My Experience With PROMPT Training

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the PROMPT Institute!   

One of my 2014 resolutions was to take an Introduction to PROMPT course. I can check this one off my list! The course was 3 days long and it was INTENSE.

If you're not familiar with PROMPT, it stands for Physically Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets. It is a multi-dimensional approach to motor speech skills that uses tactile and verbal cues. It is designed to help those with motor speech disorders, but can also be used for articulation or phonological disorders.  

The introduction course is 3 full days - that is about 6.5 hours each day of information coming at you.  As someone who gets overloaded with a lot of auditory information, this was a bit challenging sometimes. You're also learning a new motor skill yourself (i.e. learning all the different prompts - there is a different one for each phoneme) so it can be overwhelming at times.

There were 3 instructors who circulated the room and answered questions, corrected, your hand placement, gave tips, and did the PROMPTs on you so you could feel them. They go over the methodology behind the approach as well.

First, you delve into the theory behind PROMPT. Then you learn the PROMPTs and how to go about assessing and planning for treatment. There is another level of training that you can take once you've been using the method for awhile. 

You're taught some of the PROMPTs (there are different levels) and then you're given time to practice on each other. I definitely felt clumsy at first and it's somewhat awkward to be invading someone's personal space that much. Though after 3 days, you get used to it. I think everyone feels this way, so at least you're not alone!   

My Recommendations:
-bring hand sanitizer (they tell you this and our instructors had some, but I also brought my own)
-bring a highlighter
-bring pencils/pens (I like to write in pencil for these types of things)
-wear comfortable clothing
-cut your nails short on your dominant hand 
-don't feel bad if you don't feel at ease with it right away!

  If you're interested in taking a workshop, visit their website here.  
  I feel that it is another tool that I now have in my "speech toolkit." I have started using it with my preschoolers and have seen some results. It's great for the early developing sounds! I don't have too many kids with apraxia on my caseload, but I have used it with the ones that I do. I will say that some of my kids are highly resistant to me touching them, so that sometimes complicates things.