A simultaneous prompting daily probe is a planned session without the controlling teaching prompt, usually conducted before the next instructional session. It tests learning from prior teaching rather than correctness under the current prompt. Define the target set, cue, response window, accepted response forms, ordinary supports, consequences, opportunity count, mastery rule, exclusions, and action after errors before using probe results.
Run the simultaneous prompting daily probe
Present only the target opportunity and the supports permitted by the probe definition. Avoid prompting the answer, correcting within the scored opportunity, or practicing it immediately beforehand. Record correct, incorrect, no response, withdrawal, and invalid trials.
Keep probes separate from teaching
The telehealth study used daily probes before instructional sessions because immediate prompts during teaching prevented an in-session test of acquisition. The study used a defined response window and mastery criterion for its targets.
Choose frequency with evidence
The probe-schedule comparison involved four preschool children. Three acquired assigned targets under both everyday and every-fourth-day probe conditions; one acquired only in the every-fourth-day condition. This small study supports measuring schedule effects rather than assuming daily is always best.
Protect access and assent
The Ethics Code addresses assessment, client involvement, assent when applicable, and evaluation. ASHA supports AAC availability. A missing device or access support makes the opportunity a system problem under a plan that requires it.
A practical example
Noah has four probe opportunities due. AAC and materials are ready for 3/4; he answers 2/3 valid opportunities independently. Report system readiness as 3/4 and independent probe performance as 2/3, with the excluded opportunity explained.
Questions families can use
When does the probe occur? Which prompts are absent? What ordinary supports remain? How many opportunities were due? What counts as mastery? Do errors trigger teaching after the scored trial?
Sources
- Behavior Analyst Certification Board, BCBA Test Content Outline, 6th edition
- Mengi and colleagues, Simultaneous Prompting Delivered by Telehealth to Teach Young Children with Autism
- Leaf and colleagues, Comparison of Simultaneous Prompting and No-No Prompting in Two-Choice Discrimination Learning with Children with Autism
- Reichow and Wolery, Comparison of Everyday and Every-Fourth-Day Probe Sessions with the Simultaneous Prompting Procedure
- Akmanoglu and colleagues, Comparison of Simultaneous Prompting and Constant Time Delay Procedures in Teaching Children with Autism
- Tekin-Iftar and Olcay-Gul, Increasing Instructional Efficiency When Using Simultaneous Prompting Procedure in Teaching Academic Skills to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Behavior Analyst Certification Board, Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Augmentative and Alternative Communication
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