“There are different techniques that can be used in teaching new skills. These include modeling, guiding, prompting and shaping.

Modeling is demonstrating the skill or task the teacher wants the student to learn while the student observes.

Guiding entails physically moving the student through the task he or she is to learn. It could mean actually moving the student’s hands or entire body to a new station. This is a good technique to use when a student is first learning a new task.

Prompting encourages the correct response from the student using minimal physical assistance. Prompting can be a verbal reminder such as, “What did you forget?” or a physical cue such as pointing to something or in a certain direction. It is a reminder to the student of what is expected. It is not performing the task or providing answers to questions.

Shaping starts with an initial behavior or skill and works towards a terminal, or desired behavior. The steps that are learned are like the desired behavior, but have some differences. The steps are approximate to, or approaching, the skill you want the student to learn. Another name for this is successive approximations. An example of shaping as a method of teaching a new skill is reinforcing a student for putting clothes in a pile, when the desired behavior is to have him or her put clothes in the laundry bin. By reinforcing the student as he or she places the pile closer and closer to the bin in successive attempts, shaping is taking place. The intended outcome is to finally get the student to place the pile of clothes into the bin.”

Kathleen Donohue & Patricia O’Haire
The Parent as Teacher: A Practical Guide for Parents of Developmentally Disabled Adults. Boca Raton, FL: Florida Adult and Comuunity Education Network (ACENET), 1991.