When should prompting be provided according to effective prompting strategies?

Prompting should be provided simultaneously or immediately following the discriminative stimulus to ensure that the learner has the best chance of responding correctly. This timing enhances the connection between the cue and the desired response, facilitating a clearer understanding of the task at hand.

Using prompts immediately after the instruction helps to clarify expectations and can guide the learner in executing the skill successfully. This prompt-and-cue relationship is crucial, particularly for individuals with autism, who may require additional support to understand and perform certain tasks. By following the prompt closely on the heels of the discriminative stimulus, the learner can also more readily grasp the relationship between their response and the results, fostering greater learning and independent skill acquisition over time.

The other options suggest delivering prompts either too late or under specific conditions that may not be conducive to effective learning. For example, waiting until a child shows proficiency or has mastered a skill reduces the effectiveness of prompts as a learning tool, since the objective is to support the learner before they reach that level of proficiency.