RAAP strategy – Read, Ask, Answer, Prompt Strategy

This course consists of six modules that need to be completed.

Introduction

Read, Ask, Answer, Prompt (RAAP) is an evidence based storybook reading instructional model that uses a least-to-most prompting procedure to teach language support strategies to communication partners (Kent-Walsh, Binger, & Malani, 2010).

The steps of the RAAP strategy are as follows.

1. Reading a page of the storybook (R)
2. Asking a question related to the page (A)
3. Answering the question (A)
4. Prompting the child to respond (P)

It incorporates five naturalistic language support strategies;

• AAC modelling,
• expectant pausing
• asking open-ended questions
• providing verbal prompts and linguistic expansions (Binger et al., 2010)

The strategies are sequenced into a least-to-most prompting procedure where the communication partner reads a page in the book (R), asks a question (A), answers the question (A) and verbally prompts the child (P), to encourage turn-taking during structured activities (Kent-walsh & Binger, 2013). RAAP strategy has displayed promising effects on parent strategy use during instructional programs and has improved the communication skills of children who use AAC during shared book reading activities (Dodge-Chin et al., 2022).

Target skills

As recommended in the ImpAACt program, the proposed intervention targets to improve the following skills of the participants.

1. Aided AAC modeling – Participants’ ability to demonstrate to the child how to use the AAC system effectively
2. Expectant delay – Participants’ ability to provide additional processing time to the child to communicate
3. WH question asking – Participants’ ability to ask open ended questions from the child
4. Verbal prompting – Participants’ ability to provide direct indication of what the child should do
5. Contingent responding – Participants’ ability to reinforce the child’s communicative attempts

Beneficiaries

Sinhala speaking,

• Parents
• Speech & Language therapists
• Special education teachers
• Primary school teachers