Using Prompting

Parents want their deaf or hard of hearing child to practice communicating all the time. They want their child to demonstrate what they know and to come up with responses themselves. They want their children to be independent, social, and confident.

We know that what we do, as adults, make impressions on our children. We know that modeling shows them what to do and how to behave. Our expectations also alert our children to what to do. Prompting is a form of communication expectation.

Examples of prompts include:

• Looking expectantly at your child by opening your eyes wider, raising your eyebrows, and leaning forward or tilting your head

• Touching your child gently

• Smiling at your child

• Starting your child off with what you think he wants to say/sign by using the first sound/hand shape only

• Saying/signing “your turn”

• Saying /signing “use your words”, or “you need to tell me what you want”

• Using open ended questions which have no right or wrong answer but encourage others to participate. For instance, “I wonder why…” “What would happen if…” “What do you think (in response to their question before giving an answer)?” “What is happening?” “What could we do about this?”

• Pausing or waiting for your child to take a turn
  
  

Routines are a great way to start using prompting. When you do the same activities every day, you can expect your child to contribute to the planning and communicate about the process. For example, before getting dressed you could start with “I’m wearing shorts today. It’s warm outside. I wonder if you will want your jean shorts or your skirt?” Then you can expect your child to indicate what she wants to wear by looking expectantly and waiting. Or, you could sing “This is the way we put on our…” and hold up the clothing item that you expect your child to name or wait for your child to choose which item to put on next. Helping your child dress you can start the first sound of the item, such as “SSSSS….”and wait for your child to say “socks”.

From a Parent –

I learned to encourage Danny in more subtle ways, like nodding or looking at him, instead of always telling him, ‘You say it. Say this. Say that.’ Nag, nag, nag. We both found the subtle prompting more effective.