Tuesday AAC Tip: Modeling vs. Prompting - What is the difference?

Those who know us, know we love AAC. We love being able to support individuals grow in their communication abilities.

So... you have students with AAC devices in your classroom, on your caseload, or your own child just got evaluated, received his own device, and now you're wondering how on Earth you're going to help teach the use of this thing. You are repeatedly hearing buzz words like "model" and "prompt", but you're not totally sure what the difference is. Are they even different? Do you need to do both? YES and YES - let's talk about them!

Modeling

It's just as it sounds. You are "modeling" what the child should be doing by touching words on their device with no expectation or demand on them. Kids need to hear and see you using AAC just like a baby needs to hear you using verbal speech and see your facial expressions/mouth movements while you're talking. Modeling should be done throughout the day during a range of different activities and settings, as well as with a range of communication partners. Our AAC users hear tons of people using verbal speech every day, and it is equally as important for them to hear and see tons of people using their device too!

* * * Think of modeling as “exposure” you are exposing them to language * * *

→ Let's practice: While eating a snack together, before taking another bite, you could say something like, "This is so yummy! I want to eat more" while simultaneously touching /eat more/ on the child's device.

prompting, AAC, LAMP Words for Life, PRC, AssistiveWare, modeling vs prompting

Prompting

Prompting is where you are working together with the child, and there is an expectation of the child's cooperation and response. You are working to help them successfully communicate using their device, with the least amount of support possible - and by least amount, I mean don't leave them hanging, but try not to give them a physical prompt, when all they need is a gesture toward their device. We always want to start with the least amount of prompting and work our way up to the most, so as to always be working toward independence and therefore not over prompting.

Please note: know that it is imperative we, as the communication partners, are never taking the lead to the point of communicating for your child. We, as the communication partner, are not forcing communication. We, as the communication partner, are always considering independence and the need to reduce and fade prompting and use it as a temporary teaching tool.

→ Let's practice: If the child wants more cookies and they're reaching for the cookies, you could say something like, “Oh I think you want to eat some more cookies.” and then wait for the child to respond. If they don't, you could say the same thing again, while simultaneously gesturing to the word /eat/ or /more/ on their device.

Here’s a video sample of the two differences - check it out!