They don't understand how to crack an egg, how to use the stove, or how to serve food—so each step of the task must be described:. Even cookbooks, which do provide step by step instructions to a certain level, don't provide the basic information about where to find the necessary items and how to use each tool correctly. Special needs children and adults may need chaining to learn tasks that others can learn by watching and imitating. It may also be the case that special needs learners lack the innate desire to learn certain tasks.
While a typical five-year-old may want to gain greater independence by learning to fasten the snaps and zippers on her own coat, a special needs five-year-old may not feel any particular need to "do it myself.
In order to teach skills to a special needs learner, the teacher often needs to provide "reinforcers" for successful completion of each "link" in the "chain. So, for example, in the case of zipping a coat, a teacher might plan to teach the skills over time—and reward each step along the way:. If chaining works well for a special needs learner, it can be implemented in many different settings.
Often, it's a good idea for parents and teachers to communicate about how chaining is used in different settings. When a child uses the same learning techniques at home and at school, they can become more adept at following instructions and quickly gaining new skills. Sometimes chaining may be too involved for a learner who can become frustrated or get lost going through a chain of steps.
In a situation such as this, backward chaining may be a good option. In backward chaining, a parent or teachers complete most of the tasks in a chain, allowing the child to finish the final task. As this final task becomes easier, the adult can then slowly fade back and have the child complete more items in the chain.
For example, in making a bed an adult may perform almost all of the tasks leaving the final step—putting the pillow on the bed—for the child. As the child becomes adept at completing this step, the child may be asked to add in the next-to-last step—pulling up the comforter—and so on. Chaining relies on the learning method in psychology called operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning, the brainchild of B. Skinner acts under the presumption that understanding internal thoughts and motivation is not necessary to understand behavior. Then the next step is added and the learner is reinforced for completing this step until mastery.
The chain continues until the entire behavior is learned. Backward chaining is when the teacher or parent helps the learner complete all tasks until the last task in the chain. The learner is reinforced for completing the last task independently. Then, the learner is expected to complete the last two parts of the chain and is reinforced when he does so accurately.
Additional parts of the chain are added and reinforced until the entire chain is mastered. Within the chaining process, a task analysis is used to identify the separate behaviors, or the separate steps, of the larger behavior.
Although tooth-brushing was given as an example of shaping, it can also be viewed through the lens of chaining and task analysis. When a learner not only needs to learn to improve his overall quality of toothbrushing, a task analysis with chaining strategies might be necessary.
A task analysis can be as detailed as needed to help the individual learn. Some individuals require more detailed task analysis such as breaking down the skill into very small steps. A parent who uses a task analysis to teach their child the entire tooth-brushing activity may show their child how to open and close the toothbrush.
They may show the child how to brush each area of the mouth. And so on. On the other hand, a learner who is more skilled at toothbrushing may not need this detailed of instruction. They may just need to be told to get the toothpaste, toothbrush, and brush their teeth and then to put the items back where they belong. Shaping, chaining, and task analysis are common behavioral concepts that exist in a variety of settings and with a variety of experiences.
Using these concepts, parents, teachers, and interventionists can help a learner learn new skills and expand on his or her behaviors in meaningful ways. The terminology involved in field of research is generally attributed to B. Skinner , a research psychologist that worked for Harvard University in the 's. Chaining In behavioral psychology, chaining as used in a response chain involves the reinforcement of individual responses occurring in a sequence to form a complex behavior.
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