The student will design a teaching plan for chaining for a child or adult who is living with a significant learning challenge. This assignment does not require you to implement the teaching plan that you create.
Process
The student can design the chaining plan for either a real person or a composite person. Be sure to indicate in the introduction which option has been chosen.
If you were actually doing this plan, you would choose a real person and include a statement of confidentiality at the top of Page 1 your report and separately submit a signed consent form. Please note, students who choose to do the assignment by referring to a real person may change the name and identifying details, but do not need to get consent. Thinking of a real person tends to obtain higher overall grades in the assignment because you are working with authentic observations and information. eg. thinking of a 5 year old you know, vs a 20 year old you know would naturally change the number of steps: more mature people typically require less steps.
Whether you chose to do the assignment with a hypothetical person in mind or someone you know, please take a little extra time to describe who the person is at the beginning of the assignment but hide identity. Choosing a person you know who has a developmental disability makes the assignment richer. Think about the condition they have and what their strengths and needs will be before you begin describing the steps in the task. Another option is to go to YouTube and search for videos showing the abilities of a child with exceptionalities. That will help make it more real for you. If you choose this, indicate URL and identify the person in the video(s) you watched.
This assignment will be about three typed written pages. Include a title page and page numbering. Use all of the major headings that are listed below as a way to organize your report. The report must be clear, concise and be well written grammatically. Professional presentation is expected.
Assignment Format
1. Title Page, Presentation, Organization, and Grammar (5 points)
2. Introduction (5 points) While maintaining confidentiality, describe the individual for whom the plan is being designed. This should be no more than one paragraph and should include information such as gender, approximate age, level of independence, descriiption of current environment and other pertinent information. Indicate if the person is real or a composite.
3. Target Behaviour (5 points) In a few words and using objective language, describe the behaviour for which you plan to design a teaching plan. Explain why this behaviour was chosen in a sentence or two. Remember that you are not to use the plan to teach the skill. but rather you are to design a potential chaining teaching plan.
4. Teaching Strategy (5 points) Indicate if your plan will use forward, backward, or total task presentation. Justify why this target behavior is appropriate for chaining, then justify your choice of chaining method. One paragraph is sufficient.
5. Chaining Teaching Plan (20 points) You need to provide the following:
* a hierarchy of assistance (provide an example of each prompt type even if you later justify excluding a type of prompt).
* a task analysis
* a list of each SD for each step in the task analysis (each step should be written briefly with one verb if possible. The Sd controls what the prompt is directed at. Be specific and sensory. eg. feel the gum in mouth; hear the bell ring; see the paper towel)
* justify the number of steps you chose for this individual
* explain how you will use prompts and how you will fade
* explain when you will provide reinforcement and what the reinforcers will be
6. Reflection (10 points) In three paragraphs, reflect on what you learned during this assignment.
* Explain why you think your teaching strategy could be successful if it was implemented. This means, go into more detail about why was forward chaining, backward chaining or total task presentation correct for this task and individual plus explain why the other two chaining methods are less appropriate than the one you chose.
* Since you developed a chaining plan, give two examples of behaviours that you would use shaping as the teaching strategy for the same person. Explain why these two behaviors are needed for this individual and justify why shaping is appropriate.
* Describe what you learned about chaining and shaping and how this may impact your future professional assisting endeavours.