How “Learned Dependency” Affects Autism

Tuesday Tip – What is Learned Dependency?

When we teach skills and routines in ways that require our prompting to be a part of the routine, that student will be dependent on our prompting – forever.  Students may learn that our prompt is a form of “turn-taking” that becomes integrated into the learned routine.  What the student learns to do is take a turn by performing one step of the routine and then wait until we take our turn of prompting them before they perform the next step of the routine. Visual tools can become prompts for students so that other people don’t become a necessary part of successfully completing a routine.