Fading

It is common for individuals with autism to have difficulty initiating or maintaining conversations. Conversation starters are strategies that assist children with autism in initiating and maintaining conversations and improving reciprocal interactions with peers.

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION STRATEGY

Credits: Amanda Arnold Elementary, Manhattan KS

How To Use

One of the first decisions that should be made when teaching a new behavior is how to fade the prompt or prompts. A plan should be in place to fade the prompts in an orderly fashion. For example, fading the physical prompt of guiding a child’s hands may follow this sequence

  1. supporting wrists,
  2. touching hands lightly,
  3. touching forearm or elbow, and
  4. withdrawing physical contact altogether.

Fading ensures that the child does not become overly dependent on a particular prompt when learning a new skill.

Example(s)

Mr. Taon wanted to teach 6-year-old Warna with classic autism to get ready to leave the classroom when the bell rang. He decided to use prompts and to fade them as Warna became independent. At first, Mr. Taon pointed to a visual of a bell and a door when the bell rang while gently prompting Warna to get up and move toward the door. This prompt involved Mr. Taon placing a hand under each of Warna’s elbows. He would keep one hand on her elbow to guide her to the door while holding the visual.
Over the course of three weeks, he faded his prompt to (a) a light touch on one elbow while handing her the visual, (b) a light touch on her hand and a point to the visual, (c) a point toward a visual, and (d) finally he removed himself from Warna’s desk area.

 

Summary

Fading is the procedure of transferring stimuli as prompts to the natural stimulus. The goal is for students to produce correct responses and minimize errors when only the natural stimulus is provided.

Credits

Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2007). Applied behavior analysis (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. This book discusses fading procedures as well as other ABA strategies.

Target: Texas Autism Resource Guide for Effective Teaching
TSLAT. (n.d.). Retrieved August 29, 2016, from http://txautism.net/interventions 

National Professional Development Center on ASD
 

Autism PDC. (n.d.). Retrieved August 29, 2016, from http://autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu/evidence-based-practices