CHILD DEVELOPMENT PEDAGOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -A behavior chain (chaining) is a type of teaching procedure used to connect individual behaviors to form more complex responses. Any action that requires more than one response or behavior to emit, can be taught via a chaining procedure.

Detailed explanation-2: -There are three different types of chaining which can be used and they are forward chaining, backward chaining, and total task chaining (not to be confused with a task analysis).

Detailed explanation-3: -Chaining breaks a task down into small steps and then teaches each step within the sequence by itself. For example, a child learning to wash his/her hands independently may start with learning to turn on the faucet. Once this initial skill is learned, the next step may be getting his/her hands, etc.

Detailed explanation-4: -For example, when an individual puts on a t-shirt, placement of the shirt on top of the individual’s head is a cue for the individual to pull the shirt over the head; having the shirt around the individual’s neck is a cue for the individual to put each arm through the armholes, etc.

Detailed explanation-5: -When teaching a behavior using chaining, the first step is to complete a task analysis. Task analyses serve the purpose of identifying all of the smaller, teachable units of a behavior that make up a behavior chain. A task analysis for brushing teeth might look like this: Take out toothbrush from medicine cabinet.