Running head: TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT !

Task Analysis and Chaining Project

Raegan Stead

EDU 347
TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT !2

Student Information

Trevor is a second grade student and has been at his current school since preschool. He is

African American and is eight years old. He is currently on an IEP for a specific learning disabil-

ity. At school he is placed in a second grade general education classroom and goes down to the

self-contained special education classroom if he is struggling on an assignment or if he is refus-

ing to do his work and/or disrupting the class. He usually needs to be prompted to do his work,

but once he gets started he can do it on his own. He has a short attention span and gets easily

frustrated with his assignments. There is not a paraeducator in his general education classroom,

so he is sent to the special education classroom to get extra help. Sometimes he will try to make

jokes and get off topic to avoid doing his work. He responds well to rewards and will immediate-

ly start doing his work if promised something in return. Rewards used are a piece of candy, being

able to ask a question, or getting to tell one joke. Trevor gets along well with other students, but

acts less mature than the students in his class. He listens to directions and does what he is told,

but it seems like he does not understand why he is engaging in the behavior. Trevor is also very

clumsy and messy. The inside of his desk is always full of garbage, crumbled up papers, broken

pencils, and books with pages and covers missing. He always has food on his clothes because he

eats very quickly at lunch and has a hard time using silverware correctly. He skips through the

halls instead of walking and frequently trips over his own feet. At home, Trevor lives with his

grandmother and acts immaturely. He usually does what he is told, but eventually reverts back to

his immature behavior. He enjoys eating, playing games, and telling jokes.
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Targeted Task

The task chosen for Trevor to work on was receiving and eating his lunch correctly. That

means that he will stay in the lunch line, hand his ticket to the lunch lady, get his food, place both

hands under his tray, walk to his seat, sit down at his table, take his milk and silverware pack off

of the tray and place them on the table, open the silverware pack, unfold his napkin and place it

across his lap, open his milk and put the straw in it, grab his fork with his right hand, slowly eat

his food, place all of his garbage on the tray after he is finished eating, stand up and walk to the

garbage can, throw his tray way, and sit back down at his seat. This skill is important for Trevor

because he always makes a mess at lunch and ends up spilling food all over the table, other stu-

dents, and himself. He also eats so quickly that he often gets a stomachache and will be sent to

the nurse. He also struggles with using his silverware and napkin and will use his hands to eat

and wipe his hands off on his clothes. This skill will also be beneficial to him as he gets older

and will allow him to be able to eat on his own when he is not at school.

Task Analysis

In order for Trevor to learn the task analysis he will need to be able to walk and eat slow-

ly and use his utensils when eating. He is able to use these skills, but chooses to do everything at

a fast pace. He may have hard time slowing down because he is used to doing everything so

quickly. He likes to eat his food quickly which makes him sick and causes him to make a mess at

lunch. The task analysis for Trevor will be as follows:

Task: Eating Lunch

1. Hand ticket to the lunch lady
TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT !4

2. Walk in straight line

3. Get food
4. Hold tray with both hands
5. Walk to seat
6. Sit down and set tray on table
7. Take milk off of tray and set on the table
8. Open silverware pack
9. Unfold napkin
10. Lay napkin across lap
11. Open milk
12. Put straw in milk
13. Take fork in right hand
14. Slowly eat
15. Put all garbage on tray
16. Walk to garbage can
17. Throw food away

Figure 1. Task analysis used for chaining procedure

Chaining Procedure

The chaining procedure selected was total task. This procedure was chosen because the

student was able to complete steps sporadically throughout the chain. According to Collins

(2012), this (total task changing) allows the learner to perform the steps already known and to

receive instruction on the steps yet to be mastered. This procedure made the most sense to use

with the task of eating lunch because there are many steps that do not necessarily build off of one

another. Miltenberger (2017) stated that a reinforcer should be provided every time the student
TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT !5

completes the task. Each time the student completed a step of the chain he received praise and

after completing the entire task he received a Reese Cup. Praise worked well as a reinforcer for

this task and it came from the instructor and the other students at lunch. Thayathakath (2016)

found that: we must systematically change our reinforcement so that the child eventually will

respond appropriately under natural schedules of reinforcement (occasional) with natural types

of reinforces (social). Praise was given after each completed step of the chain during instruction

and intervention. Other students at lunch also provided praise for the student eating correctly and

without making a mess. The students’ praise was instrumental in ensuring that the student con-

tinue to make progress on the task. The student was also aware of what was expected of him and

knew that his lunch eating skills needed to improve. According to Wheatley, West, Charlton,

Sanders, Smith & Taylor (2009), providing clear expectations for students is an essential part of a

behavior support program. Informing the student what was expected of him during the chaining

procedure also helped produce favorable results. He knew that his lunch eating skills were not

very good and was eager to improve them.

Results

The student responded well to the chaining procedure and went from completing 9 steps

to 14 steps of the task analysis by the end of the intervention. Every few times he would add an-

other step completed to his total. Most of the steps he added during the intervention had to be

prompted, but he started to remember steps the more he practiced. After completing the steps,

Trevor would often discuss steps he forgot to do during data collection. He consistently added

steps and by the end of the intervention he could complete 14 out of 17 steps while only being

prompted on 2 out of the 14.

TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT !6

Chaining Session 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Procedure
Baseline/ B B B B I I I I I I
Intervention
1. Hand ticket to the lunch I I I I I I I I I I
lady
2. Walk in straight line I P P P P I I

3. Get food I I I I I I I I I I
4. Hold tray with both hands I I I I I I I I I I
5. Walk to seat I I I I I I I I I I
6. Sit down and set tray on I I I I I I I I I I
table
7. Take milk off of tray and set P P P I
on the table
8. Open silverware pack I I I I I I I I I I
9. Unfold napkin

10. Lay napkin across lap

11. Open milk I I I I I I I I I I

12. Put straw in milk P P P I I I

13. Take fork in right hand P P

14. Slowly eat P P P P I

15. Put all garbage on tray P P

16. Walk to garbage can I I I I I I I I I I

17. Throw food away I I I I I I I I I I
Total out of 17 9 9 9 10 11 12 13 13 14 14

(I = Independent, P = Prompted)
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Eating Lunch Chaining

17
16 Baseline Intervention

Number of Steps Completed Correctly

15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Sessions
Graph 1. AB Graph showing Trevor’s baseline lunch eating skills and results.

Future Recommendations

One challenge I faced while collecting data was making sure there were enough

consistent opportunities to practice the task analysis. I had to make sure that I was able to get the

same materials from the cafeteria and recreate the lunch sequence. It took more sessions because

I wanted to practice before lunch in the cafeteria and collect data during the actual lunch period.

Writing the task analysis was not too difficult because I just observed his progress of eating

lunch before we began and I wrote the steps based on what he did and did not do. My cooperat-

ing teacher and I decided that total task chaining would be the best procedure to use for this

project because Trevor could do different steps sporadically throughout the entire task. In the fu-
TASK ANALYSIS AND CHAINING PROJECT !8

ture I may choose one of the specific parts of lunch, such as eating correctly, and focus on that

instead of the entire lunch period.

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Bibliography

Belva C., C. (2012). Systematic Instruction for Students with Moderate and Severe Disabilities,
4. Retrieved from http://archive.brookespublishing.com/documents/Using-effective-
practices-to-teach-students-with-disabilities.pdf

Miltenberger, R. (2017). Behavior Modification: Principles and Procedures (6th ed., p. 211).
Boston: CENGAGE Learning.

Rikki K. Wheatley, Richard P. West, Cade T. Charlton, Richard B. Sanders, Tim G. Smith, &
Matthew J. Taylor. (2009). Improving Behavior through Differential Reinforcement: A
Praise Note System for Elementary School Students. Education And Treatment Of
Children, 32(4), 551-571. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/etc.0.0071

Thayathakath, N. (2016). Effectiveness of Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) executed by

parents in Early Intervention Program for children with Autistic Features. Journal Of
Contemporary Psychological Research, 3(2).