Where is the student now? Where do you want him to be? Given the sub-skill you selected within your task analysis (your starting point for instruction), how can you shape this behavior into a practical skill for the future?
What visual supports (scripts, instructions, reminder cues, etc.) will you use to help the student rehearse the expected behavior or skill?
The student who struggles to understand the concept of asking for help may need a graphic organizer to help him break down the process into concrete and sequenced steps:
Role-playing with concrete scripts allows the student to practice initiating communication of the need for assistance. As the student shows competence with these scripted initiations, you might introduce role-play scenarios. Repeated practice under increasingly novel and naturalistic conditions is key. Watching these initiations on video may also support practice and subsequent performance under real conditions.
If your plan is also to build in visual reminder cues (to be placed in a work area or with the student), it is important to provide the student with multiple opportunities to practice referencing and responding to such cues. For example, the visual cue might remind the student to ask for help if needed and provide specific words he can use to initiate this communication. He might self-monitor with a checklist that gives concrete guidelines as to when to ask for help. The cue might also remind the student who tends to seek help too frequently of the steps to go through before asking for help.
What type of prompting might you need to provide in the initial learning phase? Are you arranging frequent practice opportunities to build fluency through repetition?
You might provide modeling prompts (demonstrating how to raise hand to get help) and verbal prompts (“Do you need help with this assignment?” or “Are you missing something?”) for the student who struggles to determine when there is a problem. You may need to sabotage situations, such as providing inadequate or broken materials, so the student can practice seeking help and receive immediate positive feedback for doing so.
What is your plan for systematically and quickly fading out your prompting? How do you time and fade the prompt to support the student in initiating the target behavior?
As with all skills, your effort is to fade your prompts (verbal, modeling, gestural) as you shift the student’s attention to less invasive supports such as visual reminder cues, coping cards, and visual instructions.
For example, a student might need a visual card that cues him to either “ask for help,” or “do I really need help, or can I do this myself?” at his work area that the instructor taps at first and then fades as the student refers to the card with increasing independence.
The visual cues might be adapted or even faded out as the student becomes more successful in initiating asking for help in the various situations. Other students might need the visual cue to remain indefinitely.
Can the student discriminate between the more versus less appropriate response in a given role-play scenario? Are you arranging opportunities for the student to make such discriminations and to label when the instructor or someone else asks too many questions, or when someone does not seek help and it results in more problems?
Live action role-play and video scenarios can be used to contrast two behaviors and two different outcomes within the same situation – asking for help too much versus asking for help once, for example. Such scenarios provide opportunities for you and the student(s) to critique and discuss how help is sought.
What steps do you need to take to ensure that everyone targeting that skill applies the same level of prompting and fades it out at the same rate to support initiation by the student?
The same visual cues should be used at all sites (school, work and home), if that is what the student needs and uses successfully. Communication with parents and job coaches will be important for continuity and success.