Shaping and Prompting

Shaping

• Shaping is the process of differentially reinforcing successive approximations to a target behavior.
• Only reinforce responses that approximate the target behavior.
• Other responses are placed on extinction.

Characteristics of a Good Shaper

• Always have the end goal in mind.
• Keep the terminal criteria or the terminal goal in the forefront.
• Have heightened attention to the learner's responses and to their own responses.
• Change behavior (prompting, feedback) in response to the learner's behavior.
• Be consistent yet flexible.
• Fade prompts quickly but systematically.
• Turn reinforcement on and off based on learner responses.
• Be very black and white in terms of accepting an approximation or understanding the quality of a learner's response.
• Know from trial to trial which response is better.
• Know when to go back a step.
• Apply the principles of differential reinforcement astutely.
• Be focused.
• Be able to loosen contingencies when the learner is ready.

Why Use Shaping?

• To promote learning.
• Learning is defined as a change in behavior that endures or lasts over time.

Reinforcement and Differential Reinforcement

• Differential reinforcement is the key feature of shaping.
• Systematically and purposely reinforce some responses but not other responses.
• Change the magnitude of your reinforcement.
• More or better quality reinforcers for good, closest approximation to the desired response, or for the most independent responses.
• Lesser or lower quality reinforcers for responses that are not close approximation or they're less independent responses.
• Extinction will be used with differential reinforcement; you will no longer reinforce those responses that were previously reinforced.

Examples of Differential Reinforcement

• Teaching a student how to say "juice."
  • Initially, reinforcing "juh," then reinforcing "jus" (closer approximation), and no longer reinforcing "juh."
  • Initially, reinforcing "oh," then reinforcing "joo," and no longer reinforcing "oh."
  • Initially, reinforcing "j," then reinforcing "juice," and only giving juice when they say "juice."
• Everyday example: handwriting.
  • Learning to write smaller and within the lines due to praise and feedback.
  • Initially, large letters, not equal distance, then over time, smaller, better penmanship within smaller lines due to feedback.

Prompting

• Prompting helps shaping.
• Types of prompts: verbal, visual, gesture, model, physical, positional.
• Prompts are supplementary antecedent stimuli that, when presented with the discriminative stimulus, increase the future probability of a response.
• A prompt is anything you do to help the learner perform the correct response.

Goal of Prompting

• Shift responding or transfer stimulus control from the supplementary antecedent stimulus (prompt) to the natural discriminative stimulus (direction).
• Example:
  • Natural discriminative stimulus (direction): "stand up."
  • Supplementary stimulus (prompt): manual guidance.
  • Response: learner stands up.
  • Reinforcement: token, high five, verbal praise.

Ways to Teach with Prompts

• Most to least prompting (airless learning).
  • Often used with new learners and learners developing new skills.
• Least to most prompting.
  • Provides the learner with the opportunity to respond with the least amount of prompting necessary.
• Use the least intrusive prompt that is most likely to work.

Prompt Hierarchy

• Most intrusive prompts at the bottom, fading to least intrusive at the top.
• Goal is to fade to the natural cue or discriminative stimulus.
• Verbal prompts are considered by some as the most intrusive because they are often the difficult type of prompts to fade for the learner.

Errorless Teaching

• Identify a controlling prompt that closely matches the natural discriminative stimulus.
• Fade prompts quickly and systematically.
• Differentially reinforce correct prompts.
• Conduct probes very early in the fading process to assess performance and reduce the number of fading levels.

Why is Errorless Teaching Important?

• Errors can impede acquisition, generalization, and maintenance.
• Errors can lead to disruptive and emotional responses.
• Errors can decrease the amount of available time and instruction.
• Errors increase the likelihood of further errors.

When is Errorless Teaching Applicable?

• Individuals learning responses early in the learning process.
• When errors might be chained into the responses.
• If an individual has a history of failure with more traditional trial and error procedures.
• If an individual has a low tolerance for error correction.
• For those who exhibit problem behavior when reinforcement is too lean or too thin.

Prompt Fading

• Goal with prompting is to always fade and remove them so the learner is responding correctly without any assistance and responding independently.
• Prompt fading is an art form.
• Don't fade the prompts too quickly or you will lose learner responding.
• Fade prompts by using less and less assistance over subsequent learning opportunities.

Review

• Shaping is the process of differentially reinforcing successive approximations to a target behavior.
• Key features of shaping: reinforcement, differential reinforcement, and extinction.
• Extinction is the process of no longer providing reinforcement for a target response.
• A prompt is anything you do to help the learner respond correctly.
• Prompts should always be faded gradually by providing less and less assistance over learning opportunities.
• When fading prompts, differentially reinforce responses that require less and less assistance.