Independent Work

Student will progress through at least five independent work tasks at her independent
workstation. She will pick up schedule icon, match to task, position task, complete it
accurately, then place in done basket.

1) Teach any task to mastery before moving to independent table.

2) Prompt with physical prompts only, from behind her so that the visual and motor effect
is nearly the same as if she was doing them independently.
3) Select tasks that reinforce skills, including academic, following directions and
sequences, life-skills or fine motor exercises (examples) when possible.
4) Teach the process of getting the icon, matching, doing, putting away in the same
manner.
5) Present in-box of tasks in order, front to back, at first, then mix them. Physically
prompt at first to be sure match is correct. Introduce this at the instructional table using
the usual mastered tasks until she gets the concept of digging through the tasks to get
the task that matches the schedule icons in order, left to right.
6) Move to independent table only when mastered. If errors occur, move back to
instructional table without correcting or interaction. This table is 100% independent.
7) Start with two tasks and gradually increase to five.
8) After five, continue to rotate that station, but add a job or two for her to do on two or
so days a week. These jobs should involve following directions, sequencing, or
specific vocational skills (such as cleaning). Independent jobs will work differently in
that you will silently prompt each part and then fade out prompts until she is
independent with the whole task. Use revised multi-step (first one below) data sheet
for these tasks instead of the new data sheet until the whole sequence is mastered.
9) As she becomes proficient with a job, add in variation, such as changing names, an
additional item in the job, etc. Now you can also expand to setting up/getting out the
materials for the job. Move to the second data sheet to monitor independence of the
steps, as the list of items within the task structure may change or grow and you need to
keep track of her independence level. You are likely to have a step 8 task and a step 9
task going on different days, so use the most appropriate data collection system.

Note, before beginning any new job, task analyze into steps. The data sheet is designed to
cover up to four non-mastered steps and any number of mastered steps below that, so are not
necessarily in order. The order of prompt-fading should be dependent on ease of task, not
order of occurrence. Put a code next to each of the new tasks in the data sheet to keep track
of which steps are which.
 Independent Work Time Tracking Sheet
Student: Student
Task icons presented:
Key: I= Independent, PP=Partial Phys. (nudged elbow, for ex.) FP=Full Physical Prompt, R=Refused NA: Not applicable
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
No. Independent

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Steps 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gathers/sets up I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
material PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP
FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP
R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Reference I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
schedule PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP
FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP
R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Complete step I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
1: PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP
FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP
R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Check off task I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
completed PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP
FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP
R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
References I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
schedule and PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP
Completes new FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP
step 2: R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Checks off next I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
item, references PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP
schedule and FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP
completes new R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
step 3: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Checks off next I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
item, references PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP
schedule and FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP
completes new R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
step 4: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Checks off next I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
item, references PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP
schedule and FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP
completes new R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
step 5: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Completes I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
remaining PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP
mastered cycle FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP
for steps R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Cleans I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
up/returns PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP PP
materials FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP
R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Date>
Kathryn Whitaker 11/07

Sample of other form (in excel format)