A client’s father once came to us with this complaint:
“My son and I have constant battles about the smallest, simplest things. Getting ready for school. Emptying the dishwasher—by the way, that’s the only chore he’s asked to do each day because the rest are worse. Going to bed at night. We just can’t seem to motivate him to do anything. I mean, once he gets started with a job, he does great. But just getting him going is a daily struggle for us.”
Many parents of diverse learners face these same struggles. In many cases, challenges with task initiation don’t just happen at home. Over time, issues with getting started can impact school, work, and friendships as well.
If you’re encountering these challenges with your teen or young adult, how do you know where to get started?
About Task Initiation Goals
Task initiation is our ability to initiate and independently start a task. It can include simple daily routine things like homework and chores or skills like generating ideas, solving problems, and responding to instructions without needing others’ support.
Task initiation should be one of the first executive functioning skills focused on because it closely aligns with other skills like planning, time management, and emotional control. If you can’t independently get started with tasks, it makes many other related executive functioning behaviors challenging to teach.
Task Initiation Skill Progression
One approach to teaching task initiation is to focus on the skill in the form of task analysis. Task analysis is the process of breaking a larger skill down into component ‘sub-tasks’ and teaching each simpler step as a building block to a larger goal. As the learner accomplishes each smaller milestone, they eventually become more independent at completing the final goal.
Task analysis methods are widely accepted as evidence-based practice (EBP) and used among special education, behavior analysts, and other therapy professionals. Task analyses work well for simple skills like putting on a jacket but more complex behavior goals like task initiation and completion. As an example, below are 9 component goals related to task initiation. Consider how you might adapt this same task initiation skill progression for your own learner.
9 Task Initiation Goals to Teach Getting Started
Goal #1: When instructed to begin a preferred task (e.g., turn on screen time, eating a preferred meal, go to a preferred location in the school, etc.), the student will begin the task within 15 seconds.
It may seem counterintuitive to start teaching task analysis with preferred activities. Shouldn’t our learners already follow instructions when it leads to something fun? Unfortunately, that’s not always the case, especially for teens and young adults who have a long history of failing to respond to adult instructions.
We’ve worked with clients with a long behavioral history of escape-maintained challenging behaviors. Even when instructed to do something they prefer, they may still refuse because an adult asked them. For these learners, beginning to teach task initiation may need to start with accepting an instruction to have fun.
Goal #2: When given an instruction to begin a familiar task and provided with visual supports and adult prompting, the student will begin the task within 15 seconds.
The key to the next goal in the task initiation task analysis is ‘familiar.’ Choose a task that the learner finds neutral, neither preferred nor aversive. Notice that this goal also includes assistance built into the plan. Some learners may find task initiation tasks easier with adult support or the use of visuals. Creating a sub-task into the task analysis that includes these prompts keeps the learner on track and thriving.
Goal #3: With the use of visual supports or adult prompting, when given a non-preferred task, the student will begin the task within 30 seconds without engaging in challenging behavior or refusal.
A next step in the task analysis for task initiation skills might move now to non-preferred tasks: homework, household chores, daily living routines, meal preparation. Identify the tasks that most consistently create struggles or challenging behavior for your learner and target those in order of least to most difficult. Notice that in this sample goal, the allowed time for task initiation was modified slightly. Some learners may need additional time as the tasks get increasingly more challenging.
Goal #4: Without adult prompting, when given a non-preferred task, the student will begin the task within 30 seconds without engaging in challenging behavior or refusal.
Now we’ve reached the point in the task analysis where the learner has made progress towards independent task initiation. In this stage, the learner can complete a wide range of instructions—fun and not-so-fun—whenever adults ask. By now, parents and teachers start to see meaningful changes in challenging behavior as well. The learner also should experience some significant changes, including more free time and more choices throughout the day since tasks that use to take longer are less challenging now.
Goal #5: When given a combination of a non-preferred and a preferred task, the student will complete the tasks within 30 seconds of the instruction without challenging behavior or refusal.
After teaching independent task initiation with non-preferred tasks, we can start to mix in the skill of transitioning between activities in a series. By starting with a non-preferred task and then moving to a preferred task, you’re building in the motivation to respond. Using visuals can be a helpful sub-step in the task analysis in this stage as well.
Goal #6: When engaged in a preferred activity, the student will leave the desired activity to complete a non-preferred or daily routine task.
This is the ultimate step for many teens and young adults who struggle with executive functioning skills. Set aside the video game to do homework. Leave your friend’s house to complete household chores. We all have points in life where the fun comes to an end. To recognize and independently leave these enjoyable activities is difficult. For some learners, multiple sub-tasks might need to be built into this step, including using a visual reminder to leave a preferred activity, or starting with adult prompting and fading support until independent.
Goal #7: When given a new or unfamiliar task, the student will identify the initial step to get started and will begin the task within 1 minute.
For some learners, task initiation is not problematic when the tasks are known. However, if a new task or change in routine occurs, they now struggle to know where to begin. Even though our learner is doing well with various tasks at this point, he or she may need practice with ‘learning to learn something new.’
Goal #8: When given up to five different tasks, the student will identify the best order to complete tasks and begin each task within 1 minute of concluding the previous one.
What if your learner encounters choices between tasks? Do they understand how to order assignments properly if the sequence matters? Are they able to make a choice and set priorities? These higher-level goals in the task analysis start to add in elements of other executive functioning behaviors like planning, time management, and organization.
To teach these goals, consider downloading our .PDF “First/Then” flashcards to practice having your learner make choices about which tasks to complete in which order.
Goal #9: When the student has difficulty initiating a task, the student identifies the problem and seeks out the right resource to obtain help without getting frustrated or engaging in challenging behavior.
Not all situations will work out correctly for your learner. Knowing how to move past those frustrations and still successfully get started on a task closely aligns with other executive functioning skills like problem-solving, flexibility, and emotional control.
Individualize. Customize. Prioritize.
The goals provided above are just one example of how you might gradually begin to teach task initiation. Hundreds of possibilities exist within these goals to customize and individualize for your learner. Some learners might only need support with a few of these goals. Others might need each plan broken apart into further sub-goals.
Finally, it’s important for learners who struggle with task initiation and other executive functioning skills to prioritize critical behaviors first. Focus on building your task analysis around instructions that cause you and the learner the most stress and challenges. Prioritize the areas of your teen or young adult’s life that can help them be more communicative, more social, or experience greater independence.
Further Reading
- Executive Functioning Skills 101: The Basics of Task Initiation
- The Scott Center Autism Advisor: Task Analysis for Putting on a Jacket
- Indiana Resource Center for Autism: Applied Behavior Analysis: The Role of Task Analysis and Chaining
- Iris Center Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs)
- Life Skills Advocate Blog: Executive Functioning and Challenging Behavior
- Parker, D., & Kamps, D. (2011). Effects of task analysis and self-monitoring for children with autism in multiple social settings. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 26(3), 131-142.