Ever had one of those days when your child seems less responsive than usual?

We’ve had our share of those times. One day my son seemed a bit “spaced out,” for lack of a better term. So much that I asked, “Are you okay?”

His smile showed he was. But I could see that he was going to need a lot of encouragement to get through his lessons.

Enter prompting techniques. Quite simply, prompting involves encouraging your child to do something or giving him clues to an answer.

For example, when I wanted him to write his equations, I tapped his arm. This helped to “wake him up” so to speak, and encouraged him to continue writing the next equation.

Here are some examples of other encouraging prompts.

1. Pointing to what you want your child to do, or even tapping the thing you want him to do until you get his attention.

2. Verbalizing the problem you want him to solve. For example, if you want your child to write the next equation, you could prompt him by saying, “6 + 4 =.”

3. Giving him part of the answer. For example, if you want him to sound out the word MAN, you could start him off by saying, “mmmm.”

4. Encouraging her to finish by saying, “You’re doing great! Only one more left to go!”

And sometimes, it even helps my son when I gently say, “Attention!”

Honestly, prompting techniques have helped him through many lessons over the years. And there are many more types of prompts than what I have covered here.

For more information on how you can use prompting to help your child through her lessons, click or touch the link at the end of this message.

Warm Regards,


Kay Donato