How Backward Chaining Can Help With Learning New Tasks

Backward chaining is a technique for teaching useful skills to your child with autism. It comes in handy when multi-step tasks are too difficult to master all at once.

If you haven’t already, you may wish to read the page on forward chaining. You don’t need to read about forward chaining to understand this technique. But it’s a good idea to know both.

That way, if one method doesn’t work very well, you can try the other. As you may realize, no one technique will work for everyone. Different children often need different approaches to learning.

What is Backward Chaining?

With forward chaining you start with teaching children the first step of the task. Then you teach the second step, and then the third step, and so on until they have mastered that task.

Backward chaining is the reverse of forward chaining. Below, I’m outlining the steps you would take to teach your child any new task such as brushing teeth or getting dressed.

General Procedure for Backward Chaining

1. Complete all the steps in the procedure except for the last one.
2. Teach the last step. Use appropriate and/or necessary prompts.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until they have mastered the last step in the procedure.
4. Complete all but the last two steps of the task.
5. Teach the second-to-last step in the task. Use prompts as needed.
6. Allow them to complete the last step on their own.
7. Repeat 4, 5, and 6 until they have mastered the second-to-last step of the procedure.
8. Continue in this manner until they have mastered all the steps of the task.

Here's an Example...

In my article about forward chaining, I gave you an example of how you could separate into steps the task of brushing teeth.

Here I’ve outlined how I would break down the task of doing the laundry.

1. Separate light and dark clothes.
2. Pick out which set of clothes you want to wash.
3. Add correct amount of soap to washer.
4. Place clothes in washer.
5. Turn on washer to correct settings, including water level and wash setting.
6. Wait for cycle to finish.
7. Place clothes in dryer.
8. Turn on dryer at correct setting(s).
9. Wait for cycle to finish.
10. Check clothes to make sure they are dry.
11. Remove clothes.
12. Fold clothes.
13. Put clothes away.

If you are teaching your child to do the laundry using this technique, you would start with the last step--putting the clothes away. Teach them this step until they have mastered it. All during the time you are teaching them this step, you are of course doing the rest of the entire task for them.

Once they have mastered the last step, you then do the entire task until you come to the second-to-last step, folding the clothes. You teach them this step, and then allow them to do the last step on their own. Repeat this procedure until they have mastered the second-to-last step.

You continue in this way until they learn the entire procedure.

Also keep in mind that, if necessary, you can break one or more of the steps into individual steps. For instance, if they are learning to fold the clothes, you can teach that task using the forward or backward chaining technique by breaking that task into steps if they need it.

Another Technique for your "Toolbox"

So that’s it! This technique can simplify the whole process of learning a new task.

One big advantage to this technique is that, right away, they have the great feeling of successfully completing a task before they’ve mastered the entire procedure. This can give them a boost of confidence that can help to motivate them to continue their efforts.

Now you can tuck this into your “toolbox” of ideas, and pull it out when you think this might be just what they need to master the skill you are teaching.

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