Teaching · Special Education

Teach it right the first time, then fade the help.

Set the skill, the prompt and the delay, and tally each trial as it happens. The organizer works out independent and error rates and tells you what to do next session.

Run a sessionWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Special Education toolkit, $99 for 100 items.

The errorless session record

One record per student, skill and session. The example is made up.

Loading the form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Teaching · Special Education$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
Independent, prompted and error percentages for the session and the next step under common time-delay rules.
Who it is for
Special education teachers, paraprofessionals, behavior analysts and therapists teaching discrete skills.
Format
Browser record with a trial tally. One saved record per session; printed with the summary or as a blank form; CSV across sessions; export and import a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Special Education toolkit ($99) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Special Education space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
0s4shelp first, then a little wait, then none
Drawn for this page. In errorless teaching the prompt comes first, so the student practices the right answer; a short wait then lets them answer before the help arrives.

How to use it

  1. Start a session with the student’s code and the date.
  2. Write the skill, the correct response and the prompt that reliably gets it.
  3. Choose the phase: 0-second delay at first, then the delay.
  4. Tap the tally after each trial.
  5. Read the next step, and copy the record to the next session date.

Run a session

The procedure

How time delay works

At first the prompt comes at the same moment as the cue (a 0-second delay), so the student only practices correct responses. Then a short, fixed wait, often 3 to 5 seconds, comes before the prompt, and the student can answer first. Waiting for help when unsure is the right move, not an error.

Keeping errors low

When errors climb above about one trial in ten, go back to the 0-second delay or a more helpful prompt for a session.

What this is not

A complete behavior plan. Use it for one skill at a time, with your team’s mastery criteria.

Sources

  1. National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice (2020): prompting and time delay as evidence-based practices.
  2. Wolery, M., Ault, M. J., & Doyle, P. M. (1992). Teaching Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities: Use of Response Prompting Strategies. Longman.
  3. AFIRM modules, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute: Time Delay and Prompting (implementation guides and decision rules).
  4. Browder, D. M., et al. (2009). Using time delay to teach literacy to students with severe developmental disabilities. Exceptional Children, 75(3).

The example student is made up. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.