When to prompt during FCT?

Understanding the effects of prompting immediately after problem behavior occurs during functional communication training

Findings

There was a technological gap in functional communication research. The researchers realized that there was little description about how and when to prompt the functional communicative response (FCR). Most research articles simply said to teach with a prompt delay. But there was little description about if you should prompt before, during, or after bouts of problem behavior. So, that is what these researchers sought to figure out. They compared three different prompting arrangements. They were immediately following problem behavior, immediately following reinforcement removal, and delaying following problem behavior. These three strategies all present with their disadvantages and advantages, but the main concern was the development of a response chain. This was primarily a concern for the reactive prompting strategy, since every single time a problem behavior would occur, the therapist would prompt. The researchers found that reactive prompting was not associated with an increase in problem behavior in 8/11 participants, indicating that the response chain concern was less worrisome. However, the delayed prompting strategy did result in an extinction burst, which then was helped with the immediate prompting following the reinforcement removal. That data indicates that it may be more efficient to start with immediate prompting following reinforcement removal for some children who engage in more severe topographies of behavior.

Research to Practice

This article has multiple key takeaways to pull out. However, because this is the first article comparing all these prompting types, it is important to not jump to any immediate conclusions and continue examining personal methods with an eye for skepticism. However, the evidence presented seems to suggest that for most kiddos, reactive prompting immediately following problem behavior was the more effective prompting strategy. This strategy maximized behavior reduction and lessened a concern about prompt dependency. However, it also may be wise to use immediate prompting following reinforcement disruption if the topography of behavior is severe enough to not allow for a single instance to occur. Combined with a progressive (and flexible) prompt delay, this prompting strategy will likely lead to the acquisition of the FCR with minimal problem behavior.

Landa, R. K., Hanley, G. P., Gover, H. C., Rajaraman, A. & Ruppel, K. W. (2022). Understanding the effects of prompting immediately after problem behavior occurs during functional communication training. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 55(1), 121-137. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.889