Running head: TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT 1

Task Analysis and Chaining Project

Natalie Berry
EDU 347
Running head: TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT 2

Task Analysis and Chaining Project

The candidate chosen for this project was a twelve-year old Caucasian boy named John

(pseudonym) who is currently placed in a self-contained special education classroom at The

School of Bright Promise in Steubenville, Ohio. John is in a class with 5 other students, one

licensed special education teacher, and three teacher aids. All the students receive special

services as designated by their Individual Educational Plan (IEP). The staff/student ratio is kept

low to help meet the physical, medical, and educational needs of each student.

John’s home environment is relatively stable. He lives with both his mom and his dad,

and it is unknown whether he has other siblings. In terms of parental involvement, the licensed

teacher did communicate that John’s parents rarely make it to conferences to discuss John’s

progress in the classroom. John’s diagnosed disability is Autism and he is also severely diabetic.

One of the teacher aides is responsible for checking his blood sugar levels around 11:00pm every

day and a nurse comes in to give him his insulin shot around lunch time. He is nonverbal but

uses his PE cards to communicate his wants and needs. He understands and follows verbal

commands. He does most of his academic work by matching and handing staff the card with the

correct answer. He follows a visual schedule, checking off when he completes a task. He can

print his first name with prompts at 80% accuracy. He can eat his lunch independently with

100% accuracy but at times must be fed as he doesn’t want to eat his necessary foods for his

diabetic diet. John’s overall academic abilities are below average. Compared to his typical peers,

John is showing a deficit in self-help skills. In terms of his present levels of functional

performance, John can eat independently. He can also change his pull-up and only needs

assistance when he has a bowel movement. He can put on and take off his shoes, coat, and

backpack with 100% accuracy.

Running head: TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT 3

Targeted Task: Brushing Teeth

The targeted task that will be focused on for this project will be teaching John how to

brush his teeth properly without any assistance. As John is getting older, it is important for him to

learn personal hygiene skills such as brushing his hair, washing his face, and putting on

deodorant. Like all children, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) need to take extra

care with personal hygiene, especially when they reach puberty. John has not had too much

difficulty in learning new hygiene skills. When prompted, he can put on his deodorant and brush

his hair with a comb. The targeted task of brushing teeth was chosen for this task analysis and

chaining project because it is a task that John’s teacher believes is an important step on his path

to independence and self-esteem. As John continues to approach adolescence, it is important for

him to understand the importance of having clean teeth and having a neat appearance. The

challenge for John is knowing when to brush his teeth and how to execute the steps properly in

sequence. John has some familiarity with brushing his teeth in the classroom. This task has been

introduced to John by his special education teacher in the past and will be taught to mastery

using the process of forward chaining.

Task Analysis

According to Srinivasan and Parthasarathi, a task analysis involves breaking down

complex tasks into subtasks that are easily understandable and manageable. The resulting

subtasks, which when carried out in sequence, lead to the desired goal. Task analysis has been

used widely in special education to help students master activities independently (2013). The

task analysis was constructed after observing how other students performed the targeted task and

how the task is performed personally. The assessor broke the task down into fifteen steps that are
 Running head: TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT 4

all required in order for the task to be completed. The task analysis used for this chaining

procedure was implemented as follows:

Session------------ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
-------
1. pick up I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
toothbrush

2. wet toothbrush P(v) P(v) I I P(v) I I I I I I I I I I

3. take the cap off I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
the tube
4. squeeze paste P(v) I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
on brush
5. put brush in I I P(v) I I I I I I I I I I I I
mouth
6. brush teeth for P(v) P(v) P(v) P(v) P(v) P(v) P(v) P(v) P(v) P(v) I I I I I
30 sec (Singing
“Happy Birthday”
twice)
7. wet the P(v) P(v) P(v) I I I I P(v) I I I P(v) I I I
toothbrush
8. rinse mouth P(v) P(v) P(v) I I I I P(v) I I I I I I I
9. spit P(v) P(v) P(v) I I I I I I I I I I I I
10. rinse P(v) I P(v) I I P(v) P(v) I P(v) I I I I I I
toothbrush
11. grab paper P(v) P(v) I P(v) P(v) P(v) P(v) P(v) P(v) P(v) I I I I I
towel
12. wipe mouth I P(v) P(v) P(v) P(v) P(v) P(v) I I I I I I I I
13. throw paper I P(v) P(v) I I P(v) P(v) I I I I I I I I
towel away
14. put cap back I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
on toothpaste
15. put toothpaste I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
away
7 7 7 12 11 10 10 11 12 13 15 14 15 15 15
Total 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15

I = Independent B = Baseline

P = Prompted FW = Forward Chaining

V = Verbal Prompt

When preparing to write up a task analysis, it is important to use the learner’s present

level of performance on their IEP/IFSP goals and their teachers/practitioners should identify the

prerequisite skills that are necessary for the learner to have in order to perform the target skill.

Often this is done by collecting baseline data on performance of the target skill (Szidon &

Franzone, 2009). There are a few prerequisite skills required for John to successively complete

the task analysis for brushing his teeth. First, John needs to know where the sink and paper towel
Running head: TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT 5

dispenser is located within the classroom. Next, John needs to know where his toothbrush and

toothpaste are located and how to look for the label on them indicating that they are his. John

must have the hand strength to squeeze out a pea-size amount of toothpaste onto his toothbrush.

He must also know what a pea looks like in order to understand how much is needed. Finally,

John must have the strength to pull down on the paper towel dispenser in order to use the paper

towel to wipe his mouth.

Chaining Procedure

The chaining process itself involves prompting to evoke a behavior. A transfer of stimulus

control is then used to eliminate the prompts in order to get the behavior to occur in the presence

of the relevant discriminative stimulus. For this project, the process of forward chaining was

used to teach John how to brush his teeth. With forward chaining, you present the first stimulus,

prompt the correct response, and provide a reinforcer after the response (Miltenberger, 2014).

The assessor will then fade the prompts until the person is engaging in the first response without

any prompts before moving on to the second response. The use of chaining techniques to teach

functional skills to students with mild to moderate disabilities has shown to be successful.

Research published in the Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, and Early Intervention by

Cindy Lee Supawadee showed a study that investigated the effects of forward and backward

chaining techniques on dressing skills in school-aged children with moderate mental retardation.

Six children between the ages of 6 and 10 were randomly assigned to either a forward or

backwards chaining group. The findings of this study revealed that all the participants in both

groups showed significant improvement in the skill for dressing ( Supawadee, 2009).

In another study, forward chaining was combined with stimulus fading to address the

high-risk physical aggression and property destruction behavior of an adult male with an Autism
Running head: TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT 6

Spectrum Disorder. A task analysis was also put together to allow the individual to participate in

van rides when prompted with no displays of aggressive behavior. The results of this study

showed that the combination of task analysis/chaining and prompt fading were effective in

teaching a new behavior. The individual was extremely aggressive during his initial refusal to get

in the van during the baseline phase. Once the fading began and they progressed further into the

forward chaining procedure, his displays of refusal and aggression decreased (Guercio &

Cormier, 2015).

Results

Brushing Teeth
16
Number of Steps Completed Independently

14

12

10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Session
Running head: TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT 7

Verbal Prompts
Ses si on 15
0
Ses si on 14
0
Ses si on 13
0
Ses si on 12 1
Ses si on 11
0
Ses si on 10 2
Ses si on 9 3
Ses si on 8 4
Ses si on 7 5
Ses si on 6 5
Ses si on 5 4
Ses si on 4 3
Ses si on 3 8
Ses si on 2 8
Ses si on 1 8

As indicated by the graph, the forward chaining procedure proved to be an effective

technique for John. His baseline data showed that he already knew how to do quite a few steps

independently without any prompting. After the first 3 sessions, he needed fewer verbal prompts

and was able to complete more of the steps independently. By the time John got to the

intervention phase, he was able to do more steps independently than expected. The forward

chaining technique continued to be employed as John continued to require fewer verbal prompts.

By session 11, John was able to successively brush his teeth and complete all fifteen steps

without any assistance or prompting.

Future Recommendations

One aspect of this study that I did not think about before starting was the amount of

interval time I would have to account for between sessions. Unlike other tasks such as washing

hands or zipping up a coat, it would be unethical of me to have John brush his teeth more than

twice within one hour. Taking this into account, I had to make sure that I was allowing enough

time in between session so as not to push John to a place where he would uncomfortable. All in
Running head: TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT 8

all, John did very well with this task. I have confidence that John can now successfully brush his

teeth on his own. Moving forward, John’s teacher would like to see him be able to wash his face

on his own. I think this is an attainable goal that John would be able to reach through a chaining

process. This is also another skill that John will need for the rest of his life and is important to

personal hygiene.

Bibliography

Guercio, J. M., & Cormier, R. J. (2015). Blending Stimulus Fading Procedures with Forward

Chaining to Address Treatment Resistance in an Adult with an Autism Spectrum

Disorder. Association for Behavior Analysis International,8(2), 215-218.

Miltenberger, R. G. (2016). Behavior modification: Principles and procedures. Boston, MA:

Cengage Learning

Srinivasan, B., & Parthasarathi, R. (2013). An intelligent task analysis approach for special

education based on MIRA. Journal of Applied Logic,11, 137-145.

Supawadee, C. L. (2009). The Effect of Chaining Techniques on Dressing Skills of Children

with Moderate Mental Retardation: A Single-Subject Design Study. Journal

Occupational Therapy, Schools, & Early Intervention,2(3-4), 178-192.

Szidon, K., & Franzone, E. (2009). Task Analysis. Madison, WI: National Professional

Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders, Waisman Center, University of

Wisconsin.