This document discusses different types of behavior chaining techniques used to teach tasks in sequential steps. Forward chaining teaches steps from first to last. Total task chaining reinforces each step and requires completing all learned steps. Backward chaining teaches the last step first to provide immediate reinforcement, working backwards. Backward chaining with leaps ahead skips steps the learner already knows. Examples illustrate using these techniques to teach tasks like refilling classroom supplies, brushing teeth, making a bed, and tying shoes. Behavior chaining requires considering an individual's cognitive, physical, language, and social abilities to select the appropriate technique.

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Behavior Chaining
Amber Stump
Kaplan University

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Behavior Chaining
Behavior chaining teaches sequential skills, skills that require steps in a certain order.
Chaining is to teach a specified task in steps and in some instances reinforce each step as they are
learned. There are different types of chaining that can be used when needed for an individual.
You first do a functional evaluation, and then come up with a task analysis, and then you choose
which type of behavioral chain would be best for that particular task and individual. What types
of behavioral chains are there? How do they differ from each other? Behavioral chaining, when
needed, is as important as teaching a child to do basic things like walking, and talking.
“Functional behavioral assessment is generally considered to be a problem-solving
process for addressing student problem behavior.” (Functional behavior assessment, 2001) The
first part of any behavior change is to study the person whose behavior needs to be changed. This
is done during a functional behavior assessment (FBA). FBA are typically observing a person to
see what leads up to the behavior in question, what the behavior is specifically, how often the
behavior exhibits itself, and what might help stop the behavior. It can also include interviewing
those around the individual who would be seeing the behavior in person to see if they have any
extra insight for the professional, as well as giving the individual a questionnaire with open
ended questions. “A functional behavioral assessment looks beyond the behavior itself. The
focus when conducting a functional behavioral assessment is on identifying significant, pupil-
specific social, affective, cognitive, and/or environmental factors associated with the occurrence
(and non-occurrence) of specific behaviors.” (Functional behavior assessment, 2001)
“A task analysis is used to break complex tasks into a sequence of smaller steps or
actions. For some individuals on the autism spectrum, even simple tasks can present complex
challenges. Having an understanding of all the steps involved for a particular task can assist in

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identifying any steps that may need extra instruction and will help teach the task in a logical
progression.” (Pratt, 2015)
Typically a behavior analyst will make up a task analysis by doing the task themselves
and writing the steps down, or by having someone else do the task while they watch and they
write down the steps needed. This is after they have done a functional analysis of the person
needing the help, and found out what task they need help with, and how much help is needed.
They will also discover during that analysis what type of behavior chain will work best with that
individual.
“Forward chaining is a chaining procedure that begins with the first element in the chain
and progresses to the last element (A to Z).” (Shaping and chaining, 2015) When the first step is
completed properly and is now a part of the individual’s repertoire, then they are taught the
second step. This is done over and over until they have learned all the steps included in that task.
As it says above, from A to Z. At the end of this behavioral chaining they will have learned a
new task from start to finish and it will ingrained in them to do it correctly, from start to finish
each time in the future.
Example; Sara was an eighth grade middle school student who has been diagnosed with
medium-high functioning autism, she is in a special class at school that not only does the regular
class work at her pace, but also helps Sara with pre-vocational help to get her ready for life after
school. Mr. Smith is the teacher who helps the students. He has observed Sara to see how well
she does at tasks. This was part of his FBA. Mr. Smith determined that Sara could do a task for
about 10-15 minutes without losing focus. After the 10-15 minutes, when it looked like Sara was
losing focus, all she needed was a slight prompting of what she was supposed to be doing. Sara
was able to remember up to fifteen steps in a row, once she learned them correctly.

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Mr. Smith determined that she could help in the classroom by refilling supplies at one of
the stations in class. There were eight stations in the classroom; a math station, a science station,
a social studies station, a language arts station, a spelling station, a media station, a music station,
and an art station. Other students were responsible for the other seven stations. Sara had the art
station. Mr. Smith first determined what was needed at the art station at the beginning of the day,
so Sara would fill her station at the end of each day, so it was ready to go the next day. Mr.
Smith then did the refilling himself at the art station to determine what should be included in the
task list. This was his task analysis.
The list has fifteen steps; it is the same for each station, except for the particular items
needed at each station. He determined that she could be taught the forward chaining technique.
This means she will learn one step at a time, starting with step one until she does it correctly.
Then she will learn step two until she learns it correctly and can do it. After she has learned all
the steps, she will put them all together and do them from beginning to end each time. Mr. Smith
will give her a prompt on the time to start her refilling for the station, with a laminated list on the
wall next to the station for her to see if a prompt is needed later. The steps are as follows;
1. Stop what you’re doing currently and put away your supplies.
2. Go to the station you are going to fill and see what supplies are needed.
3. Go to the supply closet and grab the pencils.
4. Go back to the station and fill up the pencil cup completely and remove any pencils that need
sharpening or have no erasers, set them aside.
5. Go to the supply closet and grab the markers.
6. Go to the station and fill up the marker cup and remove any old markers that are missing caps,
or are dried out, put them aside.
7. Go to the supply closet and grab the blank pieces of paper.
8. Go to the station and fill up the paper holder completely, remove all papers already used and
are not being kept, set aside.

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9. Make sure all the scissors are in the scissor holder.
10. Got to the supply closet and get the glue sticks.
11. Go to the station and fill up the glue stick holder, remove any old glue sticks that are empty,
set aside.
12. Go to the supply closet and grab the cleaning rag and the spray bottle of cleaner.
13. Go to the station and wipe up all the surfaces.
14. Throw away all used up pieces of paper, throw away dried out markers or ones missing caps,
and throw away empty glue sticks.
15. Put away all supplies used to refill in the supply closet, the cleaner and rag, and place pencils
into the cup reserved for sharpening.
“Total task chaining is like forward chaining, only it involves a reinforcer after each step
is completed.” (Gray, 2015) As this behavioral chaining type progresses, the reinforcer should be
removed, and the only reinforcer should be the learning of the task completely in the correct
order with minimal, or no prompting needed between steps. It is just like forward chaining in that
it is taught from the first step to the last; it is different from backward chaining in that it is not
taught from the last task back through the first.
How it differs from both backward and forward chaining is that after each step is taught,
the individual is to complete all steps learned up to the one they just learned, such as; they just
learned step three correctly, now they have to do step one, then two, and then three. As they are
learning step four, they must do steps one through three and then do step four. This will go on
until all the steps are learned; completing each and every step each time they are asked to
complete the task, or learn a new step.
Example; Danny is a five year old boy who has medium-high functioning autism. His
mother takes him to a behavior analyst to help her learn how to teach him basic tasks that he
needs to learn. He has trouble learning a lot at once and keeping on track. The behavior analyst

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determines with an FBA that Danny would be a good candidate for total task chaining. He needs
to practice each step he has learned as he is learning a new step so that he doesn’t forget the ones
he has already learned. The behavior analyst decides to starts Danny off with brushing his teeth.
The behavior analyst has Danny’s mother complete the task from beginning to end to determine
the steps needed. This is the task analysis. The behavior analyst determines from the mom that
Danny likes to be able to play right before bed, so the reward at the beginning of learning this
task is minutes to play. Every time Danny learns a new step, he gets minutes to play before bed.
There is a laminated steps list next to the bathroom sink to help Danny with prompting
once he has learned the task from start to finish. Once he has learned the task completely the
reward is phased out. Danny must also make sure to complete all the steps he has already learned
as well as the new one each time he does the task. Then the behavior analyst and the mother can
move on to a new task. The steps for brushing his teeth are as follows;
1. Prompt from mother: Danny is to stop what he is doing and go to the bathroom sink.
2. Grab toothbrush.
3. Turn on water and get the toothbrush wet.
4. Put toothpaste on the toothbrush.
5. Put toothbrush into mouth and brush all the teeth.
6. Spit out toothpaste into sink.
7. Rinse toothbrush.
8. Put toothbrush away.
9. Grab mouthwash and take off lid, fill lid with mouth wash.
10. Put mouthwash into mouth. Swish around mouth.
11. Spit mouthwash into sink.
12. Put lid on mouthwash, put away.
13. Wipe mouth on towel.
14. Turn off water.

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“Backward Chaining can have different definitions for different fields, but when teaching
life skills to children with special needs, it refers to breaking down the steps of a task and
teaching them in reverse order. This gives the child an experience of success and completion
with every attempt. Instead of the child starting at the beginning and getting lost somewhere
through, with the adult having to complete the task, the adult does all but the last step and lets the
child complete the work.” (Mauro, 2015)
Example; Lucy is a three year old who has issues with wanting to complete a task due to
having no patience, which comes with the territory at that age. Lucy has no other learning
disabilities. Lucy’s mom wants to teach her to do simple tasks, such as tying her shoes. Lucy
doesn’t want to do it because she thinks it takes too long. But, on the other hand, Lucy also wants
to be a big girl and feel like she is doing things for herself. So, her mother decides to teach Lucy
how to tie her shoes by using backward chaining which she had read about online.
Lucy’s mom decides to teach her daughter to tie her shoes and writes down all the tasks
from start to finish. She does all the steps leading up to the last one, and then has Lucy do the last
step so she can get the accomplished feeling out of completing a task. When Lucy has done the
last step over and over and has it down, her mother then has Lucy do the step before the last one,
as well as the last step. On and on she goes backward through the steps until Lucy can tie her
shoes all on her own.
Steps for tying shoes;
1. Put on shoes.
2. Grab both shoe laces
3. Cross them over each other.

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4. Put one shoelace under the other, so they are around each other
5. Make a loop with one shoe lace.
6. Wrap the other shoelace around the one with the loop.
7. Tuck the one you wrapped around under the looped one.
8. Pull tight.
9. Adjust to make even.
10. Repeat with other shoe.
These are to be done backwards, from number 10 to number one. Have her repeat number 10
when she learns number nine, and so on.
“Backward chaining with leaps ahead is a backward chaining procedure in which some
steps in the task analysis are skipped; used to increase the efficiency of teaching long behavior
chains when there is evidence that the skipped steps are in the learner's repertoire.” (Cooper,
2007) When someone needs to be taught a task correctly, but wants to feel the sense of
accomplishment immediately, you can use backward chaining. But, there are times when they
may know how to do some of the steps of the task already. This is where backward chaining with
leap ahead modifications would work better than others types of behavior chaining.
Example; Aubrey is a ten year old girl who has been diagnosed with medium-high
functioning autism. She needs to be taught to make her bed. She knows how to do one step
already; she knows how to place her pillows on her bed when it’s made. Aubrey’s mother learns
how to teach her daughter how to make the bed, using backwards chaining from her daughter’s
behavior analyst. Aubrey has had an FBA done on her, the task analysis has been done and now
it is just up to her mom to teach her how to make the bed step by step by going backwards, while
skipping the step that Aubrey already knows.
Steps for making the bed;

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1. Take everything off the bed, except the fitted sheet.
2. Take the flat sheet and smooth it over the fitted sheet.
3. Fold the top of the flat sheet down about six inches.
4. Tuck the sides and ends of the flat sheet under mattress.
5. Place comforter onto the bed
6. Make sure the comforter is evenly hanging from sides and bottom of bed.
7. Place pillows at the head of the bed.
Since Aubrey already knows how to do step 7, she can skip learning that step and go
straight to step 6, since this is backwards chaining, she is learning form the end to the beginning
of the steps. Aubrey will do step 6, then do step 7 and once she is done learning step 6, she will
learn step 5, then she will be doing step 5, 6, and then 7. She will do this until she learns all the
way through step 1.
“Each of these strategies has benefits. In forward chaining, the individual learns the
logical sequence of a task from beginning to end. In backward chaining, the individual
immediately understands the benefit of performing the task. In total task training, the individual
is able to learn the entire routine without interruptions. And they are able to complete any steps
that have been mastered.” (Pratt, 2015) In backward chaining with leap ahead modifications they
get the instant benefit of a task completion as well as being able to skip learning a step they
already know.
The drawbacks to forward chaining is that the person learning each task separately could
forget the first steps they learned by the time they learn the last step and have to put them all
together. This drawback seems to be taken into consideration when coming up with total task
chaining. The backward chaining might have the drawback of confusion. The individual may get

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confused as to what they should be doing first when they are finished learning all the steps
because they learned to put the pillows on first when making the bed. The best way to overcome
all the drawbacks is make sure that the individual has been put through a proper FBA, so you
know that the behavior chaining type has been chosen for them correctly.
The importance of cognitive abilities for using behavior chaining is being able to learn
the steps and the reasons for them, to understand the steps and why it needs to be done in a
certain order, being able to problem solve if needed during the application of the steps, and being
able to remember the steps that they have learned, being able reason is also included in cognitive
skills.
Motoric and physical abilities include being able to lift the bedding and put it onto the
bed when needed to complete the steps. Or, walk around the classroom to fill the things needed
at the station. It can include being able to lift the toothbrush and move it into the mouth, as well
as being able to properly brush the teeth. Also included in motoric abilities is being able to
manipulate shoelaces into a bow.
Other abilities that need to be considered are; language, whether or not they can talk to
you or if they can use gestures, them being able to understand what you are saying to them when
explaining the steps. In some instances they need to have social abilities as well. Being able to
interact with others; having a close relationship with family, friends, and teachers. Being able to
respond to the feelings of others, understand their own feelings, and being able to cooperate.
Things that could affect the performance of a behavior chain are (a) The length or
complexity of the chain; If the child is really young or has learning difficulties then those things
could affect the behavior chain if the steps are too many, or the steps are too complex.

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(b) Completeness of the task analysis; if there are any steps are left out, the steps are not
thorough or they are not easy to understand for the person they are being written for then it could
affect the performance of the behavior chain. (c) Stimulus variation; if the stimulus offered in the
total task is not working you can vary or change the stimulus offered until the desired effect in
the chaining is obtained. If you continue to only offer one stimulus and it is not working, then is
could affect the outcome of the behavior chaining. (d) Schedule of reinforcement; the
reinforcement needs to be right after they have learned the step completely. If the reinforcement
is given in exactly the same way, at the same time; or not, then it will effect whether or not an
individual wants to learn the step, or even the next step. (e) Response variation; this can happen
at any time, especially with young children, and someone with a learning disability. They may
respond differently after each step is learned. One time they may be very excited to learn a step,
and the next time they may throw a fit and not want to do it anymore. This can affect the rest of
learning the behavior chain.
When choosing a setting, it isn’t really going to affect the type of chaining to use, but if
your teaching steps to make a bed, you should have a bed available to learn on. So, a bedroom
would be an appropriate setting for learning a particular task. Although, some people learn better
outside of a classroom setting, so it could be an issue of the setting affecting the person
themselves.
Ethically, you want to insure that anything your teaching a client is not going to hurt
them physically, or mentally, also that it isn’t going to get them into trouble. That goes also for
legally, you don’t want to teach a client to do something illegal. In all cases you want to take the
individual into consideration completely when doing the FBA, and when doing the task analysis,
and when teaching them how to do the task no matter which behavior chain you choose to use.

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Socio-cultural implications would be considered if you were going to teach a task to someone
and it isn’t an acceptable task for them to learn in regards to their religion or culture.
In terms of which behavior chain type to choose, it really comes down to the individual.
How do they learn? What makes them want to learn? Can they understand complex tasks and
steps? What type of task do they need to learn? All these questions and more need to be asked
and answered in order to know which behavior chain is going to work best for them.

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