DRAGEN Academy · Free lesson · Parents, teachers, technicians, new BCBAs · 8 minutes
How to teach a skill one step at a time.
What it is. A task analysis is a skill broken into small steps, written in order, each one something you can see a person do. Chaining is how you teach those steps so they link together, until finishing one step is the cue for the next.
Why it matters. “Wash your hands” is really about nine small steps. A child who “can’t wash their hands” can usually do most of them and is stuck on two or three. A task analysis shows which ones, so you teach those steps instead of repeating the whole instruction louder.
How to do it yourself
How to write a task analysis yourself, in five steps.
- Do the skill yourself, slowly, and write down every move. Or watch someone who does it well. Start each step with a verb and make it something you could see: “Turn on the water,” not “Get ready.”
- Size the steps to the learner. Fewer, bigger steps for someone who has most of the skill; more, smaller ones for a beginner. The stranger test: could someone who has never met the learner follow your list and score it?
- Take a baseline before you teach. Give the instruction once (“Wash your hands”) and mark each step: + done alone, − not done or needed help. Either stop at the first − (the single-opportunity way: quick, and no teaching sneaks into the test), or do the missed step for them and let them try the next one (the multiple-opportunity way: slower, but it shows every step they already have).
- Pick a way to chain it. Forward, backward or total task, below. Help goes only where the baseline showed a −.
- Score every session. Steps done alone ÷ all steps × 100. Put it on a graph and watch the line.
- Forward chaining
- Teach step 1 until they do it alone, then steps 1 and 2, then 1 to 3. The reward comes right after the newest step. It fits when the first steps are the ones missing.
- Backward chaining
- You do every step except the last; they do the last one and get the finish: clean hands, the snack, out the door. Then the last two, then the last three. Every practice ends with them finishing. It fits when the end is what’s missing, or when the finish is itself the reward.
- Total-task chaining
- They do every step, every time, with only as much help as each step needs, and the help fades. It fits when they can already do most of the steps, or the chain is short.
Worked example
Nine steps to clean hands.
Ava is seven. Her teacher writes nine steps, says “Wash your hands” once, and marks the baseline the multiple-opportunity way. Then Ava practices the whole chain every day with help only on her − steps.
| Step | Baseline | Session 5 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Turn on the water | + | + |
| 2. Wet both hands | + | + |
| 3. Pump the soap once | − | + |
| 4. Scrub for 20 seconds | − | − |
| 5. Rinse off the soap | + | + |
| 6. Turn off the water | − | + |
| 7. Take one paper towel | + | + |
| 8. Dry both hands | + | + |
| 9. Throw the towel in the bin | − | + |
| Done alone | 5 of 9 = 56% | 8 of 9 = 89% |
Mistakes to avoid
Ways a task analysis quietly fails.
- Steps nobody can see. “Get ready” or “Brush well” can’t be scored. If a stranger couldn’t mark it + or −, split it.
- One size of step for everyone. A learner with most of the skill drowns in thirty tiny steps; a beginner falls through nine big ones.
- Teaching during the baseline. Help given during the test makes the starting point look better than it is.
- Help that never fades. Plan from the first day how the help gets smaller, or the helper becomes a step in the chain.
- No finish worth reaching. The last step should end in something they like: the natural result, praise, or what comes next.
Try it
One question, then the answer.
A made-up case: Leo puts his coat on by himself every time but always stops before the zipper, the last step. Which kind of chaining fits, and why?
Show the answer, and why
Backward chaining. The missing step is the last one, so that is where teaching starts: Leo does the steps he has, you help only with the zipper, and going outside comes right after his step. Every practice ends with him finishing the chain, which is exactly the part he’s missing.
Something to keep
Build your step sheet, then print it.
Type one step per line. Tap a box to mark it: once for +, twice for −, three times to clear. It opens with Ava’s steps and baseline; type your own steps and the marks clear. Nothing leaves this page and nothing is saved.
DRAGEN Academy · Task analysis data sheet · dragen.cloud
| Skill | Instruction, said once | Chaining: forward / backward / total task |
|---|---|---|
+ done alone · − not done or needed help · Score = steps done alone ÷ all steps × 100
Print shows only the sheet, in black on white, with your steps and any marks you made.
Where DRAGEN helps
From the sheet to the report.
Session scores only help if someone graphs them and reads the line. DRAGENprogress drafts the data half of a six-month progress report: starting level, current level, trend and graphs. What the results mean stays yours to write and sign.
Source
Where this comes from.
Cooper, Heron & Heward, Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed., 2020), the chapter on chaining: writing a task analysis, the single- and multiple-opportunity baselines, and the three ways to chain. Slocum & Tiger (2011), Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 44, 793–805: forward and backward chaining compared.
Examples on this page are made up. They contain no client, student or family information. This lesson teaches a method; it does not replace your BCBA, your program, or your payer’s written rules.