It's Time to Reduce Prompt Dependence
For every prompt dependent student there has been a prompt dependent teacher
In analysing the data from a recent RtI Tier 2 intervention that I designed and ran for my school site, I noticed the telltale signs of prompt dependence in the results. The students did well on the single-skill, well structured exercises, but when it came time to show off their newly developed skills, they froze. They could demonstrate that they knew what to do, how to do it, and why it was important to do the tasks before them … if you first prompted them to do each step. This, friends, is prompt dependence.
If you’ve never heard the term, you might be asking, what is prompt dependence?
Prompt dependence is when a person needs a prompt in order to initiate a skill or activity that they have already mastered. This goes beyond as simple, “clean up your room,” to a student, for example, waiting to be told to do something within the body of a lesson - something they already know how to do and have shown that they can do it. They’re just waiting on the teacher to tell them to do it … each step.
So let’s clarify – not all prompts are bad. We sometimes need prompting. Everyone needs prompting when learning new skills – even teachers! You should have seen the amount of prompting I needed last week at Systema Instructor Workshop involving dynamic movement techniques and bodily recoil (it wasn’t pretty…). Prompting helps when learning new skills. However prompting becomes a problem when students have mastered the skill but are still needing / wanting that prompt from teachers. That is what we call prompt dependency.
Why is it a bad thing to be prompt dependent? It’s bad because teachers aren’t going to be with students forever. Consider that as a parent, you aren’t going to be with your kids forever. We want them to be successful alone. We want them to not need us. Think in terms of simple tasks that kids should master in the first few years, then project those out in time. Do you want to accompany your teen into the toilet to help them manage the experience? This example is extreme, but illustrates the problem with prompt dependency. Just like it’s the job of leaders to find the one that will eventually replace them, I tell those that I work with – It’s your job to lose your job. This completely freaks people out half the time but it’s true. We want our kids to be so independent that they don’t need us.
How can we prevent and reduce prompt dependency? Given that the roots of prompt dependency lie in the techniques of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) that have infiltrated classroom management, we have to turn to ABA, and understand it from it’s point of view, to unwind it’s effects. So, as a trigger warning, I will be providing links and using the language of ABA. Unfortunately, it will be necessary to engage with ABA (temporarily) in order to mitigate the problems that it’s use has created.
When teaching a new skill or concept, from the beginning of lesson planning, you need to make a plan for fading your prompts. Yes we are always so focused on skill acquisition and getting our students successful that we sometimes forget to think about what to do when they get there. Your job isn’t over once the skill has been mastered. Sometimes the battle hasn’t even begun. Once students have figured it out, it’s time to get rid of those prompts and get them on the path to confidence and independence. If you plan the fading process before you have even begun teaching the new skill (begin with the end in mind) – you (1) won’t forget about it and (2) won’t feel like your job is done once the skill is mastered. That’s totally awesome that you have taught your student to say thank you when someone does something nice for them, but if he can only do that when you prompt him by saying, “what do you say when …” we aren’t quite there yet.
Use Least to Most Prompts When Needed
When you are going to use prompts as part of your instruction, start with the least intrusive prompts. These will be the easiest to fade.
Least to Most prompts will go in this order:
Natural Cue/Independence - there is always something that will show your student it is time to engage in his new skill. If you student does the skill to the natural cue in the environment without any help from you they are now independent. Thus, for our student that we taught to say thank you when someone has done something for them, the natural cue is the action done for them.
Visual - this includes pictures and text prompts. These are great because the student doesn’t need us around for these to work.
Gestural - pointing, motioning, eye contact, etc.
Indirect Verbal - e.g., hinting. Saying something like, “What do you need next?”
Direct Verbal - e.g., directly telling the student what to do. Saying something like “Go check your schedule.”
Model - e.g., showing the student exactly what to do by doing it yourself.
Partial Physical - e.g., touching the student or physically moving their body to engage in part of the response. For partial physical prompting you may just get the motion started. For example, you move the child’s hand to the pencil but let them pick it up and use it.
Full Physical - e.g., touching the student or physically moving their body to engage in the complete response. For example, you help them finish the entire task.
If you’re going to use any of the above actions with your students, please start with the least restrictive type of prompts and see if your student will be successful. If they’re not successful, move down the list until the student can engage in the activity. Sometimes our students surprise us and need way less prompting then we think. If we started with less intrusive prompts – we are already closer to not needing them. Remember, begin with the end in mind by explicitly planning to fade the use of the prompts.
Use of Visuals
Yes visuals are appealing. Most modern classrooms look like a board maker threw up in them, and it’s not because teachers just love the look of that little cone head man. The visuals shouldn’t be there to make the class look pretty or keep the administration happy when they come in to observe. Teachers shouldn’t spend endless dollars on laminating for simple esthetics. These visuals should serve a purpose. The visuals are prompts, but they are prompts that student can use without the teacher’s help. These minimally intrusive prompts can serve as a reference to help students be successful throughout a task.
Reinforcement and Shaping
Again, apologies for all of the ABA language and techniques – but the key to unraveling what ABA has wrought is to understand it’s philosophy and practice. In doing any of the above techniques, the key is in providing loads of reinforcement for any types of responses, even if they aren’t all the way correct. So if you are teaching a student to write their name and they only pick up the pencil, it’s okay. Provide reinforcement for them trying to do it. Then shape those responses to get closer and closer towards the correct response. Shaping is all about incremental steps, and small victories.
Conclusion
Again, apologies for all of the ABA language and techniques. But, if we’re going to unravel what ABA is done, we do have to know how it works. We don’t have to agree with it to learn about it. We have to know what it is in order to identify it’s presence in our schools, classrooms, and students. Look around, use this guide to identify some students who have become prompt dependent in certain areas, or all areas. Now that you know what to look for, you’ll see quite a bit of it. Given that ABA has infected most modern teacher preparation programs, we have all been victims of unintentional over prompting. Don’t feel bad, just fix it.