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Adult Support--Initial Consideration- Quest for Teams

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Think of a skill someone recently taught you. Maybe you learned how to use a new online IEP system, learned how to use your new phone, learned how to ski, or learned how to sew. Did the person teaching you model some steps? Give you pictures or diagrams? Provide supplemental verbal hints? Point to things to guide you? Or provide any extra cues? It is likely that you answered "Yes!" to one or more of these. When teaching new skills, all instructional methods require prompting.

What is a Prompt?

A prompt is a supplemental cue that is given before or during a learner's response, which increases the likelihood that the learner will respond correctly. In the A-B-C behavior chain, a prompt is presented after the antecedent (A) and before, or right as, the learner is about to do the behavior (B) as shown in the graphic below.

For example:

A - Teacher shows learner a card with the word "blue" on it and says, "Read this word."

Prompt: Teacher provides a visual prompt of a picture card with a blue paint scribble on it.

B - Student says "blue"

C - Teacher says, "Great job! You read the word blue!"

Selecting Prompts

There are a few things to consider when deciding which prompts to use when teaching a skill.

1. What type of skill are you trying to teach? Certain prompts work better with certain skills.

2. What skill set does the learner have? Some students may not have the skills necessary to respond to some types of prompts.

3. What is the learner's previous history with prompts? A learner may respond to some prompts better than others because they have been taught with those prompts in the past.

4. What is the least intrusive prompt that can be used? Some types of prompts may support more independence.

Prompt Hierarchy

A prompt hierarchy is a tool to help consider the level of intrusiveness of prompts and to help determine which prompts you will use to enable a learner to complete a task as independently as possible. There is not a specific order to the hierarchy, and it will vary by learner and task; however, physical prompts are the most intrusive, verbal prompts are the often the hardest to fade, and the goal is always independence with a natural cue.

Prompt Fading

Prompt fading is essential for preventing and reducing prompt dependency, which can impede skill acquisition and independence. Prompt fading is the process of gradually reducing the level, magnitude, timing, etc. of prompts to work towards independence. A plan for fading prompts should be in place at the onset of instruction. If used and faded appropriately, prompts are a powerful tool for building skills and independence. The graphic below provides tips for successful prompt fading.

Connecting Prompts to High Leverage Practices

High Leverage Practice #16 is to use explicit instruction. Effective teachers make instruction explicit by showing or telling students what to do while completing tasks; they model and scaffold steps and processes in order for students to complete tasks successfully and independently (McLeskey, et al., 2017). Prompting is a means of explicitly showing students what to do and ensuring successful completion of tasks with the end goal of independence.

Want More Information?

Complete the AFIRM Prompting Module

Visit the VCU-ACE How To Video Series page and select Prompting from the drop down menu

For more information on High Leverage Practices, visit the CEC's High Leverage Practices website

References

McLeskey, J., Barringer, M-D., Billingsley, B., Brownell, M., Jackson, D., Kennedy, M., Lewis, T., Maheady, L., Rodriguez, J., Scheeler, M. C., Winn, J., & Ziegler, D. (2017, January). High-leverage practices in special education. Arlington, VA: Council for Exceptional Children & CEEDAR Center.

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Prompts and Prompt Fading for Building Independence

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Think of a skill someone recently taught you. Maybe you learned how to use a new online IEP system, learned how to use your new phone, learned how to ski, or learned how to sew. Did the person teaching you model some steps? Give you pictures or diagrams? Provide supplemental verbal hints?

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Increasing Student Independence by Fading 1:1 supports

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Increasing Student Independence by Fading 1:1 supports

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Adult Support--Initial Consideration- Quest for Teams

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Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education

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The Role of Paraprofessionals in Inclusive Classrooms | The Weeklyish 1.7.22

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Link to PARAPROFESSIONAL'S ROLE Training Padlet

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Link to PARAPROFESSIONAL'S ROLE Training Padlet

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https://padlet.com/selpapd/paraeducators

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What Administrators Can Do to Support the Effective Use of Paraeducators - Randolph

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Responding to Requests for paras article

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Consideration Forms for paraprofessional support

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Consideration Forms for paraprofessional support

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Jackson 22-23 Para B - Required for Initial or Continuing Paraprofessionals (4).docx

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Adult Support--Initial Consideration- Quest for Teams

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Welcome

Welcome to the Tar Heel Reader, a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces, including touch screens, the IntelliKeys with custom overlays, and 1 to 3 switches. Click here to learn more about alternative access methods.

You may write your own books using pictures from the huge collection at Flickr or pictures you upload. All books should be complete, edited, and revised to the best of your ability before publishing them to the site. While you are working on them, please save them as drafts.

Note the little well icon in the upper left corner of the page; clicking it will allow you to access the main menu. You can also click the settings icon to change settings on some pages.

Your browser is unsupported. The site should work for finding and reading books but you will not have switch access or the ability to write books. We recommend that you upgrade to a modern browser or install Chrome Frame.
You are in Classic mode. You will not have access to all of the features of the site but it may work better on older computers and web browsers. Click this text to leave Classic mode.
Ready to get started?

This site is also available in other languages. To help with translation, contact us.

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Welcome to the Tar Heel Reader, a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces, including touch screens, the IntelliKeys with custom overlays, and 1 to 3 switches. Click here to learn more about alternative access methods.

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Bookshare | An Accessible Online Library for people with print disabilities

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Bookshare makes reading easier. People with dyslexia, blindness, cerebral palsy, and other reading barriers can customize their experience to suit their learning style and find virtually any book they need for school, work, or the joy of reading.

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What is the purpose of this website?

This website provides guidelines for teaching literacy skills to learners with special needs, especially learners with complex communication needs (CCN) such as:

Autism spectrum disorders

Cerebral palsy

Down syndrome

Developmental apraxia

Multiple disabilities

This website provides information on:

What skills to teach

How to teach these skills

Videotaped examples of instruction with learners with special needs

Meet one of our students
Krista

Krista has multiple challenges, including a hearing impairment, a visual impairment, and a motor impairment. She also has a tracheostomy.

Krista has a dynamic personality. She makes everyone smile.

Like many of her peers, she loves Zac Efron from High School Musical and Zack and Cody from the Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

She uses sign approximations and a computer with speech output (a Mercury with Speaking Dynamically Pro software). Because of her hearing impairment, she does best when others sign as they talk.

We started to work with Krista when she was 8 years old. At that time, she was in a special education class at school and was not receiving literacy instruction.

Watch this video of Krista at 9 years of age. She is independently reading a personalized book about a summer adventure with Zac Efron.

She is so excited to be a reader!

Visit the rest of the website to learn more about how Krista learned to read stories independently.

Krista reading about Zac Efron from AAC Learning Center - Penn State on Vimeo.

Last Updated: December 21, 2018

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This website provides guidelines for teaching literacy skills to learners with special needs, especially learners with complex communication needs (CCN) such as: Autism spectrum disorders Cerebral palsy Down syndrome Developmental apraxia Multiple disabilities This website provides information on: What skills to teach How to teach these skills Videotaped examples of instruction with learners with special needs Krista Krista has multiple challenges, including a hearing impairment, a visual impairment, and a motor impairment.

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TIES TIPS | Communicative Competence | TIP #1: How Peers Can Support AAC Use by Students with Significant Communication Needs

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TASH_ Research to practice_ Evolving role of Paraprofessionals in Inclusive Schools (1)

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