Below is a general skill sequence for helping learners play Count Your Chickens.
Count Your Chickens is one of the easier board games for a learner to grasp. The most difficult skill for this skill area often has to do with counting. Should your learner be versed enough at taking turns and counting with 1:1 correspondence, Count Your Chickens may be a terrific option for opening the door to board games. However, should your learner be more fluent with colors, Candyland may be a better option. The target ideas below are designed to be worked on in isolation so that the learner possesses the basics for the game when you start to play it. Per the usual, as the learner shows signs of mastery, feel free to compound the skills together during programming or introduce the game altogether to get the ball rolling.
How this skill area relates to your assessments!
This skill area aligns with various assessments and their respective domains, with milestone and domain codes provided for reference. Additionally, DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Autism are included to help clinicians identify how this skill area potentially supports medical necessity in relation to the diagnosis.
VB-MAPP (Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program)
- Social Behavior and Social Play, SBSP-7M, Spontaneously mands to peers 5 times (e.g., My turn, Push me, Look! Come On.). (Timed observation 60 minutes)
- Social Behavior and Social Play, SBSP-10M, Spontaneously mands to peers to participate in games, social play, etc., 2 times (e.g., Come on you guys, Let’s dig a hole.)(Timed observation 60 minutes).
- Math, M-12M, Tacts numbers 1-5.
- Math, M-13M, Counts out 1-5 from a larers set of items with 1 to 1 correspondence (e.g., Give me 4 cars. Now give me 2 cars.).
AFLS (Assessment of Functional Living Skills)
- Social Awareness & Manners, SA37, Takes turns conversing in groups.
- Leisure, LS12, Plays board games.
- Support Personnel, SP5, Plays games.
DSM-V Diagnostic Criteria for Autism
- A3, Deficits in developing maintaining, and understanding relationships, ranging, for example, from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit various social contexts; to difficulties in sharing imaginative play or in making friends; to absence of interest in peers.
CDC’s Developmental Milestones
- 5 Years, Social/Emotional, Follows rules or takes turns when playing games with other children.
- 5 Years, Cognitive, Counts to 10.
- 5 Years, Cognitive, Names some numbers between 1 and 5 when you point to them.
Treatment Plan Goal Ideas
This is a list of treatment plan goals. These are different from the goals you will find in the skill sequence below. Your treatment plan goals encompass any number of goals from the skill sequence. Sometime they will include multiple goals from the sequence (”Learner will label 5 toys”) and sometimes the treatment plan goal will be simply consist of a really important goal from the skill sequence (”Will label caregiver”). An analogy I like to use goes as follows: Each skill sequence goal (commonly known as a “target”) represent each stair in a flight of stairs. The treatment plan goal is the flight itself.
Treatment plan goal ideas for this particular skill area are as follows:
- Learner will independently spin the spinner and identify the item that they need to move their game piece to when playing “Count Your Chickens!”
- After spinning, Learner will independently move the game piece to the corresponding item on the board while counting each space accurately when playing “Count Your Chickens!”
- Based on the number of spaces counted, Learner will accurately count out the corresponding number of chicks and move them to the coop when playing “Count Your Chickens!”
Component Skills
Your learner may need to be fluent in these component skills first before introducing this goal/skill area. Component skills for this skill sequence may include skill areas that are fundamental to other areas. Fluency in the skill areas listed below may increase the likelihood that your learner will succeed in this skill sequence and those afterward.
Intro to Reinforcer/Preference Expansion
Performs Preferred Action with Preferred Item (LR)
Single Actions with Common Toys
Performs Action During Familiar Routines (LR)
Performs Actions with Uni-Functional Toys (LR)
Intro to Scanning 
Intro to Matching (Visual Perception) 
Following Gestures
Matches Common Items in 2D Array 1.0 (Identical)
Intro to Puzzles 
Intro to Peers
Intro to Taking TurnsCounting Items (1-10) (Coming Soon!)
Skill Possibilities
Below is a possible skill sequence for working on increasing your learner’s ability to follow instructions for playing “Count Your Chickens!” board game. Note that every learner is different and that you likely will need to tweak and vary some programming to their needs. Click the triangle icon to view the full description for each skill in the sequence/area.
Concurrent Skills
Working on these skills at the same time could help with goal mastery. Maybe your learner has mastered these skills already. Perhaps they are already listed as component skills above. That’s okay! Targeting other learning channels might help your learner.
Intro to Counting (3D)
Intro to Board Games Candyland (Coming Soon!)
Composite Skills
These are the possible next steps for learners who have mastered, or are mastering, the skills listed above. Note that new skill areas may require fluency in other component skills not listed above. Also, you can introduce composite skill sequences prematurely to keep your learner progressing, as generativity may occur earlier than expected.
Sorry! (Coming Soon!)
Follow the link below to better understand component-composite analysis.
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