Running head: TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT 1

Task Analysis and Chaining Project

Abby Baierl
EDU 347
TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT 2

Student Information

The student chosen for this project is a six-year-old, Caucasian male named Ben

(pseudonym). He lives at home with his parents and does not have any siblings. He attends 1st

grade and a life-skills, special education classroom. The classroom has seven students with one

teacher and three to four paraeducators. Ben was diagnosed with Autism and receives one-on-

one instruction throughout the day from the special education teacher or one of the paraeducators

with occasional small group instruction and circle time. He spends 15% of his day in the general

education classroom for morning check-in, specials, and class assemblies.

Ben is described as an affectionate boy who enjoys being around familiar peers. His

strengths include responding to his name, responding to transitional warnings and cues through

the use of a timer, navigating the school environment without physical assistance, opening his

locker, using a straw and spoon properly, and feeding himself finger foods. Ben is nonverbal and

uses a communication device frequently to communicate his basic wants and needs. He will

greet familiar peers with a wave or with his communication device when prompted. His teacher

has recently seen an increase of interest in parallel play with other students particularly during

music time.

Ben is highly motivated by his iPad and anything that involves the Peppa the Pig

character. He is easily redirected to on task behavior through the use of a reinforcement.

Academically, Ben can identify all the letters of the alphabet, shapes, and numbers 1-30. Along

with this, he can navigate his communication device when asked basic reading comprehension

questions. Ben needs to improve upon his calendar skills, mathematical computation skills, and

pre-readiness skills. The behavioral goals his teachers have for him include increasing time on
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task and learning to accept “no” when he requests an object or video. Ben is currently receiving

physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy to increase language and motor skills.

Targeted Task: Hand Washing

Ben has started to become more interested in using the restroom and his parents and

teachers have encouraged this behavior in order for it to become more independent. As

independent opportunities for toileting increase, opportunities for skills such as hand washing,

also become essential for Ben to being to learn and master. Hand washing for Ben can be

described as walking to and standing at the sick, turning on and off the water, getting soap from

the dispenser, rubbing soap on hands, running hands together under the water, locating and using

the paper towel dispenser and finally drying his hands and throwing the paper towel in the

garbage.

This task must be broken down into several small steps for Ben because he has difficulty

preforming this task immediately after using the restroom without physical prompts and gradual

guidance from a teacher or paraeducator. Learning hand washing will increase Ben’s

independence in using the bathroom from start to finish. This goal is a short range-goal with-in a

long-range goal because once the skill is mastered in the context of using the restroom, Ben will

hopefully generalize this behavior in order to wash his hands whenever they are dirty in various

types of environments outside of school. This long-term goal aims to increase his quality of life

to understand healthy habits and cleanliness.

Task Analysis

Complex tasks can be challenging to learn. Through using a task analysis, large or

complex tasks can be broken down into smaller tasks so the entire skill can be acquired more

easily. The task is learned through various sessions of practice and various given prompts: verbal
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gestural, modeling, or physical prompts (Rivera, Wood, James, & Williams, 2018). A task

analysis lists out the specific steps or behaviors of a complex task the individual will need to

master. When creating a list of behaviors, it is important to observe the student participating in

the task to understand his or her present level of performance. Another consideration is to think

about the various possibilities that could occur within the list created during a task analysis

(Miltenberger, 2016). For example, a student may be able to open a door with a handle, but not if

the door has a round nob or a student may be able to put their coat on with a zipper but when

wearing a coat with buttons, they may need assistance. Each task analysis must be tailored to the

individual student based on his or her personal skills.

During the initial observation of Ben completing hand washing, he was defiant to walk

over to and stand by the sink. The teacher held his hand and gently urged him through supportive

verbal reinforcements. Once he was by the sink, the teacher stood behind him and guided his

hands for the entire behavior chain. When Ben stepped over to dry his hands, he was close to

doing the final steps independently, only requiring gestural and verbal prompts to guide him.

Table 1. shows the eleven steps that will be required for Ben to learn and master the skill of hand

washing.

Before beginning this task, Ben will have to have fundamental gross and fine motor skills

to complete specific tasks like turning the faucet on and off, pressing for soap, and pulling to get

a paper towel. He will also have to be comfortable with the sensory input of water running over

his hands. One challenge for Ben will be beginning the task because he has no low motivation to

wash his hands. To encourage Ben to start this task, the trainer will use if and then statements

using a favorited positive reinforcement for finishing the task. Another possible challenge that

Ben may have with this task is his ability to follow directions continuously for this task. The task
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takes a few minutes to complete and even though Ben is good at following one step directions,

this task will test his patience. To support him through this process of learning, the trainer will

use behavior specific praise and continually encourage Ben through the steps.

Table 1.

Ben’s target skill of washing hands

1 Walk to the sink

2 Stand at the sink

3 Turn on water

4 Wet hands

5 Push soap 2 times

6 Rub hands together for 3 seconds

7 Rinse hands under water

8 Turn the water off

9 Pull down 1 paper towel

1 Dry hands for 5 seconds

0
1 Put paper in garbage

1
Data for this project was collected by measuring the accuracy of Ben’s independent actions and

based on the type of prompt used during each step of the task analysis. Baseline data was

collected for five sessions over three days and intervention data was collected for an additional

ten sessions over five days. Two times every day during his break times at 9:15 and 10:30 hand

washing was practiced and data was collected by the trainer. When recording data, independent

tasks were marked when the step was completed without any prompt in place. Prompts were
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given in order from least to greatest in order from verbal, gestural, modeling, and physical until

Ben completed all the step in the task analysis (Miltenberger, 2016).

Chaining Procedures

There are certain functional and academic skills that are challenging for students that

need to be directly and explicitly taught. Through the use of chaining procedures, a skill can be

effectively and systematically learned through techniques of prompting and fading

(Miltenberger, 2016). There are three types of chaining that can be used to teach a skill: forward

chaining, backward chaining, and total task chaining (Slocum & Tiger, 2011). When using

forward chaining, the first step in the chain is taught for the student to master. Then sequentially,

the steps are taught one at a time adding to the previous step until all the step are preformed

independently. Backward chaining occurs in reverse order. It entails adding one step at a time to

the previous step in the chain until all the steps have been mastered. (Slocum & Tiger, 2011;

Miltenberger, 2016).

For this task and student, backward chaining was selected in order to complete the task

analysis. Backward chaining was used because the student did not have high motivation to wash

his hands and the first step of walking over to the sink would be the most challenging for him.

The last task of throwing the paper towel in the garbage can be reinforced and master more

easily during intervention and would therefore naturally reinforce the previous steps as a

motivator to get to the end. Also, when Ben masters this last step reinforcement can be

immediate and given with high intensity as he receives the reinforcer of his choice.

Reinforcement is essential throughout a task analysis in order for the student to be

continually motivated and for the behavior to be strengthened (Myers & DeWall, 2018).

Therefore, a continuous reinforcement schedule will be used. When students are introduced to a
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new skill, they should be reinforced frequently to receive proper feedback for their behavior

(Miltenberger, 2016). The reinforcement should also be specific for each student depending on

the student’s interests (Myers & DeWall, 2018). Ben responds well to verbal praise, high fives,

and iPad time. Because of the nature of hand washing, verbal praise will be used extremely

intentionally throughout the acquisition of this skill. According to Bani (2011), behavior specific

praise (BSP) is extremely effective in increasing on task behavior and can have a significant

impact on student’s overall behavior. In addition to BSP, the student will be given a choice of a

free time activity for five minutes after the chain, as another form of reinforcement. The choices

may include, but are not limited to, iPad time, listening to music, playing with a toy, or self-

stimulation. By providing options of reinforcement for Ben to choose from, allows him to

become more autonomous and motivated toward the end goal of washing his hands

independently.

Results
Number of Steps Completed Independently

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Sessions
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After five sessions of baseline and ten sessions of intervention, the data collected over three

weeks of sessions were graphed.

12

10

8
Number of Prompts

6 verbal
gestural
modeling
4 physical

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Sessions

Figure 1. AB graph depicting the number of steps Ben completed independently for hand

washing during each session.

Figure 2. Bar graph depicting the number of prompts used during each session of hand washing.

In Figure 1, Ben’s baseline performance of independent tasks had a low variability and

level with no consistent trend. When intervention was put into place, there was not an immediate

effect, but rather a gradual increase over time resulting in a positive trend and increase of

independent tasks. There was minimal overlap between baseline and intervention only during

sessions 6, 7, and 8. The intervention data also showed low variability, with Ben’s independent

tasks going from a low level and gradually increasing to a high level. In Figure 2, there were

high levels of verbal and physical prompts used and during three out of the five sessions all type

of prompts were used. The baseline data showed low variability between each session with no
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evident trend. There was no immediacy of effect between baseline and intervention data, but

there was a negative trend with the gradual decrease of the use of prompts overall. After session

ten, no physical prompts were used and there was a steady decrease of verbal prompts. Prompts

were used at a high-level during baseline and towards the beginning of intervention, but slowly

dropped to a low-level by the end of intervention.

Ben responded well to the backward chaining approach used in this task analysis. The

first three to four session of intervention, Ben became less reliant on the physical and modeling

prompts and he started to show an easiness in his body language to complete the task. After this

time of adjustment, he was more motivated by the reinforcements in place and his confidence

slowly started to grow in his ability to complete the tasks. Ben was reinforcement by if and then

statements, to which he usually chose to watch Peppa Pig for five minutes. He also responded

well and consistently to BSP and encouragement during the chaining process. A goal for Ben

was to decrease the number of physical prompts that were used, especially for tasks at the

beginning of the chain, like walking to and standing by the sink. Ben gradually started to think

about the reinforcement at the end of the chain and become more compliant at the beginning of

the chain as well. By the last session the trainer worked with him, only four verbal prompts, one

gestural prompt, and two modeling prompts were used meaning that he performed six tasks

independently.

Future Recommendations

Ben made incredible progress during the ten sessions of intervention. Moving forward, I

would suggest that the special education teacher or a paraeducator pick up with step six, rubbing

your hands together for three seconds once they have soap on them. Ben was close to performing

this skill independently on the last day I worked with him and with a few more sessions he
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should be able to master independence. Ben was responding well to the backward chaining

process and he is also accustomed to the routines and reinforcers in place. I would suggest

finishing the task with the same procedures for the remining four behaviors that need to be

learned.

This skill can be rehearsed with Ben each time he uses the restroom throughout the day

and reinforcement can gradually be faded to ensure he understands that washing hands is not

always reinforced. Fading BSP and verbal encouragement should be noticeable throughout the

tasks that he has currently mastered but still strong for newly learned tasks. Ben can still have a

choice of a particular reinforcement for completing the task, but the time should be decreased for

his reward time. After the time has decreased, Ben should no longer be provided with options for

a reinforcement and rather, just get a sticker or another favorite simple reinforcer to help him

transition into creating washing hands a natural learned behavior without reinforcement.

When working with students in the future and teaching them through the format of a task

analysis, I want to remember the importance of being consistent with reinforcement. As I was

writing out each of the prompts I gave the student, I realized how often I would be giving BSP

and encouragement as reinforcement. I think it is easy to forget to celebrate the little success of a

student, like completing a task without any modeling or physical prompts. In our minds, the task

may seem easily attainable, but for that student, they worked incredibly hard to complete the

task. Therefore, it is important to be consistent and sincere with reinforcement so the student

knows their hard work is noticed.

I also want to remember the importance of recording baseline data and graphing data.

Collecting data is important to make informed decisions about the specific student I am working

with. This process reveals patterns in student behavior, motivating factors, and can help to
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anticipate challenges for the student which all can be used to guide the intervention that will be

put in place. Finally, the figures I created going along with the data collection sheet were

extremely beneficial to review after the task analysis was complete. Even though, creating these

figures take a little extra time, I now see how important this data format is when it comes to

sharing data with parents or at an IEP meeting. The visual elements depict the progress of the

student, and specifically the bar graph, focuses on the process of learning. Both the process and

the product are important to discuss with parents along with highlighting areas of weakness and

strength.
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Bibliography
Bani, M. (2011). The used and frequency of verbal and non-verbal praise in nurture

groups. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 16(1), 47-67.

Miltenberger, R. G. (2018). Behavior modification: Principles and procedures 6th edition.

Boston, MA: Cenage Learning.

Myers, D. & DeWall, N., (2018) Psychology 12th edition. New York, NY: Worth Publishers

Macmillan Learning.

Rivera, C.J., Wood, C.L., James, M. & Williams, S. (2018). Improving study outcomes for

college students with executive functioning challenges. Career Development and

Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 42(3), 139-147.

Slocum, S. K., & Tiger, J. H. (2011). An Assessment of the efficiency of and child preference for

forward and backward chaining. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 44(4),

793-805.
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Appendices
Baseline and Intervention Data Collection Sheet

Task Analysis & Chaining Project

Teacher Interview
EDU 347

Student Pseudonym: M.M Grade: 1 Age: 6

Environment: Urban Rural Suburban Other:

Parents/Guardians: Siblings: none

Current Grades in School: Satisfactory on IEP goals with modifications

Present Level of Performance:

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Reading: Letter identification, core vocabulary, simple reading comprehension questions (What
color is the shirt?)

Spelling: Name, colors, days of the week, months of the year

Writing: Name tracing, letter tracing

Math: Number identification 1-30, counting 1:1 correspondence, shape identification, color
sorting.

Any adaptations in place for taking assessments? M. M primarily uses a communication device (LAMP)
to communicate and respond to prompts. All assessments are based on observations and progress
monitoring

Academic Strengths: M.M. can match and identify all letters of the alphabet, numbers 1-30, and all
shapes. He has strong sorting skills and sometimes enjoys looking at books of his choice. He can navigate
his communication device to answer basic reading comprehension questions as well as communicate his
basic wants and needs.

Academic Areas for Improvement: M.M needs to increase his time on task, calendar skills, pre-readiness
skills and mathematical computations.

Behavioral Strengths: M.M is affectionate and enjoys being around familiar peers. He is able to be
redirected when a reinforcement is present. M.M responds to transitional warnings and the use of a
timer. He is not aggressive.

Behavioral Areas for Improvement: M.M needs to improve on accepting “no” when he is requesting a
desired object/video and remain in the assigned area until his task is completed or he is granted
permission.

Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP)? Yes No

If Yes, please describe:

N/A

Describe the level of independent functional skills. M.M is able to open doors on his own, navigate
throughout the school without physical assistance, open his locker, respond to his name, drink from a
straw, use a spoon and feed himself finger foods.

Describe social skills and relationships with peers: M.M will greet familiar peers with a wave or by using
his device to say “hello” (Prompted). He typically keeps to himself but has recently shown more interest
in parallel playing with other students during music time. He enjoys going to the sensory room with a
typical peer and will gravitate toward people who make him feel safe.

Describe organization and decision-making skills: M.M has limited organizational skills but is able to put
things away with moderate assistance. When he is given specific directions, he can follow one step
directions to organize his belongings. M.M likes things to be in order, specifically letters and numbers.

Describe things that he/she finds motivating and reinforcing: M.M loves to play on the ipad and is highly
motivated by anything Peppa Pig.
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Goals or aspirations the parents have for their child for this school year: M.M’s parents would like to see
him become more independent and have more success with potty training.

Task Analysis & Chaining Project

Review of Records
EDU 347

1. What items did you review (e.g., sample work, report card, progress reports, behavioral records,
IEP, BIP, FBA, anecdotal notes, etc.)?

2. Record information on the student’s current level of performance as it related to their grades,
goals, and current level of development. M.M is performing below grade level and is primarily
focused on pre-academic skills and strengthening his functional skills. Although he has shown
progress over the course of the school year, he is currently dependent on caretakers to get
through the academic day.

3. Does the student receive any accommodations or modifications in the classroom or during
assessments? M.M has access to a classroom paraprofessional in both the regular education
classroom as well as the special education classroom. He does not receive assessments at this
time. All assignments are delivered at M.M’s academic level and pace where he is most likely to
see success. Learning opportunities are presented in a hands on approach, either one on one or
in a small group setting. He also has a communication device that he uses throughout the day to
provide a means of communication.

4. How much of the school day does the student spend in the general education environment per
the IEP? M.M spends about 15% of his day in the general education environment. This includes a
morning check in, specials with his typical peers and any classroom parties or assemblies.

5. Does the student have a completed FBA, BIP, or another behavior-specific plan? N/A

6. After reviewing the information, what was most helpful and interesting? What impact, guidance,
or influence does it have on your chaining project?

7. What additional information would you be interested in obtaining?

8. Does the student qualify for ESY? Yes

9. Does the student take local or state assessments? He only does progress monitoring. All
assessments start in 3rd grade.