When doing a Task Analysis, think of all the movements involved in performing the chosen task.

When I thought about what my son needed to learn to kick a ball, I came up with this list of tasks:

• Notice ball
• Locate ball
• Walk toward ball
• Stand near ball
• Push or kick ball with foot

Another child might need more, or fewer tag points. Also, each of these skills can be broken down further.

This technique of successive approximations toward a final goal is called shaping. If you have a behavior occurring, you can shape that behavior one small step at a time until it becomes a new behavior.

For example, the behavior “exhales” could be shaped to become “blow” and eventually “blow bubbles” (from a bubble wand).

The behavior “two steps in one direction” could be shaped into 3, then 4, then more steps until the child can go for long walks.

Read this article about the steps one Dad took in shaping his daughter’s behavior of touching his (the Dad’s) eyebrows into feeding herself!