Prompt with Purpose

Over the past two weeks, we’ve explored giving students time to respond and using the environment to make routines clearer. Even with those supports in place, there will still be times when a student needs additional help.

If you’re new to the field, prompting—a fancy word for providing a little extra help—can feel overwhelming. How long should I wait? Which prompt should I use? Am I helping too much or not enough? Or maybe you’re like I was when I began working with autistic students and didn’t realize there were different ways to provide that help.

Let’s keep it simple: Pause → Choose → Observe → Adjust

You’ll find the full version of this PDF in the Resources section. Print it and post it in your classroom as a quick reminder for you and your team!

A prompt is an additional cue or support that helps a student participate, communicate, or take the next step.

Prompts can include:

• Visual: Pointing the student toward a schedule, checklist, or example

• Gestural: Pointing, looking, or motioning toward the next step

• Model: Demonstrating what to do

• Verbal: Offering a brief direction, clue, or reminder

• Physical: Providing hands-on support when it is appropriate, necessary, and accepted by the student

The goal is not to avoid prompting. The goal is to provide enough support for access and success while leaving room for the student to participate.

You may have seen prompt hierarchies that arrange visual, gestural, verbal, model, and physical prompts from less to more assistance. These can be helpful planning tools, but there isn’t one order that works for every student or skill.

A visual may leave plenty of room for one student to respond, while another student may need a model. Even a verbal reminder can be distracting or difficult to fade for some learners. The hierarchy should fit the learner, not the other way around.

If a prompt would be helpful, choose the least amount of assistance likely to help the student take the next step.

Consider:

• Does the student understand this prompt?

• Does it fit the task and the situation?

• Will it leave room for the student to participate?

• Is it a support the student can eventually use with less adult involvement?

You do not need to move automatically through every prompt on a chart. Begin with a support that makes sense for this learner and this task.

After providing a prompt, pause again. Did the student begin the step? Look toward the materials? Communicate that they need something different?

The student’s response gives us useful information:

• If the prompt helps, give the student room to continue.

• If it provides more help than necessary, try stepping back.

• If the student remains confused or cannot access the task, change or add support.

• If the student appears uncomfortable or distressed, pause and reconsider what they may be communicating.

When physical assistance is considered, pay close attention to the student’s communication, comfort, dignity, and assent. Physical prompting should not be used simply to gain compliance.

During arrival, a student takes off their backpack but pauses before putting it away. Instead of repeating, “Hang up your backpack,” the adult waits a few seconds.

When the student still doesn’t begin, the adult points to the mini-schedule beside the backpack hook. The student checks the schedule, hangs up the backpack, and moves to the next step. As soon as the student gets started, the adult steps back.

In this example, the adult allowed time to process, used a familiar support, and stopped prompting when it was no longer needed. The right support may look different for another student, but the process remains the same: Pause → Choose → Observe → Adjust

Choose one familiar routine and notice the prompts your team already uses.

Ask yourselves:

• Are we giving the student time to respond?

• Which prompts seem to help?

• Could we try a smaller, clearer, or more accessible prompt?

Try one small adjustment and watch how the student responds. You do not need to change the entire routine this week!

Next week, we’ll explore how to fade support thoughtfully while continuing to provide the help students need.

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Check out Dinosaur Land Themes First!, which includes original songs, books, and activities that support students’ skill development and generalization with content that’s fun, accessible, and theme-based. These monthly units now include an expanded Social Studies suite, containing fun, theme-related activities that reinforce cultural engagement. Included in all Themes First! units are lessons, activities, and worksheets for group and independent work at a wide range of levels.

The next Themes First! release, October's Fall in the Forest is ready to prep!

💡Print all the activities you plan to use for the upcoming month as soon as they become available. Put printed activities in a "prep" area equipped with a laminator, file folders, Velcro, labels, and baggies. If you have a large laminator, laminate all the activities at once! When you and your team have a few minutes to spare, laminate, cut, and Velcro. It helps to organize activities in trays by "Needs to be Prepped" and "Finished." Don't forget to teach your team how to prep the activities and to model this new expectation. Check out the How to Prep a Month-Long Themes First! Unit below.

The STAR Media Center has a new look! An updated demo will be coming soon!

The URL to sign up for a STAR Media Center account is currently down. STAR is working on resolving the issue. Until then, please email rachel.tutskey@starautismsupport.com to set up an account.

Past Tuesday Tips & Tricks

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