In ABA, a task analysis can be used to break down larger, more complex skills into smaller steps or actions. This makes them more manageable for our learners. To run our business, we use a project management system to make sure everything runs smoothly. It functions like a task analysis in that anyone on our team can follow the same steps to keep things consistent. In the field, skills like hand washing and bathing can be taught using task analysis, which helps practitioners teach learners all steps in the same order.

Some of the most common questions we get revolve around teaching life skills and social skills. The reason people find them so overwhelming is because they’re so detailed and each person does them differently. Many of the skills we use throughout our lives are essentially a sequence, or a chain of behaviors that lead to a certain outcome. A task analysis can be used to teach the specific parts of each chain. Here, we discuss how to create a task analysis from scratch, the different types of chaining, and how to use prompts to build independence. 

What’s Inside:

• How to create a task analysis. 
• How to teach a task analysis and the different types of chaining.
• How to use prompts to build independence.

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Blog Post – What is ABA Chaining and How Do We Use It?
Editable Task Analyses for Teaching Life Skills

According to the latest data from the CDC, one in 36 children is diagnosed with autism in the United States each day. Worldwide, one in 100 is diagnosed. In the late 90s, the numbers were more around one in 1,000, and people weren’t quite sure what autism was. To put it simply, autism is a different way of thinking and viewing the world. We’ve encountered some amazing people with autism throughout the years and many have incredible strengths. Here, we dive into the technical definition of autism as stated in the DSM-V.

Today’s definition of autism differs from what was originally listed in the DSM-IV. It’s currently outlined as one big spectrum with three levels of severity. We discuss each level and the criteria for a diagnosis, including behavioral patterns and aspects, and how to classify autism in terms of behavioral excesses and behavioral deficits. Our conversation also includes discussion about repetitive behavior and how the approach to treatment and goal setting is as unique as the individual client.

What’s Inside:

• An explanation of the three levels of autism according to the DSM-V.
• How to classify autism based on behavioral excesses and deficits.
• How treatment plans and goals help autistic clients become their best.

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Episode 093: Thriving with Autism – ABA Success Story!

Play is a skill that a lot of our learners need to be taught. It doesn’t come as naturally to kids with autism or other developmental delays. Some children don’t like natural play because it’s unstructured. Here, we discuss how to teach play and the best way to help learners develop these critical skills. Teaching play skills is essential to success, as children learn so much through play. Many daycares and preschool programs carve out significant time for unstructured play, so it’s important that children have the skills they need to engage and participate. Another key component of play is interaction with peers, or social play.

Play is such a huge topic, and when teaching play skills, it helps to start with what’s developmentally appropriate for a child’s age. With early learners, it may be as simple as helping them allow an adult into their space. From there, you can begin to teach imitation. We discuss play teaching best practices, closed and open-ended play activities, and how to use play scripts. We’re hosting a webinar about play in June, which will be hosted on our membership site afterwards, as well as a blog post about video modeling. Head to our website for more information about both.

What’s Inside:

• Why play is an essential skill for success.
• How to teach play to early learners.
• How to use play scripts.

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Play Skills Task Analysis

In this very special 100th episode, we’ve rounded up some of the best professional advice our guests have ever received. Whether it’s building a community around you, learning to regulate yourself and staying calm in the moment, or fine-tuning your communication skills, being a BCBA requires constant learning and growth. We’ve hosted some amazing ABA professionals on our podcast; many of them have flourished, excelled, and became experts in their particular areas of service. We thought it would be a great idea to pick out some of the best tips and advice from our episodes, and here, you’ll hear straight from our guests what’s helped them the most in the field.

Whether you’re a newly minted BCBA or a seasoned pro, this episode is packed with wisdom to help you along your personal and professional journeys.

What’s Inside:

• Top professional advice from our guests.

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Some students have difficulty learning words and manding with flash cards at a table. Sometimes the natural world is a much better learning environment, and that’s where incidental teaching comes in. Incidental teaching is a strategy that uses ABA principles to provide structured learning opportunities in the natural environment, and it’s all about motivation. Through incidental teaching, you utilize the child’s natural interests and initiation while still contriving situations.

Some of the misconceptions around incidental teaching are that it’s completely child led, and that you don’t get many practice opportunities. Here, we discuss why that’s not true and how to use the concept appropriately. We also discuss the differences between incidental teaching and natural environmental teaching and provide tips on how to contrive learning opportunities. To grab our free NET data sheet, click the link below. 

What’s Inside:

• Misconceptions around incidental teaching.
• The difference between incidental teaching and natural environment teaching.
• Tips for contriving learning opportunities.

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NET Data Sheet

As ABA practitioners, we have many teaching procedures in our toolbox. Here, we’re discussing precision teaching, which is also called fluency-based instruction, and how we can use it to benefit our students. Many of us remember having to memorize multiplication tables in elementary school. While it was an intimidating task, chances are we still know all the tables by heart as adults, because we learned them to fluency as children. In today’s classrooms, math is taught in a much different manner. Fluency in things like simple multiplication is diminished, which impacts math skills overall.

Precision teaching, or fluency-based instruction, is a system of teaching in ABA that utilizes exact measurements and data to guide instruction and curriculum choices. We discuss what it looks like when put into practice and how to define fluency. One way fluency benefits our students is through skill acquisition. When they can complete tasks quickly and with ease, they’re less likely to engage in escape or problem behaviors. We discuss all the ways to use fluency, including social skills like commenting. We also talk about how to make precision teaching less complicated and more fun.

What’s Inside:

• What is fluency-based instruction and how does it help our students?
• Why fluency is important in terms of skill acquisition and reducing negative behavior.
• Examples of fluency-based instruction in action.

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Published Fluency Aims
Episode 051: The Literacy Epidemic with Michael Maloney

BCBA Steve Ward has been working as a behavior analyst since the mid 1990’s. As the lead behavior analyst for a center school, Steve conducted more than 100 functional assessments and wrote behavior plans to address a wide range of behaviors. He has also worked as a consultant, where he has designed programming for a wide variety of repertoires, including verbal behavior, daily living skills, and academics, among a host of others. Today, he runs Whole Child Consulting along with his partner Terry. Here, Steve shares his story about how he got into the field and how he uses multiple methods when working with students.

Steve is passionate about play, and his personal experience served as an inspiration to incorporate more fun into making play motivating. He shares tips for how to make play more effective and fun for students. We talk about how to measure data during play and Steve’s Inventory for a Good Learner Repertoires (IGLR). Steve shares what prompted him to create it and how to put it into practice. We also discuss how practitioners can think outside the box, the value of supervision and mentorship, Steve’s courses on shaping, and more.

Steve is joining us on an upcoming webinar where he’ll be sharing more about the IGLR. The event is on Wednesday, May 17th at 12:00pm EST, and you can sign up via the events page on our website. 

What’s Inside:

• How to make play more motivating and fun for students.
• Info on the Inventory for a Good Learner Repertoires (IGLR).
• Steve’s tips for newly minted BCBAs.

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Whole Child Consulting
Good Learner Repertoires Facebook Page

As students become more proficient at manding and move to an intermediate requesting phase, their mean length of utterance should increase. The types of mands they use should also expand. Intermediate learners are those who can use phrases of three or more words. When a student moves into a more intermediate phase, we often focus on pre-academic skills and forget to expand their manding repertoire. These learners have a decent receptive vocabulary, but still get stuck on certain aspects of language. They still need help with manding to bring more variety into their requests.

Here, we dive into the kinds of skills we should be teaching at the intermediate level for requesting. We cover how to figure out what a student’s manding needs are and whether to expand their main length of utterance or their repertoire. We talk about requesting for action, why it’s helpful to stay away from words like “please” and “thank you”, and requesting for assistance. We also discuss how to teach self-advocacy through appropriate protests and requests for attention.

Click the link below for a free resource on manding with ‘wh questions’.

What’s Inside:

• Which skills to teach at the intermediate level for requesting.
• How to discover what a student’s manding needs are.
• How to teach requests for action, assistance, and appropriate protests.

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Free Resource – Manding with ‘Wh Questions’

BCBA and play consultant Kaylin Moss is one of our members. She works in the field of early intervention and natural environment teaching. Kaylin started her career as a teacher at a local charter school for children with autism. She was inspired by the behavioral analyst at the school, who was a big resource and began looking into her line of work. Kaylin then began education for behavioral analysis, and her partner at the school became her mentor and supervisor. At first, she focused on behavior therapy but then switched gears to early intervention, mostly due to a helpful push from her mom.

Here, we talk with Kaylin about her transition from teacher to BCBA and how she uses her skills in her current role. We discuss her supervision experience and how starting at the grassroots level in the trenches shaped her career. Kaylin shares information about the Play Project, which is an alternative to ABA therapy. It’s a natural environment, has a play-based strategy, and has a similar foundation to ABA. We also talk about what play looks like in an ABA setting, how to support parents through play therapy, and tips for new BCBAs.

What’s Inside:

• How Kaylin transitioned from teaching into behavior analysis.
• Information about the Play Project and play therapy.
• How to incorporate play in an ABA setting.

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Functional assessments are the gold standard of behavior analysis. They’re the best technology we have to show the effectiveness and the function of our antecedent and consequence manipulation. Conducting functional assessments in a school setting comes with its own set of unique challenges, and behavior analyst Matt Cicoria is joining us at our next live CEU event to cover just that. The event takes place on Thursday, April 20th at 12:00pm EST. Matt also hosts the Behavioral Observations Podcast, which is linked below.

If you’re anything like us, you have a hectic schedule. The next thing you know, three years have passed and it’s time to get recertified. We wanted to make the CEU process easier by offering all the CEUs you need for recertification as well as presenting our live CEUs once a month. Our website has a new page specifically for events where you can easily sign up and add our events to your calendar. Check out the new page by clicking the link below.

What’s Inside:

• Information on our upcoming CEU event with Matt Cicoria.

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Behavioral Observations Podcast
EP 67: How to Use ABA in Classrooms