What Is a Task Analysis?
A task analysis is a detailed breakdown of a complex skill or behavior chain into its individual, teachable component steps. In applied behavior analysis, task analyses are used to make multi-step skills accessible to learners by identifying exactly what needs to happen at each stage. Rather than teaching "wash your hands" as a single behavior, a task analysis breaks it into discrete steps like turning on the water, wetting hands, applying soap, rubbing hands together, rinsing, and drying.
Task analysis is a foundational skill for BCBAs, and the BCBA exam tests your ability to develop, validate, and implement task analyses across a range of skill domains.
How to Develop a Task Analysis
There are three primary methods for developing a task analysis, and each has its strengths:
Method 1: Performing the Task Yourself
The practitioner completes the task while recording each step in order. This method gives you firsthand experience with the motor and cognitive demands of the task. However, skilled performers often skip steps or combine steps without realizing it, so this method alone may miss important details.
Method 2: Observing a Competent Individual
Watch someone who performs the skill proficiently and record each step as they complete it. Observing multiple individuals can reveal different but equally valid ways to complete the task. This method helps you identify steps that might not be obvious from your own performance.
Method 3: Consulting with Experts
Ask professionals or experienced individuals who routinely perform or teach the skill to list the component steps. A speech-language pathologist might help develop a task analysis for a complex communication skill, while an occupational therapist might contribute to a self-care task analysis. Expert input is especially valuable for skills outside your area of expertise.
Best practice is to use all three methods and compare the results to create the most complete and accurate task analysis possible.
Validating Your Task Analysis
A task analysis must be validated before using it in a teaching program. Validation involves having someone who has never performed the skill follow your written steps exactly as written to see if they can successfully complete the task. If they cannot, the task analysis needs revision. Steps that are too broad need to be broken into smaller components. Steps that are redundant or unnecessary should be removed.
Additionally, consider the learner's current skill level when determining the size of each step. A learner with strong fine motor skills may not need "grasp the zipper pull" as a separate step, while a learner with motor difficulties may need that step broken down further into "position thumb and index finger on zipper pull" and "close fingers around zipper pull."
Chaining Procedures for Teaching Task Analyses
Once you have a validated task analysis, you need a systematic teaching method. Chaining procedures are the primary methods for teaching behavior chains identified through task analysis:
Forward Chaining
Teach the first step independently while prompting all subsequent steps. Once the learner masters the first step, teach the second step while prompting the remaining steps. Continue adding one step at a time from front to back. This approach is useful when the initial steps are critical for the learner to understand the overall sequence.
Backward Chaining
Prompt all steps except the last one, which the learner performs independently. Once the last step is mastered, the learner independently performs the last two steps while earlier steps are prompted. Continue adding steps from back to front. Backward chaining ensures the learner always contacts the natural reinforcer at the end of the chain, which can increase motivation.
Total Task Presentation
The learner attempts every step in the chain on every trial, with prompts provided as needed for steps that are not yet mastered. This method is the fastest approach for many learners and is especially useful for tasks the learner partially knows. It most closely resembles how skills are naturally performed.
Recording Data on Task Analyses
Data collection during task analysis instruction typically involves recording whether each step was completed independently, completed with a prompt (noting the prompt level), or not completed. This step-by-step data allows you to identify which steps the learner has mastered, which steps need continued instruction, and whether the overall skill is progressing toward independence.
Calculate the percentage of steps completed independently across sessions to track overall progress. Graphing this percentage allows you to monitor acquisition and make data-based decisions about when to adjust your teaching procedures.
Exam Applications
BCBA exam questions frequently ask you to select the appropriate chaining procedure for a given scenario, identify errors in a task analysis, or determine the next step in instruction based on task analysis data. Practice creating task analyses for common daily living skills, vocational tasks, and social interactions to build fluency with this essential skill.