Behavioral Skills Training

Behavioral Skills Training, or BST, doesn’t have a super nice ring to it – but, it is a really effective way to teach skills to, well, anyone!

How? Easy, in 4 simple steps!

#1 – Teach, Instruct, Talk

#2 – Show

#3 and #4 – Practice and Give Feedback!

In Step #1 you teach about a topic, just like you normally would! In school, this might be with a lecture or a lesson. At home, this could be a discussion.

In Step #2 you show them how to do the thing you’re teaching them! You can do this yourself, have someone else who’s an expert show them, or even show them a video of someone doing it.

In Step #3 you let the person you’re teaching practice.

And, for Step #4, while they’re practicing, you give them feedback right away! Both about what they’re doing right, and about what they need to fix or continue improving.

An example of using this could be when teaching someone some of the basics of a new sport, like throwing a ball, kicking a ball, using a bat to swing, using a golf club, diving at a pool, somersaulting in gymnastics… you get the idea.

You tell them how to do the new skill, you show them how to do it, then you let them practice while giving them feedback until they’ve got it!

This seems so natural and like it should be common sense! And sometimes it is, but other times we forget to break down skills in this way. When we think about teaching a new skill this way, we can make a plan, and this can help with our patience when we are teaching something new and challenging to someone.

Is there something you’d like to try teaching your children? Try breaking it down like this! Have you taught like this before – how did it work for you? Let us know about your successes and your challenges!

Remember, you got this!