Modeling and Practice, Shaping, Prompting:

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?

In all likelihood, the student is a long way from where you want him to be with planning and prioritizing. A primary instructor will need to design with the student those visual supports that will serve as the student’s organizational frame.

There are two steps in self-organization that have to be shaped in the class where the priority or deadline is presented:

Write down the assignment. That first step of recognizing the priority and writing it down is the key target for instructional focus. Once you devise the visual supports that fit this student, consistency in presentation and monitoring at a simple and precise level by all teachers will be required. In the initial phase, maybe all teachers should write ‘new’ assignments on the board. When all teachers present a priority, they should use a fairly explicit verbal statement (“This is due on….”), monitor the target student’s response and verbally prompt to assure that the student writes the priority or deadline in a designated space in his assignment folder. For some students, these strategies may be classroom accommodations afforded to the student as part of their IEP or 504 Plan. Over time, the goal is to build responsiveness to increasingly varied and generalized deadline notification methods from the instructors and supervisors he encounters.
Place any assignment materials in the right divider or folder so that the student can both find it and plan for it at a later time (see the Organizing Work Space and Materials topic). In the initial stages of shaping these organizational skills, it may be necessary for the teacher to prompt and assure that the student places the assignment material in the designated divider for ‘new assignments.’

*Warning: your detective work of going back to other instructors and identifying deadlines or missing materials requires lots of time and might communicate to the student that he can always rely on you (rather than to self-organize and self-advocate). To reduce this effort of “chasing down information” throughout a school campus, consider how email notifications (shared between teacher, student, and caregivers at home) can potentially support consistency in prompting and assuring that the assignment is written down every time and that materials are where they need to be. The side effects of not implementing the consistent plan are far worse than the task of getting internal consistency.

The primary instructor may then carry the student through the remaining steps of the planning process. At designated times, that primary instructor reviews the assignment sheet and assignment materials to support the student in writing the organized steps and time estimations into his calendar so that he can carry out the schedule on his own. Getting the student to tolerate this structure is, in and of itself, a target of instruction at times. However, you can see the necessity of using the same concrete approach to planning throughout the student’s academic career. The instructor who considers how to use this structure and planning process in future environments is to be applauded. Remind yourself that you are teaching ‘planning’ skills, not just academic survival skills. Your goal is a student who can use what he learned in high school in future adult environments. Although the student probably won’t use a notebook if he is in a shipping and receiving position in retail work, he may use a ‘priorities map’ to organize his actions.

What visual supports (scripts, instructions, reminder cues, etc.) will you use to help the student rehearse the expected behavior or skill?

Consider some of the responses that will require repeated practice:

Recognize that a deadline has been issued, and identify that deadline. Role-play scenarios and video scenarios might support the student in recognizing that the “actor” just issued a deadline and identifying the precise due date/time. Target increasingly varied deadline notification methods so that the student builds a generalized concept of and response to “I am being given a deadline…This is the deadline…”
Write it down on the designated visual support (calendar, mobile phone planner, etc.). Write down the assignment on the date (and time in some cases) that it is due.
If presented with assignment material that goes along with that deadline, place the materials in a designated location (within a visual organizational tool such as a specifically labeled folder or binder).
Identify the amount of time available to complete the total task by referring to the designated visual support (calendar, mobile planner, etc.). Based on this information, when should I start the assignment? Write down the assignment on the date you will start working on the assignment. Write this down on the designated visual support (calendar, mobile phone planner, etc.).
As necessary, break down the task into smaller steps. Use such visual supports as to-do lists and instructions to visually represent (write down) this plan.
Write down each smaller step on the date you will complete that smaller step. Write this down on the task to-do list and on the designated calendar, mobile planner, etc.
Refer back to the designated visual support that identifies assignments and deadlines to initiate the act of completing the tasks associated with that deadline – a timer, sticky note, or auditory cue on a mobile device can cue the student to refer to his calendar at a particular time.
Retrieve from the visual organizational tool any materials associated with that deadline.

What type of prompting might you need to provide in the initial learning phase?

A systematic process of modeling the use of a system with labeling of actions by the instructor is often necessary. The student may need to see the process done before he will try. For some, the modeling will be less necessary because the student learns by doing, not by seeing. In this case, the instructor takes the student through the process doing parts of it, deemed too difficult for the student, as a starting point. For instance, the student is prompted to write down a priority on his ‘assignment worksheet’ or daily planner for a class period. Since this first step (step 3) is the initial target, a primary instructor may then meet with the student at a designated time to support the student in identifying how to break down steps and place specific assignments on his weekly or monthly calendar. Initial prompting may be verbal but, if at all possible, should focus on having the student write in the assignments where they go in the notebook or planner and on having the student place assignments in the proper place so he can find them.

The instructor expects the student to perform certain steps, labeling each step whether completed by the instructor or the student. Fading the model and verbal prompting one step at a time while expecting student performance, becomes the focus of instruction. Fading the labeling by the teacher to self-labeling by the student also becomes a focus since self-talk in using a sequence of steps is a successful technique to build independence. As always, you fade the models, the verbal prompts and eventually the gestures so that the student uses his ‘planning process’ visual support independently.

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?

Are you arranging frequent practice opportunities to build fluency through repetition?

As noted previously, the instructor may only have one time per day (or less) to help a student with planning, prioritizing and handling deadlines. This is likely to create a real challenge in moving the student to independence and success in using a system. Consider any way possible to provide 2 or 3 short times daily for practice in using the supports for planning, in using the process, in adjusting priorities due to new information. You can recruit support from all instructors and from the student’s natural supports at home.

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?

Sharing the system you develop with all instructors in school is vitally important. The other instructors, and the student’s caregivers at home, need to prompt the student in the same way that the lead instructor does. The other instructors need to know how the system is used and where the student is in the sequence of steps for using the system independently.