Evaluation of teaching errors related to prompt dependence

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2013

First Committee Member

Karsten, Amanda M.

Second Committee Member

Thompson, Rachel H.

Third Committee Member

Dickson, Chata A.

Abstract

"Cameron, Ainsleigh, and Bird (1992) defined prompt dependency as a person responding to prompts instead of responding to the cues that are expected to evoke the target behavior. A more conceptually complete definition of prompt-dependent responding is the failure to transfer stimulus control from a supplemental stimulus, or prompt, to the programmed discriminative stimulus. Teachers may use prompt dependence to explain poor performance. For example, “Johnny never gets dressed on his own because he is prompt dependent.” More likely, prompt-dependent responding is caused by ineffective teaching that results in an incomplete transfer of stimulus control (e.g., low-integrity differential reinforcement, low-integrity prompt fading, or some combination of these teaching errors). The current study manipulated teaching responses which may lead to prompt dependence – nondifferential reinforcement of prompted and unprompted student responses and unsystematic fading of the prompt delay. Two participants did not master skills in any condition associated with teaching errors; a third participant reached mastery across conditions but required the fewest training sessions with high-integrity differential reinforcement and low-integrity time delay. Results are discussed in terms of 1) teacher behaviors that may delay or preclude independent performance and 2) directions for future research on preventing and remediating prompt dependent responding among people with developmental disabilities."

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