Ever wonder why we always stop at a red light and go at a green light? Ever wonder why we use a spoon instead of a fork to eat soup?The answer is stimulus control. All behavior is under some form of stimulus control and antecedents often signal as “cues” in our environment to engage in specified behaviors. Understanding this concept is crucial in the development of individualized programming and effective teaching. When working with students with behavioral difficulties, the use of prompts and shaping behavior is often required to help gain control over desired behaviors, which will allow you to work more effectively with your students and clients.

This training will review the concept of stimulus control, as well as how prompting can be used to gain and transfer stimulus control in order to promote desired responses and improve student independence. Concepts such as stimulus control, discriminative stimulus, stimulus delta, transfer of stimulus control, prompt hierarchy, prompt fading, and ways to utilize these concepts within your teaching environment to improve student behavior will be reviewed.