1. Behavior Intervention
Chaining:
Teaching children with Autism
This software is licensed
under the BC Commons License.

2. Learning Objectives Define chaining Describe task analysis
Define and differentiate forward, backward, and total task chaining
Differentiate between shaping and chaining 2
2008 (C) Douglas College 2

3. Chaining:
Chaining involves teaching a skill by first breaking it down into its various subcomponents and then teaching those steps in in either a forward or a backward direction.
Breaking down behaviors into sub-skills is called a task analysis.
Many children with autism have difficulty learning new skills. Their learning can bee facilitated by having skills broken into smaller subcomponents—small steps are easier to learn! 3

4. Task Analysis:
Some skills need to be broken down and taught piece by piece. To develop these “pieces” you need to do a task analysis
Many daily living skills are good examples:
Making the bed
Tying shoe laces
Brushing teeth
Making a sandwich
Having a bath or shower 4

5. What is a task analysis?
Breaking a complex behavioural chains into component parts.
Each part of the chain can be linked with other behaviours to form a more complex behaviour

6. Task analysis is part of our everyday life:
Learning to cook from a recipe. The recipe is a task analysis.
Learning to use a camera by reading the instruction manual. The instruction manual is a task analysis.
Putting together some piece of furniture from IKEA. The pictorial instructions is a task analysis

7. Task Analysis Continued
Task analysis is an inherent component of shaping and chaining.

8. Forward Chaining:
The first step of the task analysis is performed by the learner.
All other parts of the task are performed by the teacher.
After mastering step 1, the learner will then be taught steps 1 & 2 together.
After mastering steps 1 & 2, the learner will the be taught steps 1, 2 and 3 together. 8

9. Forward Chaining:
The learner starts the task, the teacher usually finishes the task.
Some skills can only be taught in a forward direction.
Examples:
Teaching the alphabet
Teaching counting
Teaching phone numbers 9

10. Forward Chaining: 5 55 555 555-1 555-12 555-121 555-1212 10
Michal Marcol (n.d.) Girl with Phone. Retrieved at
<p><a href=" FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></p> 10

11. Backward Chaining:
The teacher completes all the steps except the last step.
Last step completed by the learner.
After mastery of the last step, the teacher completes all the steps except the last 2 steps.
After the learner masters the last 2 steps, the teacher performs all the steps except the last 3 steps and so on. 11

12. Making a sandwich: Get bread Get knife Get peanut butter Get plate
Open peanut butter jar
Pick up knife and put in peanut butter jar and scoop
Spread peanut butter on bread
Put 2nd slice on top of peanut butter
Pick up knife & cut sandwich in half
Put on plate
Put food away
Eat sandwich ( in backward chaining the student practices this step independently first, then steps 11 and 12, then 10, 11, 12, etc.) 12

13. Benefits of Backward Chaining:
The learner gets a sense of completion—by the time they are finished being taught the task is completely done as well.
The reinforcement immediately follows the learner’s behavior (in our example, the student gets to eat a sandwich!)
The learner gets to practice each step with help, multiple times, before being asked to complete the step independently. 13

14. Shaping vs Chaining
Shaping: is a behavioral procedure whereby closer approximations of the final desired behavior are reinforced while at the same time extinguishing previous approximations of the behavior.
Ex: The teaching goal is for student to say “Dog”: teacher will first accept “Duh”, then “Duh-o” and will ultimately accept only “Dog”
Chaining: involves teaching a skill by first breaking it down into its various subcomponents and then teaching those steps in in either a forward or a backward direction.
Example: teach how to sort and match socks, teach how to align matching socks toe to heel, teach how to fold socks together. End skill: Folding socks

15. 2 Shoe Tying Resources: Red Lace, Yellow Lace
By: Mark Casey, Judith Herbst, & Jenny Stanley (Illustrator)
1, 2 Lace My Shoe [Board book]
Both items can be purchased on amazon.ca 15

16. Closing Comments
There are several empirically supported methods for teaching children with special needs and chaining is one of these.
There is always more than one way to teach a skill—if at first you don’t succeed, try another way! We have already learned about shaping and chaining, there are more out there that can be explored.

17. References
Pryor, K. (1984) Don’t Shoot the Dog. Bantam Books.

18. Resource
Douglas College created this resource for the Cass behavior Intervention Provincial Partnership, funded through the Douglas College Strategic Development Fund.
Author(s)
Elizabeth Athens, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Institution(s)
Douglas College
Title
Chaining
Description
Students learn to define chaining, provide examples how chaining can be used to teach students new skills, and to understand how to teach using chaining teach techniques.
Date Created
6/29/11
Education Level
College, Post Secondary
Key Words / Tags
chaining, task analysis, ABA, autism
Copyright
BCCommons v. 2
Format
PowerPoint