Hand-Over-Hand Assistance

Synonyms

Controlling prompt; Full physical prompt

Definition

Hand-over-hand assistance involves placing ones hands over an individual with autism’s hands to help them complete a movement. When using hand-over-hand assistance, the adult is controlling the movements of the child’s hands. For example, hand-over-hand assistance can be used to help teach a child how to wash their hands. In this case, the adult would take the child’s hands in their hands and complete all of the steps of hand washing using the child’s hands; i.e., the adult would use the child’s hands to turn on the water, pump the soap, scrub hands…dry hands. Hand-over-hand assistance, also referred to as a full physical prompt, is the most intrusive prompt that you can use, and care should be taken to ensure the adult is not exerting too much force on the child. Because it is the most restrictive prompt, it should be used sparingly when other options are not effective and systematically faded to less intrusive prompting...