Tool skills: A how-to for finding the most important skills to target (and maintain)
Some of you will recall that we touched on component analysis a short while back. You can read up here. For a refresher, you might remember that every skill we teach has component skills. Meaning, every skill we target is actually made up of multiple skills. Teaching a learner to play Candyland, for example, isn’t just one skill for them to learn, it’s actually many: matching colors, turning over cards, taking turns, etc. These component skills come together to form one behavior—Candyland. By the way, Candyland in this example is called a composite behavior. Candyland is a composite of other behaviors. I’ll post more on component-composite analysis down the road.
Back to component skills. So every skill is made up of component skills, right? As we list these component skills out for each of the skills we’re targeting, we’ll begin to notice something. There are component skills that seem to show up in every component analysis we do. If we’re listing out the component skills for matching in an array of 25, they show up in our analysis. If we’re looking at teaching 3-step imitation, they show up in that list, too. Even in Candyland, we’d see these skills. A few examples:
Eye contact (“Look at me”)
Following a proximal point/gesture prompt (“Look!”)
Allowing the removal of a preferred item with out problem behavior
Scanning and Retrieving
Holding hands
Sitting down when asked to
Allowing the delay of a preferred item for 5-10 seconds without problem behavior
Can you name more…?
These component skills are referred to more specifically as tool skills. Tool skills are cornerstone behaviors that “underpin virtually all of the instructional objectives…”(Johnson & Street, 2004, p.148).
Each tool skill, like the ones above, are like the center of a bicycle wheel. Out of that center comes hundreds and thousands of spokes—each spoke representing a different skill. Or maybe better yet, let’s use a tree. The trunk represents the tool skill and every branch and twig is a different skill that comes after it. It means that some skills we teach (aka tool skills) are more valuable than others.
As your learners proceed in skill levels, you’ll notice more tool skills—but many will resemble the ones I’ve mentioned above. You could allow tool skills primarily drive what you target for maintenance. Certainly we want our learners to maintain everything we teach them. However, our time is finite with them. Are we better off maintaining the labeling of different kinds of lizards? Or are there maintenance targets that are more important? Prioritizing tool skills in maintenance testing will not only maintain the skills they have now but also help out with current skills in acquisition. Designate a part of the learner’s day or week to revisit these areas and re-target them—even if the learner is fluent in the tool skill. Offering considerable amounts of preferred praise with access to preferred activities for correct responses goes even farther. Helping the learner develop a positive and fun relationship with tool skills opens the door for the same experience for every skill you teach!
If you haven’t, check out my first article on component analysis!
When listing component skills, begin to note which skills seem to show up in other lists of component skills. Which ones are most common?
Designate 30-60 minutes daily where your learner works on these skills in exchange for high value reinforcement. Hint: The beginning of sessions are usually best.
Check out The Morningside Model of Generative Instruction: What It Means to Leave No Child Behind by Kent Johnson and Elizabeth Street.
Last, reply to this email on which content you’d like to see more of!
Johnson, K. & Street, E.M. (2004). The Morningside Model of Generative Instruction: What It Means to Leave No Child Behind (1st ed.). Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.