Rad N Bad: Your Prompting Hierarchy Sucks — Individualized Prompt Selection, Written Fading Rules, and Preventing Prompt Dependency

Prompting is how we get a response to occur so it can be reinforced, but many programs apply a single clinic-wide hierarchy (usually most-to-least or least-to-most) to every learner and every skill, deliver prompts before the learner has a chance to respond, and never specify how prompts will be faded. In this episode, hosts Sean Yocum and Michael Carrero argue that prompt dependency is often a product of staff and organizational contingencies, such as rapid prompting that keeps data sheets clean, trials-per-hour benchmarks, and reinforcing prompted and independent responses equally. They review research showing that no single prompting procedure is best for every learner: Libby and colleagues (2008) found that most-to-least prompting produced fewer errors but least-to-most was faster for some learners, and that adding a delay to most-to-least prompting produced nearly as rapid acquisition with fewer errors; Seaver and Bourret (2014) showed that individualized assessments of prompt types and fading procedures produced generally reliable, learner-specific results; and the delayed-prompting literature on transfer of stimulus control (Touchette & Howard, 1984; Cengher et al., 2018). The hosts distinguish prompt types from fading procedures and recommend that every program state the prompt type, the fading method, and the rationale for that learner and skill. They describe brief prompt comparisons, wait time trained through behavioral skills training, written fading rules set before teaching begins, and graphing prompt level alongside accuracy so teams can make data-based decisions. Participants will leave with a prompting-plan and fade-rule worksheet.