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What do you do when a learner you're working with errors? In this blog, I'm going to talk about how to perform an error correction procedure. I got into this field because I loved working with kids and I wanted to teach them more skills. I loved seeing the progression, but when students errored, I would freeze up. When things were going properly, it was great. It was easy. But freezing up and erroring was a real thing. I would say touch red, and a student would touch blue so I would say "No, this one's red. This one, this one right here. It's red, it's red, this one." I seriously looked like a deer in headlights.

It wasn't until about a month in that my supervisor watched this and said, "Shayna, like let me just walk you through this error correction procedure." She wrote this simple thing down on paper and I had this "aha" moment. So now I want to show you what that error correction procedure looks like.

What is an Error?

First of all, we should talk about what a child or adult error looks like. An error is when a student makes a mistake or just does not respond at all. So if you give the instruction and you say, touch red, and you wait, and the student doesn't respond, that's an error. If they don't respond within about two to three seconds, I would mark that as an incorrect response.

Another type of error is when they scroll. Scrolling happens when you ask a question and a student goes through all of the possible answers because they want to get the reinforcement. Going back to the color example, if I point to red and say "what color is it?" but the student says "yellow, blue, red," that would be a scroll.

A student can also just make a mistake. So if I say touch red, and they touch blue, or what color is it, and they say yellow instead of red, that's an error. So that's really what an error looks like.

Errors come in various forms. If you're doing any type of life skill tasks, like teaching the student to wash their hands, and the task is drying their hands with a towel. If they walk over to the toilet paper instead of the paper towels, that's an error, right. But what you do when students error is a specific error correction procedure. This is a little bit different than a prompt. Usually with an error, it happens after the behavior. So the behavior occurs, then the student errors, and then you have to correct them. If you prompt ahead of time, that would be a prompt.

How to Perform an Error Correct Procedure

You'll start with collecting data on your first trial. If you give the SD for touch red and the student touches blue, then you would mark that as incorrect. That would be an incorrect trial and you don't give any reinforcement. Then you would do a transfer trial . I typically take all the cards off the table and then I put the cards back on the table. Then I would say, again, touch red. But right away, I'm going to predict that error. I'm going to prompt because I have a feeling the student might touch blue again. So if I say touch red, I'm right in there with my prompt. Prompts can look different for different things. But really, it's about the least intrusive but most effective. You really don't want to be doing a lot of physical prompting with the students you're working with. It could be a simple gesture, modeling, matching, or something else that works.

After the student responds to my prompt, I'll give some differential reinforcement. Differential reinforcement means a little tiny bit of something for an okay response or a huge party for an independent response. So if I say, touch red, and I know the student is going to touch blue, I'm going to be right on that red. As soon as they touch red, I'm gonna go "Wow, great job! That's red." That's my critical reinforcement, my praise.

When to Use Error Correction ABA

I might do transfer trials up to three times. The second time around, I'm going to say touch red and I've got my finger ready. But I've got a faded prompt. I'm about ready to touch that red, I see that student go in and right away, I need to get in there quickly before the student can error. I will touch the red if the student is not going for the red. Then I would say that one's the red one. Let's try that one more time, touch red. Again, my fingers like shaking and getting ready for that red. If they touch red independently without my prompt, then that would be when I would give more reinforcement.

I typically do a transfer trial up to three times if the student is still erroring. Three strikes, you're out. Making errors is frustrating - even for us. I don't want to continue to make errors. If they get it correct without a prompt, on the second try, move on. If they need up to three tries, and they're still getting it wrong, then move on.

During your transfer trials up to three times you're not collecting data. It's really just teaching. Then what you would do is squeeze in an expanded trial. Aan expanded trial is like a high probability response. Something that's mastered, something the student's going to get correct. After a frustrating task, here's an easy one - like "do this" and you clap your hands.

Conclusion on Error Correction Procedures

Then you can go back to a new trial and collect the data again. Present your SD, touch red, and the student responds. If they respond correctly, that's when that reinforcement happens. Or maybe you have to go back into that transfer trial sequence.

I use a really great visual that I still sometimes refer to that you can download below. As soon as I show this visual to a therapist I work with I see that aha moment with them and it's really awesome. In summary, we talked today about what an error is and how to perform an error correction procedure. So download the transfer trial freebie and refer back to this video blog whenever you need that aha moment in your practice.

Click here to download the visual

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How to Perform an Error Correction Procedure - How to ABA

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What do you do when a learner you're working with errors? In this blog, I'm going to talk about how to perform an error correction procedure.

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Common ABA Approaches  from Maximum Potential

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Chaining Hand Washing - Autism Therapy Video

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ABA Prompting and Prompt Fading Newsletter 2

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Promoting Interactions Among Students 2021

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© 2023 UCLA Jane & Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior

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Thinkport.org | Leaders in Educational Products

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We offer a collection of pre-formatted graphic organizers that you can integrate into activities and lesson plans or use by themselves.

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Helping Student Generalize Strats in Class

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Graphic Organizers & Choice Boards

This collection of ready-to-use graphic organizers will help children classify ideas and communicate more effectively. All of our printable graphic organizers are designed to facilitate understanding of key concepts by allowing students to visually identify key points and ideas. By using graphic organizers across all subject areas, you will be empowering your students to master subject-matter faster and more efficiently. We have graphic organizers for reading, science, writing, math, and for general classroom use. You'll also find blank printable templates like graph paper, dot arrays, and other useful tools.

Popular Graphic Organizer Collections

Self-assessment Graphic Organizers

Growth Mindset Graphic Organizers

Graphic Organizers (PreK-2)

Help students, grades pre-K-2, with their reading comprehension, main idea organization, and more using our graphic organizers.

Graphic Organizers (Grades 3-5)

Help your grade 3-5 students with their organization by using our graphic organizers and reading webs.

Graphic Organizers (Grades 9-12)

These graphic organizers for grades 9-12 will aid students in reading comprehension, writing abilities, and sequencing.

Writing Graphic Organizers

Help students organize their writing with these sequence charts, reading organizers, outlines, webs, and more!

Research Graphic Organizers

Support students to practice and develop essential research skills.

Science Graphic Organizers

Use our venn diagrams, graphic organizer worksheets, and instructions to help your students organize their scientific thought.

Timelines and Sequence Charts

Sequence stories and picture orders with these timeline and sequence charts.

Reading Comprehension

Enhance your student's reading comprehension with these webs, main idea charts, plot summaries and more with our reading comprehension graphic organizers!

Concept Maps and Idea Webs

These concept maps and idea webs will help students organize their thoughts, whether they are history, science, or language arts related.

Math Graphic Organizers

Help your students enhance their math skills and stay on track with these homework checklists, KWL charts, column charts and more.

Galleries

These galleries provide you the best graphic organizers for every occasion. Whether it be writing, science, literature, or animal related, we have a slideshow for it all!

Customizable Graphic Organizers

Use our customizable graphic organizers to tailor each one to the specific lesson of the day.

KWL Charts

Help students organize what they know, what they want to know, and what they have learned with these KWL charts relating to all subjects.

Venn Diagrams

Venn Diagrams are a great way for students to compare and contrast two (or three) concepts. Use our venn diagrams to accompany your lesson for any subject.

Cause and Effect

Each effect has a cause. Help students identify the two in their readings, writing, and more with our cause and effect printable worksheets.

Main Idea and Supporting Details

It is important for students to distinguish main ideas and supporting details in order to comprehend their readings. We have provided printable graphic organizers, such as a stair step organizer, to help students organize the main idea from the supporting details.

Choice Boards

Choice Boards are similar to graphic organizers because they can be downloaded, printed, and given to students. What sets Choice Boards apart is that they provide students with the opportunity for choice. Rather than a graphic organizer that has one assignment, a choice board provides multiple ways that students can explore a topic or skill and demonstrate their learning. Choice boards also help you differentiate your instruction, as you can support students to make a choice that best aligns with their learning needs and learning preferences. Access our library of choice boards below.

Holiday Choice Boards

Math Choice Boards

English Language Arts Choice Boards

Social Studies Choice Boards

Science Choice Boards

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Graphic organizers for teachers grades K-12.

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Video Tutorial of Behavior Contingency Maps

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Reinforcement System Tutorial for Children with Autism

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Does this sound familiar? You are trying to get your child out the door to school or for an appointment and they can't seem to accomplish the smallest tasks. They are easily distracted and moving as slow as molasses. You give reminder after reminder, but they seem to go in one ear and out the other. It's the same scene every morning. You are becoming more and more agitated until finally, you explode. You feel guilty as your child leaves for school once again feeling deflated.

Your child can't move from one activity to another or one location to another without having a meltdown. You try to remember to give them a "five minute warning", but sometimes there just isn't time. Sometimes, even with the warning, they still don't seem to be able to make the transition.

You find yourself once again dealing with a meltdown.

The teacher calls again. Your child came out of the bathroom at school with their pants down around their ankles. Again. At home, they always forget to flush the toilet or leave the water running after they wash their hands...when they remember to wash their hands at all. You know that your child is doing their best.

You wish you could help them gain more independence.

Why use visual schedules?

Visual schedules carry many benefits, particularly for children who have special needs. Visual schedules:

break down tasks into easy-to-complete steps

simplify

provide structure

create predictability

teach independence

improve focus and attention

help with time management

instill consistency

form healthy habits

reduce cognitive load

maintain daily routines

establish a schedule that works

ease transitions

prevent meltdowns

promote positive choices

decrease problem behaviours

provide helpful reminders

Visual schedules are especially beneficial for children on the autism spectrum, children with FASD, ADHD, sensory issues or SPD, RAD, or other special needs. They can be an invaluable tool. Many parents report that they have been a "game changer" in their household.

I created the Printable Visual Schedule for Special Needs because I couldn't find a visual schedule that included what I was looking for to use with my own kids. I wanted something that parents could use with visual and written prompts that kids could easily understand. It is in both colour and black and white. The black and white cards are great for having kids colour themselves. This gives them another reenforcement and reminder.

How to use visual schedules:

The best way to use visual schedules to benefit your child depends on your child and on what you are hoping to accomplish.

If your child is experiencing a lot of meltdowns during transition times, you will want to start with cards that help them predict upcoming changes throughout their day to help them predict what's coming next.

If your child is struggling to get out the door in the morning, you'll want to start with cementing a morning routine that works for them.

Or if your child is struggling most with breaking things down into smaller tasks, that will be where you want to start.

Create a morning routine chart.

You can do this in many ways. Choose which of the methods below you feel would work best for your child. You can always try multiple methods to find the best fit.

1. Place velcro dots on a poster board and hang the poster in their bedroom. Attach an open envelope to the bottom of the poster. Place velcro dots on the back of the visual schedule cards and place them on the poster in the order your child should complete their morning routine. As they complete the tasks, they can add the card into the envelope.

2. Hole punch the cards that your child needs to complete each morning. Place them on a binder ring and give it to your child as a visual reminder they can carry with them as they complete each step.

3. Affix magnets to the back of the cards. This works best if the cards are laminated. Set up an area on the side of the fridge or on a magnetic white board in the kitchen where your child can see their cues and move them down as they complete each one.

4. Give your child a folder or binder that contains the cards needed for their morning routine. These can be glued down on a page in the binder with the heading "Morning" or you can add velcro dots to the page and to the backs of the cards and glue an envelope to the inside of the binder for easy storage of the cards.

5. Hang a ribbon or string in your child's room. Use clothespins to attach their visual prompts in the order they need to be completed. Provide a small bucket or envelope that your child can put the cards into once they've finished each one.

Create a daily schedule.

1. Make a poster for your child that displays their daily schedule. See the method for making the poster above.

2. Create a visual representation of your child's day on the side of the fridge using magnets on the back of the cards.

3. Make your child a binder separated into Morning, Afternoon and Evening to further simplify things.

4. Another way of creating a daily schedule is by using a pocket chart. You can add the cards needed for that day at the top of the chart in the order they will happen and store the rest of the cards either at the bottom or in a separate envelope that you can staple near the bottom of the pocket chart.

For some children, the chart can be very general, including only the highlights of the day, whereas for others, you will need to break down each thing into smaller tasks.

I don't recommend using binder rings for an entire daily schedule as it can be too overwhelming for a child.

Break down tasks.

Some of the cards break tasks down for kids to enable them to complete them step by step. These cards work well in these ways:

1. Hole punch the cards and attach them to a binder ring. This way, the child can carry it with them. This is particularly good for the bathroom prompts. They can flip through the cards as they complete each step.

2. Use poster putty or teacher's tape to attach cards to the bathroom wall or mirror for the bathroom cards and the step by step instructions for hand washing.

3. Attach the cards to the back of your child's bedroom door or the wall in the entryway for reminders such as putting on their shoes and coat or taking their lunch.

For school and appointments:

1. When I created this visual schedule, I purposely left some of the cards such as those for Speech, Occupational Therapist, Therapist, etc. without an image. This was so that the child or parents could add a picture of the building or actual therapist to the card. For some children, especially those with autism, it helps to have things as concrete and specific as possible. Seeing the actual building or person they have an appointment with helps create security and aids in the transition.

2. Children can use the pocket chart, binder, or binder ring method to use their visual schedule as their prompts while at school.

For a short time only, the Visual Schedule for Special Needs is included in the Sensory Essentials Collection which included many other resources for helping kids thrive.

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How to Use Visual Schedules with Your Special Needs Child

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Learn how to use visual schedules to ease transitions, reduce meltdowns, create independence in daily life, and make mornings more peaceful.

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Peer supports are one of the most effective ways to help students with disabilities reach their potential and ensure that their academic and social needs are met. Whether you're implementing a formal peer buddy program or more informal student-to-student partnerships, peer supports don't have to require a huge time investment-but before you begin, the young people participating will need some preparation and guidance. Today's post gives you 10 tips on getting students ready to help, so they can provide the most effective, appropriate supports to their peers with disabilities.

TIPS FROM: Peer Support Strategies for Improving All Students' Social Lives and Learning, by Erik Carter, Lisa Cushing, & Craig Kennedy

Don't Underestimate Young People

"Adolescents are often capable of much more than adults give them credit for. The current generation of students has grown up attending inclusive schools and classrooms, they are experienced at working collaboratively with others, they are savvy with new technologies and educational innovations, and they recognize their potential role in increasing the participation of their peers with disabilities in everyday school life. In other words, peers often have a good understanding of why inclusion is important and how they can help support it."

"Although students will need some initial orientation to their new roles at the start of the semester and an introduction to basic support strategies, educators can be flexible with how training is provided... Students do not have to learn everything at the outset. Training can often be delivered informally through sharing additional strategies as new needs emerge; modeling appropriate interactions when necessary; or periodically meeting briefly with students before or after class, at lunch, or during down time in class."

Align Training with Students' Needs

"Peers are able to provide a rich and diverse array of supports to their classmates with disabilities [see the examples at the end of this post]. Peer support arrangements, however, are individually tailored interventions designed to help address just some of the educational and social support needs of students with severe disabilities in inclusive classrooms. Because support needs vary from student to student and class to class, peers do not need to be taught to provide every conceivable form of support. Rather, they only need to be shown the specific strategies they will need to support a specific classmate."

Anticipate Potential Challenges and Concerns

"Consider from the outset some of the early questions and concerns students might have [and] make certain that the questions are addressed during orientation activities. Some of the common questions we hear raised by peer supports in our work with schools are as follows:

What do I do if my partner has behavioral challenges? Is it my role to address these issues?

What if my partner decides he or she just does not want to work during a particular class?

Am I responsible for making sure that he or she keeps up with the rest of the class?

What do I do if I find myself falling behind in my own work? What if I ever feel overwhelmed or unable to keep up?

What if my partner and I find we do not get along as well as we thought we would?

Who do I go to if I have questions, need help, or have something I would like to share?

Talk through these or other questions students might have, and brainstorm possible responses before any potential challenges might emerge."

Model Desired Behaviors

"What attitudes and behaviors do you want peers to adopt? They will learn from watching adults, so it is important to be very aware of how you and your colleagues interact and work with students with disabilities. When adults encourage independence, offer choices, and promote self-determination, peers are likely to mirror these actions. When adults use age-appropriate language, model respectful interactions, and hold high expectations, anticipate that peers will do the same."

TIPS FROM: Peer Buddy Programs for Successful Secondary School Inclusion, by Carolyn Hughes & Erik Carter

"As a group, teachers and paraprofessionals in a school must meet to discuss and come to consensus regarding roles, responsibilities, and expectations for peer buddies in their particular school. Expectations and roles will vary from school to school, which is why staff should strive to develop their own expectations. For example, in some schools, peer buddies will be expected to accompany their classmates with disabilities to work-study jobs. In other schools, peer buddies will focus more on adapting academic assignments and teaching study skills."

Clarify Supervisory Roles

"It is important to determine which staff members will be responsible for the day-to-day supervision of peer buddies. For example, in a geography class, peer buddies could be told to go to the general education teacher for academic-related questions but to ask the special education teacher when they have questions about the social behavior of the student with whom they are working. Supervisory roles will differ across schools and even within school settings."

Maintain Communication

"A contact person should be established for peer buddies in case students need to ask questions or report challenges. This point of contact could be the classroom teacher, club sponsor, lunchroom monitor, special educator, job coach, paraprofessionals, or school counselor. A communication system also must be established for reporting emergencies, such as seizures or accidents."

Ask Students to Journal about Their Experiences

"We recommend having peer buddies complete daily or weekly reflective journals to record and think about the activities in which they have engaged and interactions they have shared...Such writing prompts students to think about, process, and learn from their experiences as well as improve their skills as a peer buddy. Students' entries provide teachers with insight into both the successes and challenges that peer buddies are experiencing."

Give Students Ideas for Specific, Real-World Supports

Here's a list of 28 small but powerful things peers can do to help students with disabilities inside and outside the classroom:

For more guidance on peer supports, explore the two books quoted in today's post:

Peer Support Strategies for Improving All Students' Social Lives and Learning, by Erik Carter, Lisa Cushing, & Craig Kennedy

Peer Buddy Programs for Successful Secondary School Inclusion, by Carolyn Hughes & Erik Carter

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10 Practical Principles for Peer Supports: Getting Students Ready to Help

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Peer supports are one of the most effective ways to help students with disabilities reach their potential and ensure that their academic and social needs are met. Whether you're implementing a formal peer buddy program or more informal student-to-student partnerships, peer supports don't have to require a huge time investment-but before you begin, the young people participating will need some preparation and guidance.

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5 Peer Support Approaches That Work! - Brookes Blog

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In inclusive classrooms, peer supports are a great way to help meet the needs of all learners. While they can’t take the place of individualized supports delivered by teachers and other members of a student’s school team, they’re an important supplemental strategy to keep in your inclusion toolbox.…

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Building Connections w/  Behavior Specific Praise

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Behavior-Specific Praise: Elementary School Example & Non-Example

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ABA Autism Training - Chapter 3 - Prompting

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By Amanda Morin

Respectful redirection is a quick, in-the-moment strategy to give corrective feedback to students. You get your students' attention without making a big deal about it, using a calm tone, neutral body language, and clear, concise wording.

You tell students exactly what they're doing incorrectly and what they should be doing instead with as few words as possible, leaving less room for confusion. (If your school uses a PBIS framework, you may hear this strategy called "error correction.")

Watch: See respectful redirection in action

to see how one teacher uses respectful redirection with her whole class.

Read: How to use this strategy

Set expectations. Before you can start using respectful redirection, make sure your students know what is expected of them in your classroom. These expectations should be reasonable, age-appropriate, and culturally responsive. Knowing your students well will help you create expectations that respect cultural differences and life experiences. Share and review the expectations regularly as part of building your class culture.

When a student doesn't follow a classroom expectation, decide in the moment whether you need to intervene. Ask yourself: What is this behavior communicating? Is it getting in the way of the student's learning or the learning of others?

Also, when you're deciding whether to intervene, remember that some students may look off-task when they're doing things that actually keep them on-task. For example, students who are standing up or fidgeting at their desks may look off-task. But for students who have ADHD, movement can be a strategy that helps them concentrate.

If you decide that you need to use a respectful redirection, follow the steps from the example below.

Scenario: Josh is struggling to have his ideas recognized during group work and keeps interrupting another student.

Step to take

What to say

1. Address the issue as quickly as possible. If your redirection will only be for one student, do your best to speak privately.

Walk to Josh and say quietly and calmly, "Josh, I can tell you really want to share your ideas, but you were talking while Laurel was talking."

2. Describe what the student should do instead by referring to your classroom expectations.

Point to a visual of classroom expectations and say, "In this class, we take turns speaking during discussions. Next time you have an idea to share with the group, wait until the person who is speaking stops, and then share your idea."

3. Explain why the alternate behavior is a better option.

"It's easier for people to listen when one person is talking at a time."

4. Ask the student to demonstrate understanding, either by practicing it immediately or by telling you how they will do it in the future.

"Josh, the next time you want to share your idea when someone else is talking, what could you do?"

5. When the student follows your redirection, provide feedback and reinforcement.

"Josh, the way you waited to speak until after Laurel was finished talking allowed everyone in your group to listen and share their ideas. Well done."

Understand: Why respectful redirection works

Respectful redirection isn't just about telling students to focus on what they're supposed to be doing. It's also about how you say it. Research shows that this type of brief, consistent, systematic correction with feedback has a positive effect on student behavior. How you speak to students - the tone you use, the words you choose, and how much you say - affects the way they respond to you.

Students who learn and think differently especially benefit from this strategy. For students with ADHD, research shows that delayed feedback is less likely to result in positive behavior changes. An immediate redirection helps students recognize cause and effect.

As a predictable framework, respectful redirection can be comforting to students, especially those who have experienced trauma. One of the elements of strong trauma-informed teaching is a safe community. Routines and predictability help to build trust, allowing students to feel safe. They know how the process works and their role in it.

When done successfully, respectful redirection can remove the need for further intervention. Talking to students in a positive, calm manner while giving specific feedback gives them a way to get back on task without needing more information.

Respectful redirection can work at home, too. Share behavior contracts families can use to help their kids learn to replace an inappropriate behavior with a more appropriate one.

Adapt: Use for distance learning

Before using this strategy, make sure your students know what you expect of them during distance learning. Share and review those expectations regularly.

Consider what a student's behavior is telling you. Because distance learning brings new challenges, what may look like off-task behavior may actually be on-task for the situation.

When using respectful redirection during live video lessons, plan for how to speak with students privately. For example, you might send a direct message through the chat feature or talk with them after the lesson.

Research behind this strategy

Tell us what interests you

About the author

About the author

Amanda Morin is the director of thought leadership at Understood and author of "The Everything Parent's Guide to Special Education." She worked as a classroom teacher and early intervention specialist for more than a decade.

Reviewed by

Reviewed by

Brittney Newcomer, MS, NCSP is the associate director of thought leadership at Understood. She has served in public schools for more than a decade as a teacher, evaluator, and curriculum manager.

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Respectful redirection is a quick, in-the-moment strategy to give corrective feedback to students. You get your students' attention without making a big deal about it, using a calm tone, neutral body language, and clear, concise wording. You tell students exactly what they're doing incorrectly and what they should be doing instead with as few words as possible, leaving less room for confusion.

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What is a "prompt" and why is it part of an ABA program? Prompting is a strategy used to correct the learner and still increase learning. It is usually placed after the instruction and before the response.

Instruction ⇒ Response ⇒ Reinforcement/Consequence

Why prompt and not just correct them once they've made a mistake? Here's why: I have a terrible sense of direction. If I'm driving somewhere and get lost and take a few wrong turns, as long as it got me where I need to go, I will likely take the same convoluted path the next time. Not because it's the shortest but because it's the most familiar. Our students are the same - we want them to learn the shortest path to the correct response and not another, incorrect chain of responses (even if it gets them ultimately to the correct response). Being corrected is also a situation that students can become dependent on. In ABA, we prefer to use a principle called errorless learning. We help get the student to the correct response before an error occurs. For example, if we ask the student to find a picture of a table, we might gesture to the correct card before an incorrect response. They also help kids learn by making them successful. Instead of a student feeling intimidated by difficult work, they can feel like we are helping them through it with some support.
Whether or not to incorporate a prompt into a teaching trial would be up to the discretion of the BCBA.
Prompt Hierarchy:

The Prompt Hierarchy shows us the path from the most intrusive and least independent form of support, through to the least intrusive and most independent form.

How Much to Prompt?

Least-to-most - Moving up the ladder to increase learning: Some skills benefit from a prompting style where we start out with the least amount of prompting possible and then increase as necessary. For example, when we're teaching a child to follow the instruction to "come here", we would give the instruction and then provide the least amount of prompting necessary to have them follow it.

Most-to-least - Moving down the ladder to increase independence: This is when we start out with the most amount of prompting and fade as the student is successful. This is often used in teaching independent skills. An example of this would be learning to brush teeth - we might start with hand over hand and then fade the physical prompt as required or they become more independent.
Free Download: Prompt Hierarchy Cheat Sheet

What is the Prompt Hierarchy?

Physical prompts - going in and physically guiding the student through the response. It can be full physical or partial physical or even a gesture. For example, we might teach printing by starting with a hand over hand prompt over the learner's hand and then fading to hand over wrist, then hand over elbow, and continuing to fade as the student is more successful. We might also use this in teaching life skills where we would stand behind the student to guide them through a cooking task and then fade ourselves out as they're successful.

Model prompt - showing the learner what to do before they do it. We use modeling a lot in teaching social skills. We would either have a peer or ourselves model the appropriate social behaviour and then have the student copy.

Gesture prompt - this would involve gesturing or pointing to the correct response as you're giving the instruction. For example, if you ask the student to "Find the car" in an array of 5 cards, you would point to the picture of the car to prompt them towards the correct response. A gesture prompt can be easily faded by using a time delay or fading your finger further and further back.

Verbal prompt - this is usually the least preferred method of prompting because a verbal cue is SO hard to fade. Which brings us to my favourite type of prompt....

Visual (text/picture) prompt - putting prompts into pictures or texts is something we all do - grocery lists, to-do lists, calendar alerts, etc. It's a great way to supply the learner with a visual support in a way that's very natural and easy to fade. For example, if we were teaching a student to answer "What does a teacher do?" we might write out, "teaches kids" on a text cue. This can act as a prompt and then can be faded by either taking away some letters or turning the cue upside down (so it's blank).

It is very important to be able to fade prompts appropriately because we want to foster independence. It can be a tricky balance between prompting and independence but we like to advise getting the prompt out as quickly as possible. Unless we are specifically using a most-to-least prompting style, our recommendation is usually to fade the prompt within session. Use the least amount of prompting to get the student the most amount of success!

Unless a prompt is part of the teaching procedure, we want to be careful not to reinforce responses that needed prompting. Prompting can be so subtle and the child can learn to even be in tune to our facial gestures. For example, if the current target is for the child to select the "red car" independently, and he needs you to point to the correct item - don't provide reinforcement. You can prompt so that he learns the correct response and then come back to it another time.

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What is a "prompt" and why is it part of an ABA program? Prompting is a strategy used to correct the learner and still increase learning. It is usually placed after the instruction and before the response. Instruction ⇒ Response ⇒ Reinforcement/Consequence Why prompt and not just correct them once they've made a mistake?

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Special Education - Teaching Requesting Early Mand Training

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Autism & ABA Therapy Tips for Parents in 2022

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#Manding: 4 things to Know #ABATherapy in #2021

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Manding - Verbal Behavior Center for Autism

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How To Train Manding Verbal Behavior│Setting Up Situations

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Photo source: www.autismsparks.com, www.pbs.org

When teaching or providing intervention to young children with Autism, communication impairments are often pretty high on the list of priorities. This can include issues such as echolalia, poor articulation, syntax difficulties, or the child may be nonverbal (remember, nonverbal does not mean "no talking". That would be "non vocal". Nonverbal would indicate a lack of a consistent means to communicate ).

A highly effective method for teaching a child with communication deficits to communicate is: Mand Training. If you read my Verbal Behavior post then you know that "mand" just means request.

Notice I said Mand Training is about teaching an individual to communicate, not " talk ". Communication is far more than being able to speak. I have clients who can talk, but aren't communicators. I also have clients who communicate all the time, but do not talk. Some of my previous clients never reached a point of producing vocalizations (talking), and that does not mean treatment failed. They made amazing gains, and developed other means of communicating.

Since Mand Training is far more than just talking, this means that communicating can be taught via sign language, picture communication (photos or iPad), use of an assistive device, etc. While many parents often want to target vocalizations, manding does not have to be vocal.

So WHY teach manding? What is so important about being able to communicate with others?

-A child who cannot request wants and needs, is (very often) a child who will use problem behavior to communicate: aggression, tantrums, property destruction, etc.

-A child who cannot request wants and needs has no way to communicate a problem to caregivers: "Are you sick? Do you hurt? Are you tired?". I work with many parents who often have to guess if their child is hungry, guess what their child wants to eat, guess when their child is full, etc. It's a very difficult and challenging way to live. Not just for the parent of course, but for the child.

-A child who cannot request wants and needs is a child who may struggle with social interaction. How will the child let other children know they want to play? How will the child let other children know they are tired of playing? For a nonverbal child this can often happen through exhibiting problem behavior (such as pushing a peer down who stands too close, or snatching an interesting looking toy from a peer).

Before learning more about Mand Training my biggest tip would be NOT to read this post and then try to implement a mand training procedure on your own. It's important to work with a BCBA to accurately design and implement a manding intervention. This is one of those skill areas where you definitely want the assistance of a qualified professional.

Okay, so here is a basic outline of how Mand Training occurs. At the end of the post I will include a clip of some actual mand training (taken from an episode of Supernanny) because I think seeing how the procedures are implemented could really be helpful.

Mand Training kicks off with a good amount of highly preferred items/reinforcers. You need to know what the learner is MOST interested in, because those are the mands you will want to teach first. You teach reinforcers first -- before general nouns ("school"), before generalized mands ("more"), and before manners ("please") --- because motivation is key. If I love my talking Elmo doll more than anything in the world, I will be ridiculously motivated to mand for my talking Elmo doll.

Next, you will start requiring a mand in order to access the highly preferred items. No mand= No access. From the perspective of the learner, they are used to getting what they want, when they want it, without having to mand. So once you start to require communication, you can receive some pushback.

Be knowledgeable about vocal shaping, if you are targeting vocalizations. When the learner begins to vocally communicate the speech may be unclear, garbled, or otherwise fractured. It is important to work with a professional who understands shaping procedures and how to accept closer and closer approximations to clear speech. This means that initially, "BUH" may be acceptable to request "Bubbles".

Consistency will lead to success. Mand training can take literally hundreds of trials per target, or per item. In a typical therapy session, I can incorporate mand training into nearly every few minutes of work. Be prepared to work on manding consistently.

Mand training gets increasingly more complex. I may start out with a client by having them mand for a reinforcer that is present, and accept any vocalization as a correct response. From there, the item may be hidden from view, the learner may have to accurately state the name of the item, the learner may have to request using a full sentence, etc. Building and building until the individual has many words, many ways, and complex motivation to let other people know what they want and need.

*More information about Mand Training:

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Photo source: www.autismsparks.com, www.pbs.org When teaching or providing intervention to young children with Autism, communication impairments are often pretty high on the list of priorities. This can include issues such as echolalia, poor articulation, syntax difficulties, or the child may be nonverbal (remember, nonverbal does not mean "no talking".

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Shaping Definition - ABA Treatment for Autism

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ABA Training Manual for Staff working with parents

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What is it exactly??? This is the process of breaking down a complex skill or behavior to smaller steps.
Before teaching a child to acquire a new skill, you should perform the skill yourself or watch another person performing it so you can see which steps are involved in the process. This way you can teach the child to accomplish each small step until he can learn how to do it independently.

For example, you want to teach the child how to brush his teeth. After doing it yourself and record each steps, you realize there are 14 steps in the process: 1. Pick up and hold the toothbrush, 2. Wet the toothbrush, 3. Remove the cap from the toothbrush, 4. Apply the toothpaste to the brush, 5. Replace the cap on the toothpaste, 6. Brush the outside surface of the teeth, 7. Brush the biting surfaces of the teeth, 8. Brush the inside surfaces of the teeth, 9. Fill the cup with water, 10. Rinse the mouth, 11. Wipe the mouth, 12. Rinse the toothbrush, 13. Rinse the sink, 14. Put everything away. After determining 14 steps, you teach the child the 1st step then after he can do the 1st step by himself, move on to the next step. Keep going until he can brush his teeth without any help.

The child is reinforced from a closer approximation to the desired behavior.
For example, you want to teach the child to make eye contact with others for 3 seconds. At first, you reinforce the child whenever he makes a glance at you. Then when the glance is established, you start reinforcing him for maintaining eye contact for 1 second, then 2 seconds and finally at 3 seconds.

For more information, Cooper et.al (2007) mention some laws for shaping. You can find this section on page 428.
Overall, to be effective, you should:

1. Identify the desired behavior

2. Determine the criterion for success.

3. Analyze the behavior, see which are involved in that specific behavior

4. Identify the first behavior to reinforce

5. Least but not last, you must gradually reinforce the child's approximations. It might take some time for the child to master one approximation before he can move on to the next approximation. Take your time with your child!!! Don't jump to big steps !!!

If you want to know more about shaping, here is an article have been done to help children with autism overcome specific phobia: http://www.jeabjaba.org/abstracts/JabaAbstracts/39/_39-445.Htm
There are 3 major forms of response prompts: verbal instructions, modeling and physical guidance.
Can be vocal or nonvocal verbal instruction.
For example, to teach the child how to make a craft, you can create a photographic activity schedule for the child by taking a picture of each step and put it in order in a binder, the child has to look at the picture, perform that step, then turn the page to the next step.
Video modeling has been used to improve social skills in children with autism. To see how it has been done, you can read more on this article http://www.jeabjaba.org/abstracts/JabaAbstracts/37/_37-093.Htm
It is also called "hand-over-hand" guidance. The child has difficulties on holding a pencil. You can help him by physically holding his hand.

Some ways to implement prompting:
For this way, you walk through an entire performance with the child and provide him physical guidance for everything. Then you gradually reduce the amount of assistance for the child.
For example, teaching the child to wash his hand, at first you might need to hold his hands and wash them for him. Later on, you will gradually move your hands over his elbow, to the shoulder and then to no physical contact.
With this way, you give the child the opportunity to perform the behavior with the least amount of assistance.
For example, during lunch time, you put the food out on the table for the child and wait for the child to initiate eating by himself first. After 5 seconds, he has not made an effort to eat his lunch. You can provide a verbal instruction "Take a bite". And if the child continues not responding, you can physically hold the child's hand to hold the fork, get the food and put it in his mouth.
This process involves gradually changing the features of things (shape, size, position, color) while maintaining a desire behavior.
For example, you want the child to drink more juice but he refuses to drink it. You can mix 10% juice with water then gradually increase to 20% of juice and so on. This clip is another example of fading:

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What is it exactly??? This is the process of breaking down a complex skill or behavior to smaller steps.Before teaching a child to acquire a new skill, you should perform the skill yourself or watch another person performing it so you can see which steps are involved in the process.

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How to Use Prompts Effectively and Efficiently - The Autism Helper

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Resources, tips, and materials to help you, help children with autism

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Behavior Specific Praise Practice (PBIS Teacher Training Companion Video)

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Behavior-Specific Praise: High School Example & Non-Example

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Prompt Hierarchy and Using Prompting Effectively

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As special education teachers, we often need to give directions and help our students learn how to respond appropriately to complete a task. For example, how to use glue sponges or how to button a sweater. We can start with the lowest level of prompting, or there are times when a behavior needs to…

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A Complete Guide For Using Prompts To Teach Individuals With Special Needs - Friendship Circle - Special Needs Blog

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Years of research has demonstrated prompts to be an effective teaching tool for people on the Autism Spectrum. Prompts are therefore an important and integral part of most ABA programs....

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A Complete Guide For Using Prompts To Teach Individuals With Special Needs

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I have a blog post up on A Special Sparkle today
5 Questions to Ask Before Writing an IEP Goal. Check it out!

Continuing my series on the new evidence-based practice (EBP), I talked about the requirements to be considered an EBP HERE. In the last post I talked about exercise as a strategy for preventing and addressing challenging behavior. Today I want to talk about modeling. There are a number of ways that modeling can be used. I've talked about video modeling as a strategy Here, Here, and Here. Video modeling was actually included in the 2011 report of EBPs. In the 2014 report they added in-vivo modeling as an EBP. In-vivo modeling is simply using a live model, occurring at the time. We use it all the time when we ask a peer to show a student how to interact on the playground or a teacher demonstrates how to complete a math problem on the board. We have long known that modeling has been an effective intervention for lots of different populations but there hasn't been much research until recently on the use of in-vivo modeling for children with ASD, particularly in studies where the modeling effects could be isolated. Given the difficulty that many children with ASD have with imitation, there is reason to believe that the general modeling research may not apply. However, with the increase of the use and study of video modeling, there has been an increase in the study of all types of modeling.

What Does the Research Say?

The EBP report indicated that modeling has been shown to be effective with toddlers through 22 year olds for a wide variety of skills (Cox, 2013). There is only one study that I'm aware of that actually compares in-vivo modeling with video modeling. Charlop-Christy, Le, and Freeman (2000) directly compared the 2 and found a couple of interesting findings. Four of the 5 students acquired the skills that were modeled more quickly with video modeling than in-vivo modeling. The students also generalized the skills more frequently with video modeling than in-vivo modeling. These results have to be interpreted with caution because it's only one study with only 5 participants. However, it does lend to the idea that video modeling might be a more effective way to go. Both, however, were effective at teaching the skills. It should also be noted that modeling is an important skill because it is how most skills are taught in school settings as well as out of schools. If you think about it, most things we learned in school started with the teacher demonstrated the skill. We learn on the job in the same way-first we observe another teacher, then we practice. Consequently, Cooper, Heron and Heward (2006) point out the importance of teaching children with autism to imitation specifically so they can take advantage of and learn from those natural models in the real-world environment. Consequently, we look at imitation as being an enabling skill, in that it opens doors to learning more independently and from more sources. As such it is important that we target imitation for those students who struggle with it.

Practice Point: Applying the Research

Clearly we use in-vivo modeling frequently throughout our daily routines regularly. Here are some tips that help to increase the effectiveness of modeling to teach new skills.

1. Recruit models that are similar in characteristic to the target student.

Look for similar age or slightly older models who have similar characteristics (e.g., size, physical characteristics, age) to enhance the likelihood that the target student will imitate that person.

2. Reinforce the model

There is early research in modeling literature that shows that reinforcing the model for the skill you are targeting increases the likelihood that the behavior will be imitated. There is no reason to think that would be different for students with ASD.

3. Follow modeling with practice

Modeling is typically most effective when used in conjunction with other ABA strategies like practicing with feedback and reinforcement. Given that generalization may be limited based on Charlop-Christy et al. (2000), it will be even more important to incorporate opportunities to practice the skill in a variety of environments after the modeling sessions to assure that the skills maintain and are used in the everyday environment.

How do you use modeling with your students? Do you feel it is more or less effective than video modeling? Is it easier or harder to use? Sound off in the comments.

Until next time,

References:

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Applying the Research: Modeling as an Evidence-Based Practice in Autism

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I have a blog post up on A Special Sparkle today 5 Questions to Ask Before Writing an IEP Goal. Check it out! Continuing my series on the new evidence-based practice (EBP), I talked about the requirements to be considered an EBP HERE.

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Why You Should Use Token Board ands How to Use a Token Board

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First-Then Boards for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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How To Use Token Boards | Behavior Management | ADHD | Token Economy

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Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

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Error correction is a procedure used to increase motivation in learning situations by preventing mistakes and creating more opportunities for reinforcement. This video demonstrates how to implement error correction

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Teaching Using Error Correction and Transfer Trials | Questions About Error Correction

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Prompt Fading: How to Use Transfer Trials to Start Fading Prompts in Kids with Autism

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System of Least Prompts  (SLP) with a Token Board

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Error Correction Procedures - The Autism Helper

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Resources, tips, and materials to help you, help children with autism