Prompt fading
Gradually and systematically reducing prompts so that the correct response comes under the control of the natural SD rather than the prompt.
Prompt fading is the planned removal of help. As the learner responds correctly, the RBT gives less assistance, for example moving from a full physical prompt to a partial physical prompt, then a gesture, then no prompt. The goal is transfer of stimulus control: the response should come to occur in the presence of the natural SD alone.
Common methods include most-to-least prompting, least-to-most prompting, graduated guidance and time delay for response prompts, and stimulus fading and stimulus shaping for stimulus prompts. The supervisor chooses the method and writes the rules for when to fade and when to go back to more help.
Fading should be gradual enough that the learner keeps responding correctly but fast enough to avoid prompt dependence. Stopping prompts too quickly can cause errors and frustration; staying at one prompt level too long can teach the learner to wait for help. Many plans reinforce independent responses more than prompted ones to support fading.
The RBT follows the plan's fading criteria exactly and records the level of prompt used on each trial, because the supervisor uses these data to decide when to change prompt levels.
Example and non-example
| Example | A client is learning to put their name on worksheets. The plan starts with tracing a dotted name, then dots on only half the letters, then only the first letter, and then a blank line. |
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| Non-example | The RBT gives a full verbal model of the answer on every trial for months because the client answers correctly with it. The prompt is not being faded. |
Don't confuse it with
| Stimulus fading | Stimulus fading is one kind of fading that applies to stimulus prompts; prompt fading is the general term. |
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| Extinction | Extinction stops reinforcing a behavior; prompt fading reduces help while the correct response continues to be reinforced. |
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 2After a client's error, the RBT re-presents the instruction with a prompt and the client responds correctly. The plan then has the RBT present the same instruction again with no prompt. What is the purpose of this unprompted trial?
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B: To check whether the client can now respond alone. Presenting the instruction again without a prompt gives the client a chance to show the response independently, which helps move control from the prompt to the instruction.
- A: The unprompted trial is a chance to respond correctly, not a consequence for the error.
- C: This is a teaching trial, not a pause.
- D: Reinforcer effectiveness is checked through preference and choice, not this trial.
Task C.3 · 40-hour curriculum section E
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Question 3A client says "cracker" only right after the RBT says "cracker." What is the goal of the plan's prompt fading?
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A: For the client to ask for crackers with no model. The echoic is used as a prompt for the mand. Fading it moves control to the client's motivation, so the request happens on its own.
- B: Repeating more words is an echoic goal; here the echoic is the prompt to fade.
- C: Naming pictures is a tact goal, not a mand goal.
- D: The goal is to strengthen the request, not end it.
Task C.4 · 40-hour curriculum section A · 40-hour curriculum section E
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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.