Prompt Hierarchy Visual: A Printable Chart for Parents

This prompt hierarchy visual puts the six levels of help on one page, numbered the way the Resource Kit numbers them (1 is independent, 6 is full physical assistance), with the shorthand the kit uses in its tracking grids and a blank grid for recording where your child is this week. It's the chart I'd want on the wall of every bathroom where a child is learning to wash her hands, because the hierarchy only works when everyone helping her can see the same ladder. The full explanation of the levels and why fading matters is in the prompt hierarchy pillar post; this page is the printable and the short version of how to use it.

What's on the chart

The chart has three parts. The first is the ladder: six levels in a single column, independence at the top as level 1 and full physical assistance at the base as level 6, so that reading up is the direction you fade, with the kit's rule under it in one line (move from most supportive to least over time, and don't skip levels). Under the ladder is the kit's six-week toothbrushing fade example. The second part is the shorthand, a code per level so a tracking grid stays readable when you're writing in it with a wet hand at 7:40 in the morning.

The third part is a weekly tracking grid: the routine's steps down the left side, the days across the top, and a box for each step on each day where you write the code for the help it needed. The kit's handwashing task analysis uses this format across twelve steps; the blank version works for any routine.

How to read the abbreviations

Parents sometimes feel silly asking what the letters mean, and therapists who use them daily sometimes forget to say. In the order you'll fade them: FP is full physical, PP is partial physical, VP is visual prompt, G is gestural (the kit defines it as pointing or demonstrating, so modeling counts), V is verbal, and I is independent. The kit's own key reads I, V, G, VP, PP, FP, from least help to most.

Two things trip people up. The natural cue doesn't count as a prompt: turning on the water or saying "time to wash hands" at the start is the situation itself, and every step after that gets rated by how much extra help it took. And when you used two levels on one step, say a word and then a tap, record the more intrusive one, because the grid tracks the ceiling of help and the ceiling is what you're trying to lower.

How to use it this week

Pick one routine. Handwashing, teeth, a shirt, or shoes are the usual candidates, and the prompt hierarchy examples for daily routines post has the steps for each. Write the steps down the left side of the grid (the blank grid has eight rows; the kit's own task analyses run from seven steps for drinking from a cup to thirteen for toothbrushing, so split a long routine across two grids); if your child's therapist has a task analysis already, use their steps so home and clinic are rating the same thing.

For the first two or three days, don't change how you help. Give the natural cue, count silently to five before stepping in (the book's suggestion for children who need extra processing time), help as you normally would, and write down the code. This baseline is often a surprise: many parents discover they've been at FP on a step their child could do with a gesture, because nobody had waited long enough to find out.

Then, for any step at the same level three days running, drop one level. If she was at PP for "rinse," move to G and keep your hands off; if she can't do it at G after the pause, go back to PP for that attempt and try G again tomorrow. After a week you'll see a slope on some rows and a flat line on others, and the flat rows are the ones to bring to your child's therapist.

Where to hang it

Wherever the routine happens, at adult eye level: the bathroom mirror for handwashing and teeth, the closet door for dressing, the wall by the front door for shoes, so that whoever is helping (you, your partner, the grandparent on Tuesdays) sees the current level before their hands move.

A laminated copy with a dry-erase marker survives a bathroom; a page in a plastic sleeve taped to the mirror works too. Some parents post only the ladder and keep the grid in a drawer, especially if the child is old enough to read the codes and might feel judged by them, which is a reasonable choice.

Frequently asked questions

Is the prompt hierarchy a pyramid or a ladder?

Both pictures get used. The kit lists the levels as a numbered column, 1 (independent) to 6 (full physical), and the printable draws that as a ladder with independence at the top, which maps directly onto the tracking grid codes. A pyramid with independence at the peak says the same thing. The levels and the one-level-at-a-time fade rule are the same either way.

Do I need the chart if my child is already in ABA?

Yes, arguably more. The clinic has a prompt hierarchy visual on the wall and a data sheet for your child; the gap is that nobody at home is looking at one. Ask the therapist which level your child is at for each step, write those codes into your grid as your starting point, and fade together.

Where does hand-over-hand fit on the chart?

Hand-over-hand is the kit's description of the FP row. It's meant for brand-new steps and faded gradually, one level at a time, and hand-under-hand is a gentler version for a child who pulls away from having her hands moved. The hand over hand prompting post covers when it's appropriate and how to step down from it.

If the chart is what finally gets clinic skills into your bathroom, the bring therapy home every hour plan is the longer version of that idea, and the book and full Resource Kit are available as a bundle.