Parent Unit 10

Table of Contents
Skill Teaching.......................................................................................................................................1

Executive Skills Development...................................................................................................1

Motivation versus Skill Deficit...................................................................................................1

Treatment Parent Profile, Part I................................................................................................2

When to Teach.............................................................................................................................2

What to Teach..............................................................................................................................3

How to Teach...............................................................................................................................3

Prerequisite Skill #1: Having Empathy....................................................................................4

Prerequisite Skill #2: Selecting Behavior to Teach.................................................................4

Prerequisite Skill #3: Discovering Strengths...........................................................................4

Prerequisite Skill #4: Task Analysis..........................................................................................7

Treatment Parent Profile, Part II...............................................................................................7

Sample Task Analyses........................................................................................................................8

Skills Teaching Steps....................................................................................................................9

Treatment Parent Profile, Part III............................................................................................9

The Developmental Progression of Executive Skills.............................................................10

Skill Teaching Steps: New and Replacement Behaviors.......................................................12

Skill Teaching Behavior Rehearsal Situations..........................................................................13

Homework...........................................................................................................................................15

Parent Unit 10 Copyright © 2014, Pressley Ridge.

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Parent Unit 10
Skill Teaching
In preparation for this unit of training,
we have covered children’s developmental
growth (Unit 4), developing and maintaining
healthy relationships (Unit 6), therapeutic
communication skills (Unit 7), understanding
the basic dynamics of how and why behavior
works (Unit 8), and motivation and behavior
support techniques (Unit 9).
Throughout this training, it has been stressed
that the TFC treatment model teaches
children better ways of handling every day
situations. This model reflects the principles
of Re-EDucation and behavior analysis
approaches. We believe that skill teaching is
one of the most important treatment parent
techniques in the TFC Parent toolbox, and is
based on the principles of:
“A trusted adult can teach a child competency and the
pride that comes along with being good at something;”
and “people teach people.”
Executive Skills
Information on how our brains grow and
work has shown that the frontal lobe areas of
the brain, where executive or “thinking” skills
occur, does not fully mature until 25+ years
old. Trauma, stress, and mental and physical
health issues can cause additional delays in
the development of executive skills involving
cognition (thinking) and behavior (doing).
Brain research also suggests that as children
enter adolescence, a “use it or lose it”
process occurs in the frontal lobes. Neural
connections that are used frequently are
retained, while those that are not are lost. So,
parents and teachers are right, “practice does
make perfect”, but children need to learn
and practice the skills that will help improve
their lives. Most children have a variety of
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executive skill strengths as well as weaknesses.
Part of your treatment parenting job will
be to identify areas of strength to build on,
and areas of weakness, so that appropriate
teaching interventions can be designed and
implemented.
To help you identify your child’s executive
skills strengths and weaknesses, please refer
to the chart on page 10 for descriptions and
examples of the developmental progression
of executive skills in children.
Motivation versus Skill
Consider that many foster children have never
completely learned some behaviors that we
might take for granted. Even with all of the
motivating consequences in the world, a lack
of “know-how”, or an inability to plan, focus,
organize, or self-regulate will cause a child to
fail to perform a desired behavior.
When deciding whether the child’s problem
behavior is due to a motivational problem or
a skill deficiency, we ask, “Does the child lack
the will to do it, or the skill to do it?
The principles of Behavioral Analysis state
that the problems children display are learned
behaviors and can therefore be changed
through re-education. In many cases, the
TFC youth has never consistently engaged
in the correct behavior in the first place.
Consider the child who:
• Grew up alone and neglected might
have never learned how to share
• Grew up in poverty might not know
how to act in a restaurant
• Has been sexually abused might
not know how to express affection
appropriately
• Has learned that it’s safer to lie or deny
to avoid punishment might not know
how to tell the truth
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Parent Unit 10
Treatment Parent Profile - Part 1
Treatment Parents Sandra and Carlos
Martinez remember when eight-year-old
Jimmy was placed in their home. A 15-year-
old girl had just successfully graduated from
their care and they were confident that they
could handle a little boy. But the Martinez
family found themselves at a loss when
Jimmy seemed to be purposely defying the
house rule that said the child’s bedroom
was to be kept clean.
Everyday I’d check his room and it seemed
pretty tidy,” Sandra recalls. “But his idea
of making the bed meant pulling a blanket
over what ever was on it, toys, clothes and
all, like he was taking the easy way out. I
took it as a battle of wills.”
Sandra and Carlos struggled with Jimmy,
applying various discipline strategies to
curb what they believed was his defiance.
They first took away his TV time for not
finishing his room. Then they tried writing
up a contract to motivate him. But after two
weeks, nothing had worked and everyone
was very frustrated!
Sandra and Carlos were thoroughly
stumped and asked their program staff if
there might be a more effective discipline
strategy they could use. That’s when it was
suggested that perhaps Jimmy wasn’t acting
out of defiance.
“I’m almost embarrassed to say that Jimmy
didn’t know any better,” Sandra admits.
“Our program staff helped us to discover
that no one ever taught him the proper way
to make a bed! It was so simple that we
overlooked the possibility.”
While discipline and behavior support
strategies can help a child to change an
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inappropriate behavior, they cannot be used
to teach a new skill.
Signs that skill teaching is needed include:
• A child asks for your help in learning a
skill.
• You feel frustrated and are “nagging”
a child because you see (or don’t see)
some behavior.
• The child consistently doesn’t respond
to your motivation and discipline
techniques.
When to Teach
The first step is to determine whether a child’s
behavior, or absence of a specific behavior,
is due to a motivational problem or a skill
deficiency. Here’s the test: When a child has
correctly performed a certain behavior in a
variety of circumstances, but that behavior
suddenly decreases or disappears, it is most
likely a motivational problem. Motivational
problems are usually the result of ineffective
consequences, and so a change in the rewards
and/or discipline techniques would be the
solution. This is the time to draw up a
contract, adjust the motivation system, or use
those social rewards to reinforce the behavior
when it does appear.
In contrast, the child most likely has a skill
deficiency if:
• You have never seen them perform a
certain behavior.
• They can only complete the skill under
certain or limited conditions.
• They can only partially perform a skill.
If any of these signs of skill deficits
are present, it is the treatment parents’
responsibility to teach those skills to the child,
but first things first.
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Parent Unit 10
Here are some additional areas to consider
when looking at skill deficits from a
developmental perspective:
• If you know your child has a skill
weakness, pay close attention to their
emotional and behavioral response to
assigned tasks. Children will act out to
avoid situations that require them to
perform under developed skills.
• If a child consistently avoids a task,
consider the possibility that they
cannot do the task (or fully do the
task).
• Assess whether something in the
environment is making a task difficult
for your child.
• If your child can do a task sometimes,
but not all the time, this may simply
mean that you have identified an
executive skill weakness.
• If your child has handled a task some
of the time, figure out what made
success possible during those times.
• If a child seems to have the necessary
skills, but doesn’t complete a task, is
the problem that the child doesn’t
believe they can succeed?
What to Teach
Deciding what to teach is as important as
when to teach. A skill is the ability to do
something well. This is sometimes a simple
motor skill, like tying shoelaces or making a
bed. More often, it is a social skill that needs
work, like:
• Following directions
• Admitting to mistakes
• Accepting feedback and compliments
• Resolving conflicts
• Managing strong emotions in public
• Apologizing
• Selecting and keeping friends
• Asking for or accepting dates
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Social skills help people adapt to norms and
activities of the communities in which we
live, to the rules and expectations required
of us by employers, and to maintain close
and supportive relationships with our friends
and family. Research on children’s social skill
competency has examined areas of emotional
and mental health, school performance,
delinquency and aggression. These studies
have consistently shown a relationship
between poor social skills and serious
problems that can extend into adulthood if
not corrected.
We teach new skills either because:
• The child has not previously learned
behaviors to handle a new need or
situation.
• We want to replace a child’s current
undesirable or troubling behavior.
It is for this second reason that treatment
parents most often teach skills, and these
are referred to as “replacement behaviors.”
Hammering away at a child’s bad behavior
with negative consequences only tells him
what behavior you do not want to see happen,
but doesn’t help the child learn what behavior
he should perform instead. Left to their own
resources, children often just substitute some
other inappropriate behavior that they already
know how to perform. The skill teaching
technique ensures that a child actually knows
how to perform an acceptable alternative to
the identified inappropriate behavior.
How to Teach
Now that you know why skill teaching is
such an important tool for treatment parents
in helping foster children, we will review
four pre-requisite skills needed to be a good
teacher:
• Having empathy for children’s
problems
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Parent Unit 10
• Knowing how to select new behaviors
to teach
• Identifying a child’s existing “personal
strengths”
• Analyzing the steps and behaviors that
make up a particular skill.
Prerequisite Skill #1: Having Empathy
Throughout this training, we have seen how
building trust and relationships with children
will be the key to successful treatment
parenting. This is certainly true when it
comes to your role as a teacher. Children
must feel that their parents really understand
their problems and pain before they will
abandon their old ways of thinking and
behaving, and consider new ways to handle
their problems. Parents can show empathy
for their children’s problems and feelings by:
• Being patient, calm and quiet
• Using active listen opportunities
• Modeling appropriate expression of
their own feelings
• Modeling empathy toward other
people
Prerequisite Skill #2: Selecting Behavior
to Teach
The starting point in any teaching interaction
is to decide exactly what behavior or skill to
teach. So to help you always be certain of
teaching effective skills and help children feel
more competent, use the following list as a
guide for selecting behavior to skill teach.
Reasons for selecting behavior to skill teach
include:
• When replacing inappropriate “old”
ways of behaving, the new behavior
helps the child meet his needs.
• Behavior that is well suited to the
child’s developmental level (physical,
mental, social, emotional)
• Behavior that is relevant to the child’s
culture and living environment
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• Behavior that you, or someone you
know, can competently teach
• Behavior that is safe, legal, and likely to
bring social and material rewards
• Behavior that increases a child’s sense
of competence and self-esteem
• Behavior that builds on a child’s
personal strengths and can expand her
successes to other people, situations
and settings
Even though skills may be built from very
basic and generic sorts of behavior, note that
the same skill can be used in very different
ways and result in very different outcomes.
Much like consequences (Remember “One
size does not fit all”?), the actual use of a
particular skill varies from person-to-person,
from place-to-place and from need-to-need.
Treatment parents never start with a “blank
slate” when teaching new skills to foster
children. Unless you are caring for infants,
foster children already have a past learning
history and an existing repertoire of
behaviors. So rather than try to build new
skills from scratch, wise treatment parents
use as much of a child’s current set of skills
as possible to help “fill in” the deficits. This
is an efficient method of ensuring the child’s
acquisition of new behavior, and it more
quickly produces a sense of competence in
him.
Prerequisite Skill #3: Discovering
Strengths
In our work with children, it is easy to
focus on their faults, annoying behavior,
and disabilities. These are the behaviors
that provoke reactions from us and make it
difficult to ignore these children. If all we
know about a child is what is wrong with
him, however, then we really don’t know the
child. As treatment parents, you want to
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Parent Unit 10
know the whole range of behavior in a child’s
repertoire, both good and bad. Deliberately
and systematically discovering a child’s
strengths allows us to know and understand
the whole human being. This information lets
us know what he is capable of rather than just
what his problems are for today.
Personal strengths can be thought of as those
skills, values and characteristics that bring
out the best in people. It is our strengths,
and not deficits that help us get through the
rough spots in life. Strengths help us manage
difficult situations, and they allow us to
recover from life crises.
The techniques to learn a person’s strengths
are not particularly complicated or scientific.
What is required is good observation,
interviewing and listening skills.
In calm moments, without a lot of distraction
or high emotion, “talk” to your child in a
pleasant and non-threatening way. Verbally
and non-verbally communicate that you
appreciate the child for sharing their personal
information with you, and that you genuinely
value learning about who they are.
Here are some tips for discovering your child’s
strengths. Ask them about their:
• Favorite memories and family stories
• Dreams and hopes for the future
• Real or fictional heroes, individuals he
admires, and people who they enjoys
spending time with
• Things they believe they can do really
well or that just seem to come easily to
them
• Their preferences in music, movies,
books, recreational activities, etc.
• Favorite holidays, celebrations and
seasons
• How they have coped with crises and
adversity in their life
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• Their values and beliefs
• What they would wish for if they had
three magical wishes
This information is likely to be most useful
during crises and instances of “inappropriate”
behavior, but these are usually not the
best times to stop and learn about a child’s
strengths. For this reason, we recommend
assessing children’s strengths early in their
placement, ideally beginning at the point
of referral and first contact with the child.
You can also learn about a child’s personal
strengths from talking to members of
the treatment team and biological family.
Knowing a child’s strengths can facilitate
development of a healthy and strong
relationship, as well as give treatment parents
more “material” to work with.
Once a child’s strengths are recognized, we
can help him use these to bolster and augment
his weaknesses. Here is an example of how
this is done.
Example
Kim, a 17-year-old senior in high school, was
a fair student with a C average. While she
never particularly cared for math, she usually
struggled enough to pass her math classes in
the past. This year was different, however,
and Kim received F’s for the first half of the
year. It seems that Kim disliked her math
teacher for this year, Mr. Sullivan, and seemed
determined not to put forth any effort for
him. After several meetings with Mr. Sullivan,
it became clear that unless Kim passed her
required basic math credits this year, she
would not graduate.
Her treatment parents thought they
understood the problem and had tried many
of the typical ways to motivate Kim to try
harder in her math class. Despite their best
efforts, Kim just didn’t seem to care about her
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Parent Unit 10
math grades. As Kim said repeatedly, “Real
artists just aren’t any good with stuff like
math.”
It wasn’t that Kim was lazy or a quitter. She
spent hours each day working on improving
her drawing skills. She read books about
drawing and about the lives of famous artists.
She even took drawing courses in the evening
at the local community college. Kim was
proud of her talent and had won several
awards from art contests at her school this
year; one award came with a $25 prize! Kim
planned on attending college next year, and
had already explored art schools in Ohio and
California. It was painfully clear that Kim’s
dreams of going to a recognized art college
with a scholarship were not going to happen
if she failed her math class.
Frustrated and worried, Kim’s treatment
parents considered restricting her drawing
time and art supplies until she brought up her
math grade. But after a quick consultation
with their program staff, they all agreed that
taking away Kim’s opportunity to express
her artistic talents would not fix the problem.
In fact, it would be likely to push Kim to
depression and even less concern for her
schoolwork. They instead decided to harness
Kim’s passion for art to help in her struggle
with passing math.
Some of the interventions they designed
included:
• Helping Kim with her homework
assignments by translating the
problems into art-relevant questions,
like “What is the monthly income for
an artist who worked for two years
on a project which sold at auction for
$250,000?”
• Asking a local art gallery owner to
mentor Kim on the business end of a
career in art while Kim volunteered to
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help out at the gallery
• Having Kim read biographies of artists
who were cheated out of money by a
manager or dealer of their art works
• Arranging tutoring services from
a classmate who was excited about
having Kim draw her portrait in
exchange
• Asking Kim to prepare a budget for
her living expenses, tuition and art
supplies while at college
Even though it took a lot of work from Kim;
she was able to understand her own need for
math skills as a successful artist. Her new
saying became, “Math is a necessary evil in
life” and she went on to graduate with a C-
average in math for the year.
Using a child’s natural gifts, talents and
strengths to help him overcome weaknesses in
other areas is an effective way of developing
competency and healthy self-esteem. While
it may not always be possible to connect a
particular strength to a child’s problem, your
program staff will assist you in creatively
exploring ways to do this when the need for
skill teaching exists.
Prerequisite Skill #4: Task Analysis
The term “task analysis” is used to describe
the specific behaviors that make up a
particular task or skill. Similar in a way to
establishing a family policy of rules and
expectations, the purpose of a task analysis
is to assure that the child really understands
what needs to be done. Analyzing tasks into
specific steps helps treatment parents remain
consistent and fair in their expectations
of children from week to week. It also
provides a way to judge when the child has
satisfactorily acquired the skill.
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Parent Unit 10
Sometimes, as simple as a task might seem
to an adult, it can feel overwhelming to a
child. The task analysis breaks a task down
into manageable parts and allows us to reward
each step as it is accomplished. As each step
is added, the child must perform the new step
plus all of the steps learned earlier in order
to earn a pre-determined social or material
reward. We can then slowly add to the
expectations as the child’s abilities allow until
the task as a whole can be completed.
Treatment Parent Profile - Part II
In the case of the Martinez family, their
instruction to “keep the bedroom clean”
was unclear. A task analysis for Jimmy
would have included, “Make your bed.”
When it was apparent that the skill was not
being completed, the TFC Parents could
then work on perfecting that skill.
Now it was clear that Jimmy’s problem was
a skill deficiency for making beds. That,
however, was a little more complicated than
simply teaching how to pull up the covers
with a tuck here and there, given Jimmy’s
ever-growing mound of toys and clothes.
The Martinezes broke that chore into
smaller tasks, each rewarded with a nickel
in the “Ice Cream Truck Fund.”
“Clear off all toys from the bed each
morning and put them away in the toy
chest,” was the first step.
Once that was mastered, they added,
“Hang up all of your clean clothes that are
on the bed and put the dirty clothes in the
hamper.”
Next came the actual pulling up of the
sheets and blankets, toward the ultimate
goal of a smooth, crisply made bed. By
breaking this mammoth job (according to
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eight year-old standards) into manageable
parts, Jimmy could easily feel a sense
of accomplishment as he successfully
completed, and was rewarded for, each
step. More importantly, the relationship
between Jimmy and the Martinezes no
longer suffered over the problem, allowing
them to move on toward more important
treatment issues.
After performing even a complicated skill
over many times, we tend to forget exactly
what is involved in the skill; we just “do it.”
For this reason, treatment parents should
pause before launching into a skill teaching
with a child. To ensure that they provide the
child with effective teaching, they must first be
sure to identify all the component behaviors
involved in the skill. Here are some questions
to help guide you in conducting a thorough
task analysis:
• Begin by asking, “How many steps are
there to complete this task or skill?”
• How small should each step be to
match a child’s developmental age?
• What is the right number of steps to
match a child’s developmental age?
• Is there a particular order in which the
steps must be performed?
• Are there any single steps where failure
to complete it means a failed result
for the entire skill? Like pushing the
start button on the washing machine
after sorting and loading the clothing,
or putting a completed homework
assignment in the backpack so it can
be turned into the teacher the next day.
• Does rate of speed or “style” matter
when performing this skill?
• Are facial expressions, voice tone or
non-verbal behaviors important to the
skill?
As a final check to see if you have captured all
of the necessary steps involved with a specific
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Parent Unit 10
skill, ask “Can I describe each step clearly
and simply enough so that an ___ (insert age
of the child) year-old would understand my
description of the skill? If not, be sure to
consult with someone who performs that skill
well before attempting to teach it to a child.
Sample Task Analyses
Skill # 1: Saying Thank you
Task Analysis:
1. Decide if the other person said or did
something that you want to thank him/her
for. It may be a compliment, favor or gift.
2. Choose a good time and place to thank
the other person.
3. Thank the other person in a friendly way.
Express thanks with words, a gift or letter,
or do a return favor.
4. Tell the other person why you are thanking
him/her.
Skill # 2: Asking permission
Task Analysis:
1. Decide what you would like to do for
which you need permission. For instance,
you want to borrow something or request
a special privilege.
2. Decide from whom you have to ask
permission.
3. Pick the right time and place, not when
the other person is in a hurry or busy. It
may be best to ask in private.
4. Ask for permission. (Provide some
sample phrases such as, Please may I, I
was wondering if I could, etc.)
5. Be sure to thank the person if he/she
gives permission.
Skill # 3: Making a complaint
Task Analysis:
1. Decide what your complaint is. What is
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the problem?
2. Decide to whom to complain. Who can
resolve it?
3. Tell the other person your complaint
in a calm and direct manner. Consider
alternative ways to complain, etc, in
writing, privately, politely and assertively.
4. Tell that person what you would like
done about the problem. Offer helpful
suggestions about resolving the problem.
5. Ask how he/she feels about what you’ve
said.
Skill #4: Following Instructions (For Older
Children and Teenagers)
Task Analysis:
1. Listen carefully while you are being told
what to do. Take notes if necessary, nod
your head, say “Mmhmm.”
2. Ask questions about anything you don’t
understand. The goal here is to make the
instructions clearer to you.
3. Decide if you feel the instruction is
reasonable. Decide if you would like to
request to do it at another time, in another
way or not at all.
4. If you would like to do it differently
than instructed, make the request to do
it differently such as, “Can I take out the
garbage when the commercials come on?”
5. If you decide not to follow the
instructions, weigh the consequences of
not complying and inform the person of
your decision.
6. Repeat the instruction to yourself in your
own words.
7. Follow through with what you agreed to
do.
With a sense of how to select new behaviors,
identify strengths, and analyze the task, we
are now ready to tackle the skill teaching
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Parent Unit 10

technique. careful not to try to teach in the middle of

Skill-Teaching Steps
A skill can be new, such as asking a girl out on
a date for the first time or dining at a “grown
up” restaurant, or it can be a replacement for
an undesirable behavior, such as being a good
sport instead of a sore loser.
Although skill teaching can be done as
opportunities arise, it is most effective when
done consistently and on a daily basis. With
some skills, such as losing gracefully, the skill
must be practiced in many different settings
and situations or the child may have trouble
transferring the use of the skill. For example,
a child might lose a game of checkers
gracefully at home to a parent, but might still
pick a fight after losing a game of hoops with
a friend.
Treatment Parent Profile - Part III
Sandra and Carlos Martinez were pleased
with how well Jimmy kept his room clean,
complete with making the bed to everyone’s
satisfaction, once the skill was learned. But
not long after that problem was solved,
the Martinezes discovered another skill
deficiency.
one of Jimmy’s angry episodes. Instead,
they waited for a quiet moment to work on
it. Jimmy didn’t accept responsibility for
his actions all at once, but over time, he
was able to admit to his mistakes without a
tantrum. And when he eventually reached
the point where he no longer felt threatened
by admitting to his mistakes, Jimmy was
actually able to ask for help when he found
himself in a dilemma.
No matter what the skill is, the teaching steps
remain basically the same. The list of the
steps (or a task analysis!) for the skill teaching
technique is located on page 12. Notice that
this technique can be used to add new skills
where they currently don’t exist, and to teach
a replacement behavior for a child’s current
inappropriate behavior. The main difference
in these two outcomes is in how the skill
teaching interaction begins.

Jimmy was thrilled with the praises he was

receiving for his newfound room-cleaning/
bed-making skill, and accepted these kudos
with pride, but he was having trouble
owning up to doing anything wrong.

“I’d ask Jimmy if he forgot to let the cat out

or if he spilled the milk in the refrigerator
and he’d get so angry and defensive that
he’d either run up to his room or he’d hit
something,” Sandra recalls.

After deciding that it was indeed a skill

deficiency, the Martinezes worked on
teaching this new social skill. They were
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Parent Unit 10
Developmental Progression of Executive Skills
Executive Skill Definition
Response Inhibition The capacity to think before
you act; to evaluate how
your behavior may impact a
situation.
Working Memory Ability to hold information
in memory while performing
complex tasks; drawing on
past learning to apply to
present and future tasks.
Emotional Control The ability to manage your
emotions to achieve goals,
complete tasks, or control
and direct behavior.
Sustained Attention The capacity to keep your
focus/attention in spite
of distractions, fatigue, or
boredom.
Task Initiation The ability to begin projects
without procrastination, in a
timely or efficient manner.
Planning / The ability to create a plan
Prioritization or road map to complete a
goal; to decide on what is
important and what is not.
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Examples
A young child can wait for
a short time without being
disruptive. A teen can accept
an adult’s decision without an
argument.
A young child can learn
and follow one or two step
directions. A teen can
remember the expectations
of multiple teachers.
A young child can recover
from a disappointment
in a short time. A teen
can manage the anxiety
of a game or test and still
perform.
A young child can finish a
5-minute task with minimal
supervision. A teen can
complete homework
assignments over a two hour
period.
A young child is able to begin
tasks right after instructions
are given. A teen does not
wait until the last minute to
begin a project.
A young child, with help, can
think of options to settle
a peer conflict. A teen can
form a plan to get a job.
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Parent Unit 10
Organization The ability to create and
maintain systems to keep
track of information or
materials.
Time Management The capacity to estimate how
much time one has, how to
allocate it, and how to stay
within time limits.
Goal-Directed The capacity to have a
Persistence goal, follow through and
complete the goal, and not
be distracted by competing
interests.
Flexibility The ability to revise plans
in the face of obstacles,
setbacks, new information
or mistakes. Adaptability to
changing conditions.
Metacognition The ability to stand back
and look at yourself in a
situation, to observe how
you problem solve. Also
includes self-monitoring and
self-evaluation.
(Adapted from “Smart but Scattered”, by Peg Dawson, EdD, and Richard Guare, PhD, 2009)
Parent Unit 10
11
A young child can, with
reminders, put toys away in
the correct place. A teen
can locate and organize their
sports equipment.
A young child can complete a
simple task within a set time
limit. A teen can establish
a schedule to meet task
deadlines.
A first grader can complete a
task to get to recess. A teen
can earn and save money
over time to buy something
of importance.
A young child can adjust to
a change in plans without
major distress. A teen can
accept an alternative that was
not their first choice.
A young child can change
behavior in response to
feedback from an adult. A
teen can monitor and critique
their own performance,
and also learn by observing
others.
Copyright © 2014, Pressley Ridge.
All rights reserved worldwide.
Parent Unit 10

Skill-Teaching Steps
Teaching new skills when no undesirable behavior is involved

1. Express empathy and affection.

2. Praise the child (social reward) for being interested, willing to learn, or for at least trying the skill.

3. Describe the skill/behavior.

4. Demonstrate the skill.

5. Allow the child to practice. Praise throughout the practice and provide additional instruction as
necessary.

6. Discuss short- and long-term benefits of the skill.

Teaching skills to replace undesirable behavior

1. Express empathy and affection

2. Give an “I Feel” message to express your feelings and the seriousness of the inappropriate
behavior.

3. Discuss why the behavior was inappropriate (why the child shouldn’t do it).

4. Describe the new skill/behavior

5. Demonstrate the skill

6. Allow the child to practice. Praise throughout the practice and provide additional instruction as
necessary

7. Discuss short- and long-term benefits of the skill

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Parent Unit 10

Skill Teaching Behavior Rehearsal Situations

Answer each of the questions for all six situations listed below. If possible, role-play the situations
using the skill teaching steps. .
1. Your 16-year-old child doesn’t know how to answer the phone courteously and appropriately.
He answers the phone saying “Yeah?” He doesn’t request the caller to hold while he calls the
desired party, and although he usually leaves messages, they are often incomplete and difficult to
understand.

Do a task analysis for answering phone messages.

• Who will be involved in the interaction?

• Where is the setting for the teaching, i.e., home, school, etc.?

• When will you teach it, i.e., by appointment, when it comes up, when people are calm, etc.?

2. Your 12-year-old youth broke your favorite lamp after being warned not to run through the
living room. You realize that the youth doesn’t know how to give an appropriate apology.

Do a task analysis of an appropriate apology.

• Who will be involved in the interaction?

• Where is the setting for the teaching, i.e., home, school, etc.?

• When will you teach it, i.e., by appointment, when it comes up, when people are calm, etc.?

3. Whenever your 13 year old youth loses a game of cards, checkers, and so on, she reacts angrily
by knocking over the board or cards and stomping to her room while mumbling that “It isn’t
fair ‘cause everyone cheats.”

Do a task analysis of the skill you want to teach.

• Who will be involved in the interaction?

• Where is the setting for the teaching, i.e., home, school, etc.?

• When will you teach it, i.e., by appointment, when it comes up when people are calm, etc.?

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Parent Unit 10

4. Your 14 year-old TFC child is trying to learn to iron her clothes, and her attempts at getting
smooth clothes result in an unattractive mess.

Do a task analysis of the skill you want to teach.

• Who will be involved in the interaction?

• Where is the setting for the teaching, i.e., home, school, etc.?

• When will you teach it, i.e., by appointment, when it comes up when people are calm, etc.?

5. Your 12-year-old TFC son asks you to teach him how to use your iPad. He has used computers,
but never an iPad and would like to use it for a research project for school.

Do a task analysis of the skill you want to teach.

• Who will be involved in the interaction?

• Where is the setting for the teaching, i.e., home, school, etc.?

• When will you teach it, i.e., by appointment, when it comes up when people are calm, etc.?

6. You’ve done the laundry and have accidentally spilled bleach on your 15-year-old TFC child’s
jeans. When you begin to tell her (planning to apologize and replace the jeans) she begins to
curse, swear and call you names. At the same time, you can see she is crying. You realize that
she knows no other way to let you know how angry she is.

Do a task analysis of the skill you want to teach.

• Who will be involved in the interaction?

• Where is the setting for the teaching, i.e., home, school, etc.?

• When will you teach it, i.e., by appointment, when it comes up when people are calm, etc.?

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Parent Unit 10

Homework

1. Read the unit on Skill Teaching and make a list of questions.

2. Look for opportunities to practice skill teaching.

3. Record at least three complete task analyses used while practicing skill teaching. Each task
analysis should include both the verbal and motor behavior steps.

4. Call your trainers if you have any questions before the next session.

Parent Unit 10 Copyright © 2014, Pressley Ridge.

15 All rights reserved worldwide.