Autism: A Sample Task Analysis in ABA

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By Wendy Ponte
Issue 135, January/February 2006

In applied behavioral analysis, autistic children are taught new tasks, and eventually to apply their knowledge to other tasks, by breaking each task down into its smallest components and mastering them one at a time. Below are two different ways in which the task of washing hands can be broken down.

**Basic Task Analysis--------------------Expanded Task Analysis**
Step	Component Task	Step	Component Task
1	Turns on cold water	1	Places right hand on cold water handle
2	Turns on hot water	2	Turns on cold water
3	Places hands under water	3	Places left hand on hot water handle
4	Places one hand under water and one hand on soap dispenser	4	Turns on hot water
5	Pushes pump down	5	Places right hand on soap pump
6	Rubs soap between hands	6	Places left hand under soap pump
7	Rubs back of right hand	7	Pushes pump down twice
8	Rubs back of left hand	8	Rubs soap between hands for three seconds
9	Rinses hands	9	Rubs back of right hand for three seconds
10	Turns off hot water	10	Rubs back of left hand for three seconds
11	Turns off cold water	11	Places both hands together under water
12	Finds hanging cloth towel	12	Rubs right and left palms together under water for three seconds
13	Dries palms of both hands	13	Places one hand on top of other hand under water and rubs for three seconds
14	Dries backs of both hands	14	Places opposite hand on top of other hand under water and rubs for three seconds
		15	Places left hand on hot water handle
		16	Turns off hot water
		17	Places right hand on cold water handle
		18	Turns off cold water
		19	Finds hanging cloth towel
		20	Rubs palms of both hands
		21	vRubs back of one hand
		22	Rubs back of opposite hand