Chapter 10 Prompting and Transfer of Stimulus Control

Used to develop stimulus control (to get the right behavior to occur at the right time) Used to develop new behaviors Examples: Teaching Trevor to hit a baseball Teaching Trevor to hit a baseball Teaching Natasha to read English words Teaching Natasha to read English words Learning new material for a class Learning new material for a class

Prompting and Transfer of Stimulus Control is used by: TeachersCoachesParentsTrainers

What is a Prompt? An antecedent stimulus or event that controls a response A prompt gets the behavior to occur in the correct situation so the behavior can be reinforced S D + prompt  R  S R

Types of Prompts Response prompts Stimulus prompts

Response prompts: Involve the behavior of another person - Verbal prompt - Gestural prompt - Modeling prompt - Physical prompt

Stimulus prompts: Involve change in an antecedent stimulus - Within stimulus prompt - Extra-stimulus prompt

Examples SD (prompt) > R > SR Baseball thrown ----> swing the > hit the by pitcher bat correctly baseball, (coach’s assistance) get praise Written word “ENTER” ----> student ----> praise (teacher says “enter”) says “enter”

Transfer of Stimulus Control Getting the behavior to occur in the presence of the S D without prompts Getting the behavior to occur in the presence of the S D without promptsFading Prompt delay

Fading Gradual removal of a prompt while the response occurs in the presence of the S D Prompt fading - Gradually removing the response prompt Example: Coach provides less and less physical assistance to Trevor to hit the ball Stimulus fading - Gradually removing the stimulus prompt Example: Students look at the answers on the flash cards less and less as they learn the answers to multiplication problems

Prompt Delay Present the S D, wait X number of seconds, then present the prompt (if needed) Example: The teacher shows the word to Natasha and waits 4 sec. If Natasha does not say the word, the teacher says the word as a prompt

Using Prompting and Fading 1. Choose the most appropriate prompt strategy 2. Get the learner’s attention 3. Present the S D 4. Prompt the correct response 5. Reinforce the correct response 6. Fade the prompts over trials 7. Continue to reinforce unprompted responses 8. Use intermittent reinforcement for maintenance

Using Prompting and Fading to Study for a Behavior Modification Test S D > R >S R S D > R >S R practice test question correct answer self-praise (+ prompt) (+ prompt) Prompt = looking up the correct answer Fade prompts until you can answer the question without looking it up

Using Index Cards to Study S D - A question on one side R - Providing the correct answer Prompt - The correct answer on the other side of the index card Fading - Look at the answer on the card less and less until you can give the answer without looking