Behavior Therapy Ch. 10 Practice Questions

What is a prompt? When is a prompt used in behavior modification?

A prompt, an antecedent stimulus that evokes a response, is used to increase the likelihood that an individual will engage in the correct behavior at the correct time. In behavior modification, prompts are used during discrimination training to help a person engage in the correct behavior in the presence of the SD.

What is a stimulus prompt? Describe two types of stimulus prompts.

A stimulus prompt involves some change in a stimulus or the addition or removal of a stimulus to make a correct response more likely. There are two types of stimulus prompts: When the SD is altered, this is referred to as a within-stimulus prompt. When another stimulus or cue is added to the SD, it is considered an extra-stimulus prompt.

Provide examples of the two types of stimulus prompts.

Coach McCall used a within-stimulus prompt when he had Coach Dave throw easy pitches for the kids to hit at first. An example of an extra-stimulus prompt is a picture prompt used to help adolescents with intellectual disabilities complete complex vocational tasks correctly.

Describe fading of stimulus prompts. Provide an example of within-stimulus prompt fading and extrastimulus prompt fading.

Fading of stimulus prompts (stimulus fading) entails gradually removing the stimulus prompts to transfer stimulus control to the natural SD. For an extra-stimulus prompt, fading would involve the gradual removal of that additional stimulus as the response began occurring reliably in the presence of the SD. For example, when a student is using flash cards to learn multiplication facts, the answer on the others side of the flashcard is the stimulus prompt. The student is using stimulus fading when she looks at the answers to the problems less and less as she goes through the flash cards. For a within-stimulus prompt, fading would involve gradually changing the SD from its altered form to its natural form. For example, Coach McCall used a stimulus prompt when he had Coach Dave throw easy pitches for his players to hit. Stimulus fading involved gradually increasing the speed of the pitches until they were being thrown at normal speed.

Provide examples of the four types of response prompts.

From the example in the chapter, when Coach McCall told Luke how to hit the ball correctly, he was using a verbal prompt; Coach McCall used a gestural prompt with Tom when he motioned to him how to swing the bat. With Matt a modeling prompt was used when Coach McCall showed him the target behavior. Coach McCall provided a physical prompt to Trevor by physically guiding him through the correct behavior until he could do it himself. (Note: in each case a verbal prompt was provided as well.)

Describe the prompt delay procedure. Provide an example of the constant prompt delay procedure and an example of the progressive prompt delay procedure.

In the prompt delay procedure, you present the SD, wait a certain number of seconds and, if the correct response is not made, you provide the prompt. With the constant prompt delay procedure, the number of seconds which pass before the prompt is provided remains constant. For example, in teaching adolescents with intellectual disabilities to read common words, a word was presented on a flashcard (SD) and, if the student did not respond in 4 seconds, a verbal prompt was provided. With the progressive prompt delay procedure, the number of seconds which pass before the prompt is provided progressively increases. For example, in teaching children with autism to say "thank you" upon receiving a toy, a toy was given to the child, and if the child said "thank you," an edible reinforcer and praise were delivered. When a child did not say "thank you," a verbal prompt was initially provided after 2 seconds. When the child said "thank you" when the prompt delay was 2 seconds, it was gradually increased by 2 second intervals until the prompt delay was 10 sec. Eventually the child started to say "thank you" before the prompt was given.

Suppose you are conducting a learning trial with a student with autism. How would you use a verbal and physical response prompt to get the student to pay attention to you when you said the students name?

In using a verbal and physical response prompts to get an autistic child to pay attention to you as you conducted a learning trial, you would use prompting and transfer of stimulus control procedures according to the following guidelines: To begin you would choose the most appropriate prompting strategy, in this case verbal and physical response prompts. The verbal prompt could be "J.R. (for example), look at me." For a physical prompt you could gently guide the child's head (by the chin) with your hand so that he is looking at you. The next step is to present the SD, which is the relevant stimulus that should evoke the correct response in the learner once training is completed. In this case, you sitting in a chair across from the child may be the SD. Next, prompt the correct response. If the child does not look at you when you sit down across from him, the verbal and physical prompts should be provided. Next, reinforce the correct behavior. When the child looks at you (whether prompted or unprompted), immediately provide a reinforcer, perhaps a small edible in this case. Next, transfer stimulus control. As soon as possible, prompts should be eliminated to transfer stimulus control from the prompt to the natural SD. In this case a progressive time delay procedure would be appropriate. The prompts could initially be provided after a period of two seconds had elapsed following the presentation of the SD. As the child began to execute the target response within that 2 second period, the time before the prompt was provided could then be gradually increased by 2 second intervals, until no prompts were needed. Finally, you would continue to reinforce unprompted responses. Whenever the child looked at you when you sat down across from him after prompts have been eliminated, continue to provide a reinforcer. As the child continues to engage in the correct behavior, change from a continuous reinforcement schedule to an intermittent reinforcement schedule.

Describe how you could use stimulus prompts and fading to learn definitions

In using stimulus prompts and fading to learn definitions for the behavior modification procedures described in this chapter, you could make flashcards which had the term on one side (SD) and the definition on the other (stimulus prompt). You would be using stimulus fading when you looked at the definitions less and less as you went through the flashcards. Once you knew the meanings of all the terms and no longer looked at the back of the cards for the definition, stimulus control will have transferred from the written definition (stimulus prompt) to the term (the SD).

Describe fading with least-to-most prompting and fading with most-to-least prompting.

Least-to most prompting and most-to-least prompting are methods of fading across prompts. With least-to-most prompting, the least intrusive prompt is provided first and the more intrusive prompts provided only as necessary, from verbal prompts to gestural prompts to modeling prompts to physical prompts. The same sequence is subsequently repeated until the learner responds correctly. Over trials, the correct response will be made before the physical prompt is needed, then before the modeling prompt, and then before the gestural prompt, until eventually no prompts are needed. With most-to-least prompting, a physical prompt together with a verbal prompt would first be provided. The physical prompt would then be faded as the learner successfully executed the behavior. Once the physical prompt was faded, a verbal and gestural prompts would be provided. As the learner continued to be successful, the gestural prompt would be faded and only the verbal prompt would be provided. Finally, the verbal prompt would be faded as the learner successfully executed the behavior.

What is least-to-most prompting? What is the other term for it? Provide an example.

Least-to-most prompting, also called the system of least prompts, is defined as providing the least intrusive prompt first and using more intrusive prompts only as necessary to get the correct behavior to occur. Least-to most prompting is a method of fading across prompts. For example, Ralph's job coach first uses the least intrusive prompt, a verbal prompt, to get Ralph to remove the paper stuffing out of the shoe. If Ralph does not respond in 5 seconds, the job coach repeats the verbal prompt and points at the paper in the shoe (provides a gestural prompt). If Ralph does not respond in 5 seconds, the job coach models the correct behavior and provides the verbal prompt. If Ralph still does not respond, the job coach uses physical guidance as he provides the verbal prompt.

What is transfer of stimulus control? Why is it important?

Once stimulus or response prompts have been used to get the correct response to occur, the prompts have to be eliminated to transfer stimulus control to the natural SD. Transfer of stimulus control is important, because it ensures that the correct behavior occurs at the right time without any assistance (prompts).

What is response prompt? Identify and describe four types of response prompts.

Response prompts involve the behavior of another person (a trainer) used to get the desired response to occur. With a verbal prompt, the verbal behavior of another person results in the correct response in the presence of the SD. A gestural prompt is any physical movement or gesture of another person that leads to the correct behavior in the presence of the SD. A modeling prompt (or modeling) is any demonstration of the correct behavior by another person that makes it more likely that the correct behavior will occur at the right time. With a physical prompt, another person physically assists the individual to engage in the correct behavior at the right time.

Flashing lights on a billboard that make it more likely you will read the word on the billboard are a kind of prompt. What prompt is used in this example?

The flashing lights are a stimulus prompt, in particular, an extra-stimulus prompt.

Describe fading of response prompts. Provide an example.

With fading of response prompts (prompt fading), a response prompts is gradually removed across learning trials until the prompt is no longer provided. For example, when Coach McCall provided fewer and fewer instructions to Luke as he hit the ball, Coach McCall was fading a verbal prompt.

What is most-to-least prompting? Provide an example.

With most-to-least prompting, the most intrusive prompt is used first and is then faded to less intrusive prompts. For example, in using most-to-least prompting the job coach should start by providing a physical prompt together with a verbal prompt. He would then start to fade the physical prompt as Ralph successfully executed the behavior. Once he faded the physical prompt he would provide a verbal and gestural prompt. Then as Ralph continued to be successful, he would fade the verbal prompt as Ralph correctly took the paper out of the shoe with no assistance.