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2. Effective Use of Prompting and Reinforcement Robert Lehardyand Daniel LeSage University of Houston – Clear Lake Saturday, April 17, 2010

3. Learning Trial Opportunity to Respond (Instruction / Prompts) Learner’s Response Reinforcement

4. Effective use of Prompting Techniques

5. Overview • What is a prompt? • Guidelines for Prompting • Types of Prompting • Practice

6. Prompting • Prompt = additional support paired with an instruction to assist with correct responding • Why use prompts? • Ensure correct responding • Connect the instruction to the behavior • When to deliver a prompt: • At the same time as your instruction ("errorless learning") • During your learner’s response to help minimize errors • When your learner makes a mistake • If your learner does not respond at all

7. Keys to Effective Instructions • Always have his/her attention (name, eye contact, touch) • Simple and consistent (one at a time) • Clear and specific (do not ask questions) • Short • Allow time to respond

8. Types of Prompts • Verbal: hints, clarifications, reminders • Gestural: any physical movement, such as pointing, motioning, nodding, eye gaze • Model: partial or full demonstration of correct response (“Like This”) • Physical: touch or physical assistance

9. Keys to Effective Prompting • Have his/her full attention • Appropriate pace (5 seconds) between the initial instruction and each prompt • Best to repeat instruction with each prompt • If they respond incorrectly (or not after 5 seconds) immediately deliver the next effective prompt

10. Styles of Prompting Least to Most Verbal Instruction  Gesture  Model  Physical Most to Least Verbal Instruction + Physical  Model  Gesture Time Delay Verbal Instruction  Progressive pause Prompt

11. Least to Most Prompting Verbal Instruction  Gesture  Partial Model  Model  Partial Physical  Full Physical • Initially, deliver the verbal instruction without any prompt • Then, combine the instruction with the least intrusive prompt • Use increasingly more intrusive prompts until the correct response occurs • Use with more advanced learners or once a learner has shown some independence in completing the skill.

12. Least to Most Prompting • Deliver the instruction (e.g. “hand me the cup”) Wait 5 seconds • Incorrect or No Response  Gesture  Model (“like this”)  Physical • Use increasingly more intrusive prompts until the correct response occurs • Correct response / improvement = reinforcement

13. Least to Most Prompting Target Behavior: Sitting in a Chair • Verbal Instruction “Sit Down” Verbal Instruction + • Gesture  Point to the chair • Partial Model  Sit/hover over a chair • Model  Sit in a chair • Partial Physical  Slight pressure on body • Full Physical  Guide them to sit in the chair

14. Least to Most Prompting Target Behavior: Saying his/her name *Sometimes, gestures and physical prompts are not relevant for verbal behaviors* • Verbal Instruction “What is your name?” Verbal Instruction + • Partial Model  “Ro” (phonetic sound) • Model  “Robert”

15. Least to Most Prompting “Match” (no response) G: Gesture to the shapes (correct response) Reinforcement “Match” (no response) “Match” + G: Gesture to the shapes (no response) PM: Partially demonstrate (no response) M: Fully demonstrate (correct response) Reinforcement When incorrect responding occurs, use next intrusive prompt Target Behavior: Matching Shapes

16. Most to Least Prompting Verbal Instruction + Full Physical  Partial Physical  Model  Partial Model  Gesture • Combine the instruction with the most assistance needed • Gradually reduce the assistance over time • Best when used across several practice trials • Use when the learner is having difficulty with an instruction

17. Most to Least Prompting • Instruction + greatest level of assistance needed “Hand me the cup” + model prompt Correct response = reinforcement Incorrect response = more intrusive prompt • Gradually reduce prompts over time • Fade from model to gesture to verbal

18. Most to Least Prompting Target Behavior: Touching the letter “A” Verbal Instruction  “Touch A” Verbal Instruction + Full Physical  Guide them to touch “A” Partial Physical  Raise the arm toward “A” Model  Touch “A” Partial Model  Almost touch “A” Gesture  Point to “A”

19. Most to Least Prompting Target Behavior: Identifying a color *Sometimes, gestures and physical prompts are not relevant for verbal behaviors* Verbal Instruction  “What color?” (while holding up a green object) Verbal Instruction + Model  “Green” Partial Model  “Gr” (phonetic sound)

20. Most to Least Prompting “Sit Down” + Model (correct response) Reinforcement “Sit Down” + Model (incorrect response) “Sit Down + Partial Physical (correct response) Reinforcement When incorrect responding occurs, revert back to least to most prompting Target Behavior: Sitting in a Chair Progress Occurred: the initial most intrusive prompt is the model prompt

21. Time Delay • Begin by delivering the prompt immediately following the instruction • Increase the pause between the initial instruction and the prompts “What’s your name?”  0 sec  “John” “What’s your name?”  1 sec  “John” “What’s your name?”  3 sec  “John” • Correct responding should begin to occur before the prompt • Reinforce correct responding (even if learner waits for prompt) • Use when the learner appears to wait for your prompts

22. Time to Review Least to Most Prompting Sequence Target Behavior: Closing the door • Verbal Instruction  “Close door” • Gesture  Point to the door • Partial Model  Partially close the door • Model  Close the door • Partial Physical Place his/her hand on the door • Full Physical  Physically guide him/her to close the door

23. Practice Makes Perfect Least to Most Prompting Sequence Target Behavior: Picking up a pencil • Verbal Instruction  • Gesture  • Partial Model  • Model  • Partial Physical  • Full Physical 

24. Practice Makes Perfect Least to Most Prompting Sequence Target Behavior: Picking up a pencil • Verbal Instruction  “Pick up pencil” • Gesture  Point at the pencil • Partial Model  Grasp the pencil • Model  Pick up the pencil • Partial Physical  Place his/her hand on pencil • Full Physical  Physically guide him/her to pick up the pencil

25. Reinforcement Presented by Robert Lehardy University of Houston – Clear Lake

26. Topics for Today • What are reinforcers, why are they important, and ways to identify them. • Differential reinforcement – what is it, and when do we use it? • General strategies to use reinforcement effectively.

27. What is a reinforcer? • Can be: edibles, toys, games or activities, social praise or physical attention, tokens. • Also can be: breaks from work, reprimands. • Definition: Anything that follows a behavior that results in an increase in that behavior.

28. Why is reinforcement important? • The actual reason that people do the things they do. • Reinforcement strengthens behaviors. • Reinforcement for: • Going to work? • Eating? • Socializing? • Coming to today’s presentation?

29. Identifying Reinforcers: Observe & Ask • Use your experience with the learner to identify potential reinforcers. • Ask parents or caretakers to suggest reinforcers. • Can also help establish limits on edibles, or define off-limits toys or activities. • Limitations • Time consuming. • Results of observations can be short-lived.

30. Identifying Reinforcers: Assessments • Why are preference assessments important? • Quicker to conduct than to observe. • Can be done at your convenience. • Systematic and data-based. • Can help you remain aware of your learner’s preferences. • For learners with difficulty making choices: • Single Item Preference Assessment • Paired Item Preference Assessment • For learners that can make choices: • Multiple Item Preference Assessment • Much faster than other assessments.

31. Single Item Preference Assessment • Select the items that you want to assess. • Give an item to the learner. • Using a stopwatch, record how long they play with the item, up to a maximum of 30 seconds. • Retrieve the item and repeat with other items.

33. Paired Item Preference Assessment • Select the items that you want to assess. • Position an item pair in front of the learner. • Ask them to “pick one,” and physically block attempts to pick more than one item. • If the learner does not pick an item, allow them to sample each item briefly and then re-present the pair. • Record what they pick, clear the other item from the table, and let them play for 30 seconds. • Retrieve the item and continue the assessment.

35. Multiple Item Preference Assessment • Select 3-7 items that you want to assess. • Position all items in front of the learner. • Ask them to “pick one,” and physically block attempts to pick more than one item. • If the learner does not pick an item, give another brief exposure to each item and start over from step 2. • Record what they pick, clear all other items from the table, and let them play for 30 seconds. • Retrieve the item, remove it from the assessment, re-present all other items and repeat from step 4.

37. Strategies for All Assessments, part 1 • Preference assessments should be fun. • Assessments can be performed anywhere. • If learners have problems giving items back, preference assessments can be great practice. • Assess food and toys in different assessments.

38. Strategies for All Assessments, part 2 • If the learner has little or no experience with the item, allow them to briefly play with each item. • Clear the area and remove distractions. • Block attempts to grab multiple items. • Conduct assessments often! • Identified items are given for work, not free play.

39. Differential Reinforcement • A complicated name; simply different reinforcement for different behaviors. • Used to shape some behaviors related to: • Task completion • Increasing compliance • Training new skills • More reinforcement for behaviors that are closer to being “independent”. • Less reinforcement (but still some) for behaviors that are not as independent.

40. Keeping Reinforcers Effective, part 1 • Deliver reinforcement often. • Deliver reinforcement immediately. • Pair social praise with all reinforcement. • Allow learners to sample new reinforcers. • Deliver small amounts of reinforcement. • Allow learners to choose their reinforcer.

41. Keeping Reinforcers Effective, part 2 • Use preference assessments. • Consider the portability of your reinforcement. • Vary your reinforcers. • Use differential reinforcement. • Give reinforcement for good attempts or tries. • Don’t give reinforcement until the desired behavior has occurred.

42. Common Mistakes in Reinforcement • Allowing excessive use of the same reinforcer. • Use different items. • Save your learner’s top items for work time. • Assessing preferences only once. • Preferences change, so assess often. • Use the most highly-preferred items. • Not delivering reinforcement. • Reinforce every appropriate behavior you can. • “Bribing” learners with reinforcement after problem behavior. • Bribing is a short term solution with long-term problems – don’t do it. • Not using differential reinforcement. • Great work deserves even better rewards.

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