Task analysis

A task analysis breaks a skill or routine into small, manageable steps in order. Your child's team uses it to see which steps your child already does and to teach the rest. Your Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) writes it for your child, and each step is described so anyone watching can tell whether it happened.

There's no set number of steps. One study taught tasks of 3 to 18 steps, and another split toothbrushing into twelve. The list alone doesn't teach the skill, so teams pair it with other methods, such as reinforcement, prompting or video modeling. The steps are often taught through chaining, and as your child masters each one, they become more independent.

For brushing teeth, the steps might start with turning on the tap, picking up the toothbrush and putting toothpaste on it. They might end with drying hands and mouth. In sessions, the team tracks which steps your child does without help, and progress shows up as more steps done alone. The same skill can have more or fewer steps for different children.

• A copy of the steps: Ask for the written steps for any routine you practice at home.
• Where your child is now: Ask which steps your child already does alone and which ones the team is teaching next.
• How the steps are taught: Ask which methods, such as chaining, prompting or video modeling, the team uses with the list.