How Does RPM Work?
Learning and communication develop together.
RPM generally uses a teach-ask approach.
The instructor presents age-appropriate educational material and asks questions throughout the lesson. A learner may initially respond by selecting between written choices and, as purposeful movement develops, progress toward additional choices and individual letters.
Over time, instruction may work toward increasingly complex responses and greater independence.
RPM sessions can incorporate:
- Age-appropriate educational lessons
- Purposeful pointing
- Motor planning
- Structured prompting
- Visual and written information
- Letter-board communication
- Increasingly complex responses
- Opportunities to develop greater independence
The goal is not simply to produce correct answers.
The goal is to develop increasingly purposeful communication while providing meaningful opportunities to learn.
RPM, Letter Boards & AAC: What’s the Difference?
These terms are related, but they are not interchangeable.
- AAC — Augmentative and Alternative Communication
A broad category encompassing ways of communicating in addition to or instead of speech. AAC can include gestures, signs, picture systems, communication applications, speech-generating devices, keyboards, and letter boards.
- Letter Board
A communication tool containing letters that an individual can select to construct written responses.
- RPM — Rapid Prompting Method
A teaching approach involving age-appropriate educational lessons, structured prompting, purposeful responding, motor development, and potentially letter-board communication.
A learner can use a letter board without practicing RPM, and letter boards are only one of many tools that may support communication.
Research & Emerging Evidence
Our understanding of nonspeaking communication continues to grow.
Research involving nonspeaking autistic individuals is increasingly examining the relationships among speech, motor ability, cognition, agency, and communication.
Eye-tracking research involving experienced letter-board users has documented patterns consistent with purposeful visual and motor planning, including participants looking toward letters before physically pointing to them.
Emerging research has also examined RPM sessions and questions involving response accuracy, repetitive behaviors, cognition, regulation, and purposeful responding.
These findings contribute to a growing research conversation about whether an individual’s ability to produce reliable speech or motor responses always provides a complete picture of what that person understands.
Research specifically evaluating RPM is still developing, and important questions remain regarding prompting, independence, and authorship. Some professional organizations, including the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), recommend against RPM based on concerns about the current evidence base and these unresolved questions.
Supporters of RPM point to the experiences of nonspeaking communicators and families, as well as emerging research examining agency, motor planning, cognition, and letter-board communication.
Beyond Words believes families deserve access to both the emerging evidence and the ongoing professional discussion.
Our RPM Parent Guide explores this research in greater depth.
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What Is RPM? Rapid Prompting Method & Letter Boards Explained
Learn how Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) supports learning and communication for some nonspeaking and minimally speaking individuals—and what families can expect when exploring this approach.
Questions Parents May Want to Ask
Informed families make informed decisions.
Families exploring RPM or letter-board communication may want to consider:
- What are my child’s current communication strengths?
- What barriers may be affecting reliable communication?
- How will purposeful pointing be developed?
- What kinds of prompting will be used?
- How will prompting change as skills develop?
- How will greater independence be encouraged?
- How will progress be evaluated?
- What other communication or AAC options are available?
- How will my child’s individual responses and authorship be respected?
Communication should create more opportunities for the individual to express themselves—not simply more opportunities to produce expected answers.
Communication Is More Than Speech
Every individual deserves the opportunity to communicate.
At Beyond Words, our goal is not to change who an individual is.
It is to create opportunities for learners to communicate, express their thoughts, demonstrate what they know, build meaningful connections, and participate more fully in learning and everyday life.
For some nonspeaking and minimally speaking individuals, RPM and communication through letter boards may provide another pathway toward those goals.
We approach that possibility with high expectations, individualized support, respect for the learner, and continued attention to emerging research.