Creating Shopping List

Children with ASD can find the long-term goal of creating a shopping list difficult to master. When shopping, they can struggle in stores because the shopping experience can easily trigger a sensory overload. For example, lights, sounds, smells, etc. can overwhelm a child with ASD. Thus, creating a shopping list can help improve your child’s ability to shop, by enabling a streamlined shopping trip. Helping your child achieve this goal can encourage independence and may even encourage your child to try some of the foods that they have added to the shopping list (but do not currently eat). 

The following strategies may help your child make progress towards mastering the long-term goal of creating a shopping list:

• Break creating the shopping list into multiple smaller tasks. Ask your child to do specific smaller tasks in order to create the shopping list. Work with your child on identifying items that need to be purchased. Keep it simple, and work on a single category at a time. For example, work on creating a grocery shopping list, a separate clothing shopping list, yet another separate “bathroom needs” shopping list, etc. Ask your child to identify one item that needs to be purchased in terms of groceries, and even if it is not the most urgent grocery item that you need, praise them in order to encourage them to participate in the creation of the shopping list. Work on one sub-category at a time, within the larger shopping category. For example, for a grocery shopping list, work on identifying items that go in the fridge for the list; then work on items that go in the freezer; then work on fresh fruits and vegetables; another sub-category can be pantry items; etc. Use positive reinforcement upon completion of every single smaller task in the creation of a shopping list to encourage them to repeat that level of cooperation or build on it: offer a cool sticker, a piece of candy, a small toy, extra video game time, etc. Phase out the positive reinforcement when the skill has been sufficiently acquired. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement.
• Make a visual shopping list. When creating a shopping list, have pictures of food and/or drink items cut out for your child to stick on a page in order to create a visual shopping list. For example, have small pictures of grocery items such as milk cartons, eggs, bread, apples, etc. As your child adds items to the “list,” provide positive reinforcement and encouragement. Phase out the positive reinforcement when the skill has been sufficiently acquired. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement.
• Make a game. To start, discuss with your child their favorite meal and identify what ingredients are necessary to make the meal. Print out a visual list with all the ingredients, and have your child go on a ‘treasure hunt’ around the kitchen and the pantry to identify what items you already have in the home, whether you have enough or not enough of those items to make the meal, and what needs to be purchased. Use positive reinforcement upon completion of the ‘ingredient hunt’: offer a piece of candy, a small toy, extra video game time, etc. Phase out the positive reinforcement when the skill has been sufficiently acquired. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement.

Additional Resources:

Grocery Store Learning Activities for Kids (verywellfamily.com)

Kids Vocabulary - Lets Go Shopping - Educational Video - Kids Games - Shopping List - YouTube

How to Make a Shopping List - YouTube

Life Skills - FREEBIE - Grocery Store Shopping - Task Cards - Special Education (teacherspayteachers.com)

Grocery list by Fernanda Alvarez | TPT (teacherspayteachers.com)

In order to help your child master the long-term goal of creating a shopping list, you can work with your child on the short-term goals of creating a shopping list for groceries, creating a shopping list for clothes, or creating a shopping list for school supplies. For the short-term goal of creating a shopping list for groceries, you can choose a target such as identifying necessary foods, identifying what is in low stock, shopping by food type/category (e.g., dairy products), etc. 

For the short-term goal of creating a shopping list for groceries, you can choose a target such as identifying necessary foods, identifying what is low in stock, shopping by food category, etc. 

Creating a Shopping List for Groceries

Step 1: Decide what type of shopping list for groceries you would like your child to create. For example, you can choose the target of identifying what is low in stock at home while working on the short-term goal of creating a shopping list for groceries. The task analysis for identifying items low in stock could be as follows:

• Open the cabinet doors.
• Select a shelf.
• Examine the food items one by one on the shelf to find items that are half empty.

1. When you find a food item that is half empty, place it to the side, outside of the cabinet on a cleared counter or kitchen table. If it is not easy to quickly identify if a food item is half full because there is no way to see inside the container (i.e., a can of baking powder) consider placing it to the side or teaching your child how to determine if something you cannot easily see is full or not.
2. If a food item is more than half full, leave it on the shelf and move to the next item.

• When the entire shelf has been sorted, create a list of the food items that were set aside.
• Return the food items to the shelf.

Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as a picture of an empty food container, or a verbal SD (“Time to see what we need to buy!” or “Let’s figure out what we need to buy!”).

Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt independently. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. Take data on which steps were accurately done independently. For example, you can count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently. Alternatively, if your child is able to complete the entire task analysis independently, record how long it takes your child to complete the entire task analysis independently during a set amount of time (e.g., 15 min, 30 min, 1 hour, etc.).

Step 4: To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the target (i.e., the target of identifying what is low in stock), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt independently. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behavior to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, employ a model prompt to show your child what to do at the beginning of the following trial (e.g., model for your child how to determine which items are half full, then set them aside, followed by writing the item down on a list).

Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently. Decide if you want to utilize forwards or backwards chaining to teach the steps that your child may struggle to complete independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to complete all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at identifying what is low in stock over a certain number of sessions. 

Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of identifying what is low in stock by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at identifying what is low in stock over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can complete all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.

For the short-term goal of creating a shopping list for clothes, you can choose a target such as identifying necessary clothes, identifying what needs to be replaced, categorizing clothing by type, etc. 

Creating a Shopping List for Clothes

Step 1: Decide what type of shopping list for clothes you would like your child to create. For example, you can choose the target of identifying what needs to be replaced while working on the short-term goal of creating a shopping list for clothes. The task analysis for identifying what needs to be replaced could be as follows:

• Open the dresser drawer.
• Remove all the clothes and place them in a pile.
• Examine the clothes one by one to determine what needs to be replaced.

1. First, examine the clothing for any holes, rips, or tears. If there are any holes, rips, or tears, set the clothing aside. If there are not, proceed to the next step.
2. Next, examine the clothing for any stains. If there are any stains, set the clothing aside. If there are not, proceed to the next step.
3. Finally, check the size. If it does not fit anymore, set the clothing aside. If it does fit, return it to the dresser drawer.

• Once clothes that need to be replaced have been identified, create a list of the clothing items that were set aside.
• Return the intact, fitting clothes to the dresser drawer.

Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as a picture of a t-shirt, or a verbal SD (“Time to see what clothes we need to buy!” or “Let’s see what new clothes we need!”).

Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt independently. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. Take data on which steps were accurately done independently. For example, you can count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently. Alternatively, if your child is able to complete the entire task analysis independently, record how long it takes your child to complete the entire task analysis independently during a set amount of time (e.g., 15 min, 30 min, 1 hour, etc.).

Step 4: To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the target (i.e., the target of identifying what clothing needs to be replaced), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt independently. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behavior to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, employ a model prompt to show your child what to do at the beginning of the following trial (e.g., model for your child how to remove all the clothes from the dresser drawer, then figure out which clothing items need replacing, followed by creating the list).

Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently. Decide if you want to utilize forwards or backwards chaining to teach the steps that your child may struggle to complete independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to complete all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at identifying what needs to be replaced over a certain number of sessions. 

Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of identifying what clothing needs to be replaced by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at identifying what needs to be replaced over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can complete all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.

For the short-term goal of creating a shopping list for school supplies, you can choose a target such as identifying necessary items, identifying what is low in stock, categorizing school supplies by type, etc. 

Creating a Shopping List for School Supplies

Step 1: Decide what type of shopping list for school supplies you would like your child to create. For example, you can choose the target of identifying what is low in stock while working on the short-term goal of creating a shopping list for school supplies. The task analysis for identifying items low in stock could be as follows:

• Open the pencil case.
• Place all items in a pile on the table or counter.
• Examine the items to determine what is low in stock.

1. First, count the number of pencils available in the pile. If there are less than two, write down “pencils” on a piece of paper.
2. Next, count the number of ballpoint pens available in the pile. If there are less than two, write down “pens” on a piece of paper.
3. Finally, count the number of erasers available in the pile. If there is less than one whole eraser, write down “erasers” on a piece of paper.

• Once the items that are low in stock have been identified, place the items back into the pencil case.

Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as a picture of a pencil case, or a verbal SD (“Time to check our pencil case to restock our school supplies!” or “Let’s see what school supplies we need!”).

Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt independently. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. Take data on which steps were accurately done independently. For example, you can count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently. Alternatively, if your child is able to complete the entire task analysis independently, record how long it takes your child to complete the entire task analysis independently during a set amount of time (e.g. 10 min, 15 min, 30 min, etc.).

Step 4: To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the target (i.e., the target of identifying what is low in stock), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt independently. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behavior to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, employ a model prompt to show your child what to do at the beginning of the following trial (e.g., model for your child how to empty out the pencil case, then sort through the different items in the pencil case, followed by making a list of what is low in stock).

Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently. Decide if you want to utilize forwards or backwards chaining to teach the steps that your child may struggle to complete independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to complete all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at identifying what is low in stock over a certain number of sessions. 

Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of identifying what is low in stock by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at identifying what is low in stock over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can complete all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.