the prompting hierarchy until compliance is achieved.
- Most-to-least prompting, sometimes referred to as errorless prompting, is when the therapist/caregiver/teacher starts with a controlling prompt (i.e., prompt that when used will produce a correct response) and moves down the prompting hierarchy as compliance is consistently achieved.
- Time Delay prompting is a specific type of errorless prompting where the therapist typically starts by setting up the establishing operation (i.e., restricting access to the functional reinforcer) and delivering a prompt to emit the communicative response (e.g., “Toy please”) following a specified delay. Typically, the therapist sets the initial time delay at 0 seconds and then increases the delay based on the individuals’ performance.
Find examples from literature here.
Intervention type
Prompting is a specific antecedent intervention that can either be used as a standalone treatment but is more likely to be included as a component in a larger treatment package.
Behavioral mechanism(s)
Discriminative control, sometimes referred to as instructional control when it comes to prompting, is the likely mechanism for behavior change. Prompting is often used when teaching new skills, but is also used when stating contingencies, or to help an individual to stay or get back on task in demand situations. Discriminative control occurs when a specific discriminative stimulus (in this case the prompt) is paired with specific consequences.
Severity and behavioral function considerations
Prompts can be used across a variety of functions; however, they are most commonly used as part of a treatment package to address escape-maintained behavior. More specifically least-to-most prompting (e.g., 3-step) is often used to implement escape extinction. When prompting is used to implement extinction, it can sometimes be difficult to follow through with the physical prompt if the individual is either large or engages in more severe forms of challenging behavior. In situations in which it might not be safe to provide physical guidance, modified prompting procedures can be used that don’t require physical guidance such as a nag prompt or only using verbal and model prompts.
Caregiver, context and practical considerations
