Student: MT Skills: Hand-washing Initiator: Natalie Radke Context for Instruction: Instruction for this skill will occur

in the sink at the back of the classroom. Instruction will take place at naturally occurring opportunities throughout the day. Hand washing will be taught prior to lunch along with any other naturally occurring opportunities. Once MT has mastered the instruction at the sink in the classroom generalization will be assessed in other locations in the school, home and community. Program Objective: When the situation naturally occurs, MT will walk to the sink in the back of the classroom and correctly complete 100% of steps in the task analysis on 5 consecutive probe trials. Generalization: Our goal is for MT to learn to use his acquired hand washing skills at home and any other natural situation such as public restrooms. To enhance generalization across settings, the strategy of sequential modification will be used. Instruction will begin at the sink in the back of the classroom. Once mastery occurs in this setting, assess him in the boy s bathroom outside of the lunchroom. If MT does not generalize his instruction in this location teach him during naturally occurring instances in the boy s bathroom. Continue to assess MT in other settings such as the bathroom outside of the special s rooms, at home, and at a restaurant, provide instruction in these settings if generalization has not occurred. Rationale: Washing hands is a necessary skill in order to be socially presentable. Also, by practicing proper hand washing skills MT will be able to avoid catching the common cold or flu from his peers. By practicing and learning basic self-care skills a student can become more independent in everyday tasks. By not relying on others for every piece of a self-care task, the child can have an overall higher self-esteem. Once MT masters washing his hands

he will blend in and make connections to his peers when using the restrooms at school or in the community. Assessment Procedures: y Once the sink is clear of other students, give verbal directions. MT, go wash your hands, please. y y y y y y y Give MT one minute to walk to the sink. Once at the sink, observe MT washing his hands according to the task analysis. Score a + for steps completed correctly. Score a for steps completed incorrectly or skipped. Give MT four seconds from the end of one step to start the next step of the TA. When he is done say Thank you, MT. Total the number of steps completed correctly in the bottom row of the task analysis chart. Assessment Schedule: Conduct probes at each naturally occurring opportunity until data is stable. Once instruction begins, probe every fourth opportunity. If MT achieves 100% of steps on a probe, probe on consecutive days until he reaches mastery criterion or makes errors and then return to instruction. Instructional Procedures: At 11:40 a.m., or when other students have moved away from the sick area and MT is seated at the table give Sd, M go wash your hands for lunch, please. Teach using the following procedures: Full physical prompt: Immediately after cue for each step (initial cue or completion of previous step), provide full physical/verbal assistance to MT to ensure correct completion of step (providing hand-over-hand assistance to MT while scrubbing his hands together and saying Scrub yours hands like this. ) Use this most intrusive prompt level for each step of the task analysis for the first three trials. Then move to the next prompt in the hierarchy.

Verbal/point prompt: Immediately after cue/Sd for step (initial cue or completion of previous step), provide point/verbal prompt to MT ( MT, get soap on your hands. while pointing to the soap dispenser next to the sink). If MT completes step correctly within 3 seconds of the prompt, record (VP) and provide specific verbal praise ( MT, great job! You put the soap on your hands! ) Then move on to the next step on the TA. If MT does not complete step correctly within 3 seconds of the prompt, provide full physical prompt as error correction (MT, that s not quite right. Put the soap on your hands like this. While physically assisting him to put soap on his hands.) As MT performs step correctly, record (FP) and provide specific verbal praise ( MT great job! That was great how you put the soap on your hands! ) Then move on to the next step of the task analysis. Use this prompt for each step of the task analysis. When MT has completed each step of the task analysis with this prompt for 3 consecutive trials, move on to the next prompt in the hierarchy. Point Prompt: Immediately after cue/Sd for step (initial cue or completion of the previous step) provide a point prompt to MT (point to the soap dispenser when MT should be putting soap on his hands). If MT completes the step correctly within 3 seconds of the prompt, record (PP) and provide verbal praise ( Great job MT! You put the soap on your hands! ). Then move on to the next step on the task analysis. If MT does not complete the step correctly within 3 seconds of the point prompt, tell him he made an error and provide full physical assistance as error correction ( Mt, that s not quite right, here put the soap on your hands like this. While physically assisting him to put the soap on his hands). As MT complete steps correctly, record (FP) and provide specific verbal praise ( Great job MT! You put the soap on your hands! ) Then move on to the next step on the task analysis.

Use this prompt for each step in the task analysis. When MT has completed each step of the task analysis with this prompt for three consecutive trials, move to MT responding independently to the Sd for each step. Allowing independent response: Immediately after cue/Sd for step (initial cue or completion of previous step) allow MT three seconds to respond independently to natural Sd. If MT completes step correctly within three seconds of Sd, record a (+) and provide verbal praise ( Great job MT! You put the soap on your hands! ) Then move on to the next step of the task analysis. If MT does not complete step correctly within three seconds of the cue/Sd, tell him he made an error and provide full physical assistance as error correction ( Here MT, let s try this one together. Put the soap on your hands like this while providing full physical assistance). As MT completes the step correctly, record (FP) and provide specific verbal praise ( MT great job! Now you have the soap on your hands! ) Then move on to the next step of the task analysis and give MT the chance to respond independently. When MT has completed 100% of the steps of the task analysis independently (+) for three consecutive trials, begin to probe daily until criterion is met or performance falls below 100% for two days in a row. If this happens, complete training at the verbal/point prompt level and continue with the program as written. Reinforcement: When instruction begins I will verbally praise MT when he completes each step of the task analysis. At the end of the process I will smile and include verbal praise summing up the whole experience. As instruction continues I will fade the verbal reinforcement to every other step completed correctly. Once mastery has been reach I am going to fade my verbal praise on this schedule: 1. Give verbal praise every third step of the task analysis. Continue smiling and giving overall verbal praise at the end of the task (continue for five trials). 2. Give verbal praise every 5th step. Continue smiling and giving verbal praise at the end of the task (continue for four trials).

3. Smile and give verbal praise at the end of the task (continue throughout the rest of instruction). If at any time during reinforcement fading, MT s performance falls below criterion level, then go back to original reinforcement procedures and begin fading again only when the performance is stable. Maintenance: Once mastery has been reached assess MT each week according to the task analysis. Assess him at the sink in the back of the classroom and in the boy s bathroom outside of the lunchroom. If he is still performing at a high level after three weeks assess him every other week to ensure that he is still performing the task at a high level of success. After a month of high success, assess him once a month in the boy s bathroom and at the sink in the back of the classroom. If at any point MT falls below mastery on two consecutive instances

Data Collection: Hand Washing Task Analysis Student: __________________________________

DATE: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Turn on water. Get both hands wet. Remove hands from water. Get 1-2 pumps of soap. Put hands together. Rub bottom of hands. (3x) Rub top of left hand. (3x) Rub top of right hand. (3x) Put hands in water. Rinse off all soap. (Rub hands together 4x) Turn off water. Get towel. Dry left hand. Dry right hand. Throw towel away. .

TOTAL:

FP full physical prompt needed PP point prompt needed VP verbal & point prompt needed

+ step completed correctly (independently) - step completed incorrectly (independently)

Hand Washing Steps Completed Correctly

Steps Completed Correctly (outof 15) 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Sessions Observed

Steps Completed Correctly

Research Rationale After reviewing two different articles from the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and the Journal of Special Education I have found many correlations for teaching self-care skills to students with disabilities. When I look at the articles as a whole I find that the use of a task analysis is a mandatory first step in any program in order to assess and monitor progress of the individual. Also, the use of physical guidance and verbal prompting is a beneficial way for students to retain the information and complete the task successfully. The article from the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis analyzed the effects of proper staff training when teaching self-care skills to students with disabilities. The experiment tested the value of trained staff. The staff used physical guidance, verbal instruction and rewards when teaching the student. In my instructional program I am also using full physical guidance, partial guidance (point/verbal) and verbal rewards. When implemented correctly, these strategies were found to have positive success on the target student. The article from the Journal of Special Education also stressed the importance of physical guidance, verbal instruction and rewards when teaching a student with disabilities life skills. This article also stated that programs implemented in the natural environments are more like to be successful (Langone & Burton, 2001). Due to this, I will implement my hand-washing program in locations where the task is likely to occur. These areas include: classroom sink, boys bathroom close to the lunchroom, home bathroom and restaurant sinks). The ultimate goal for any self-care task is student generalization from environment to environment. Overall both articles reinforced many of the same ideas that I will implement into this instructional program. The articles included the importance of creating a well-

developed task analysis and modifying it during instruction if necessary. Also, the use of prompting strategies and verbal instruction paired with verbal reinforcement leads to faster mastery of the task at hand. Due to the evidence presented I will regularly evaluate my task analysis in order to ensure that the instruction is as relevant as possible.