Shaping

Building skills over time

Goal

Gradually improve a behavior or a skill.

How

Sometimes there’s an expectation that’s just too difficult for a learner to do consistently right now. Using Shaping, we can make progress toward that skill by setting gradual goals that increasingly get closer to the end goal over time.

Context

This gradual approach to building skills can be used across a wide variety of skills including communication, amount of time engaged in a task, or refining fine motor skills like handwriting.

Tip

This is an ideal opportunity to foster neurodiversity affirming acceptance in your classroom, as some may perceive it as “unfair” that one learner has different expectations than others. However, it’s important to recognize that each learner is doing their best at their own pace, and by supporting them, we help them improve at their own speed.