22/02/2025
Revisiting the Prompt Hierarchy for AAC (Part 2 of 4)
Today I want to share with you an updated version of the prompt hierarchy for AAC. In this version, I’ve tried to make abundantly clear what was implied in the original version in 2015.
The 2015 version was a recreation of a resource from the Rocky Bay Positive AACtion resource out of Australia. This resource was chosen by myself and a group of SLPs with whom I collaborated. We felt like it described the heavy-handed prompting we saw in many classrooms; often by well-intentioned staff who were given very little training on how to support students using AAC.
The only change we made was to the color gradation. The Rocky Bay resource had the least restrictive prompts colored RED and the most restrictive prompts colored GREEN. This, we feared, would lead staff to thinking they should use a most-to-least prompting method.
Since that time, several of my teacher and SLP colleagues have introduced other visuals that better describe respectful practices for teaching AAC. I’ll share some of those with you at the end of today’s post.
For now, focus on the importance of using the first four strategies during AAC instruction and intervention. Foundationally, we need to explicitly say, “We cannot prompt skills that we have not yet taught.” Just because we have a linguistic target in mind - does not mean that our learners can predict that target. First and foremost, let’s advocate for meaningful and engaging instruction BEFORE we expect learners to demonstrate new skills.
I’m going to repeat that to emphasize how simple yet foundational this is. We cannot prompt skills that we have not yet taught. As educators, we need to have a discussion about what type of explicit instruction we are providing AAC learners. Yes, modeling/demonstration. Yes, verbal referencing. But also -- teaching. Specific vocabulary, functional strategies for use, pragmatic skills, the connection to literacy. All of it. Even the healthy prompting strategies will be challenging if we are trying to magically elicit skills that do not yet exist.
So today, please read over this updated graphic. Consider which of these strategies are used the most in your program/classroom/clinic. And think about where you can start guiding teams to agree that physical prompting and forced imitation are not good practice. Tomorrow, I’ll share more about the risks associated with heavy prompting. In the meantime, consider also using these resources on supporting AAC learners in a healthy and respectful way.
Jane Farrall (2023): https://www.janefarrall.com/the-problems-with-hand-over-hand-v2-0/
The AAC Coach (2020): https://m.facebook.com/theaaccoach/posts/194495858704259/
Kate Ahern (2016):
https://teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com/2016/03/rethinking-aac-prompting-hierarchy-in.html?fbclid=IwAR0_mhRUx3_9jBWvcCTSCNvQoOXcNiH0xotNn7-otcfJaW6ESVFbXw-YISM
