Prompt dependence
A situation in which a learner responds correctly only when prompted and waits for help instead of responding to the natural SD.
A learner is prompt dependent when the prompt, rather than the natural SD, controls the response. The learner may stop and wait for a gesture, look at the RBT for a nod, or complete each step of a routine only when told "next." The skill seems to be learned but falls apart when the prompt is not there.
Common causes include fading too slowly or not at all, giving more help than needed, giving the same reinforcement for prompted and independent responses, and unplanned prompts such as eye gaze, pauses or a hand hovering near the materials. A learner whose hesitations are always followed quickly by a prompt may also learn that waiting works.
Supervisors prevent and address prompt dependence with planned fading, time delay, differential reinforcement (stronger reinforcement for independent responses) and stimulus prompts that are easier to fade, and by teaching across people and settings.
For an RBT, the key habits are to give only the prompts the plan calls for, to keep their own body language neutral, to record prompt levels honestly, and to report when a client seems to be waiting for help.
Example and non-example
| Example | A client can wash their hands only when the RBT says each step aloud. When the RBT stays quiet, the client stands at the sink with the water running and looks at the RBT. |
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| Non-example | A client who has not yet learned a skill and makes errors without prompts is still in acquisition. That is not prompt dependence unless the client has been taught with prompts and does not respond without them. |
Don't confuse it with
| Skill deficit | A skill deficit means the learner cannot do the skill; prompt dependence means the learner can do it with prompts but not under the natural SD. |
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Test yourself
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Question 1A plan says to move from full physical prompts to partial physical prompts once the client meets a set criterion. The client meets it, but the RBT keeps using full physical prompts because sessions go faster. What is the main risk to the client?
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B: The client may come to rely on the prompt and not respond independently. Prompts that are not faded as planned can become part of the cue for responding. The client may wait for help instead of responding to the natural instruction, which is prompt dependence.
- A: Keeping full prompts does not speed independent learning or generalization.
- C: Continued heavy prompting delays transfer of control to the natural cue.
- D: Prompt fading is not extinction, and the risk the plan's fading step guards against is prompt dependence.
Task A.8 · 40-hour curriculum section E
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Question 2A client does every step of a snack-prep chain correctly, but only after the RBT taps the photo for the next step each time. What is the main risk?
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D: The client may become dependent on the taps. When a prompt is never faded, the learner can become prompt dependent. The steps should be recorded as prompted, and the supervisor's plan for fading the taps should be followed.
- A: Satiation concerns the reinforcer, not the taps before each step.
- B: Tapping does not turn chaining into shaping.
- C: The taps come before steps as prompts, not at the end as a reinforcer.
Task C.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E
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Question 3After many sessions, a client completes a puzzle only after the RBT points to where each piece goes, even though the client has shown they can place the pieces. The client waits and looks at the RBT before each piece. What is this pattern called?
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D: Prompt dependence. Prompt dependence means the response occurs only when a prompt is given, so the prompt rather than the natural cue controls it. Planned, timely prompt fading helps prevent it.
- A: Response generalization is the appearance of new, similar responses; here the client waits for help.
- B: An extinction burst is a temporary increase in behavior when reinforcement stops.
- C: Stimulus generalization is responding to new, similar stimuli; here the client responds only after a prompt.
Task C.7 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Answer every question to see your score.
On the RBT exam
This term belongs to task C.7 Prompting and prompt fading in content area C, Behavior Acquisition, which is 19 of the 75 scored questions.