Where is the student now? Where do you want him to be? Given the sub-skill you selected within your task analysis (your starting point for instruction), how can you shape this behavior into a practical skill for the future?
There are a variety of features to this skill that you might need to shape over time. Start with websites that offer very clear, simple navigation to the employment / volunteer section. Systematically target increasingly complex websites.
You might need to systematically increase the amount of time that the student is expected to engage in the online search process. You might need to systematically increase the number of sites that this student is expected to explore.
What environmental features and visual supports (scripts, instructions, reminder cues, etc.) will you use to help the student rehearse the expected behavior or skill?
When the student engages in the online search process, he should be able to do so in relatively quiet, non-distracting settings at first. He may require rule or reminder cues to keep him from “straying off” to unrelated websites.
He might need a set of instructions to guide him through the basic process of online searching. This set of visual instructions within the student’s to-do list might clarify for the student the key search words he should use, what type of sites he should search, how many sites he should search, what materials (e.g. applications, information about the position) he should print out, etc.
He might require a written list of the most common search terms used to find applications on websites.
What type of prompting might you need to provide in the initial learning phase?
When the skill is first introduced, the student might require modeling / demonstration prompts, paired with verbal prompts, to walk the student through the process of searching for an online application. Your verbal prompts may serve as a “think aloud,” where you are describing out loud your thought process as you select certain website sections, what key words you are looking for, and how you discriminate between sections that relate to employment opportunities versus those that do not.
Can the student discriminate between the most effective versus least effective search methods in practice scenarios? Are you arranging opportunities for the student to make such discriminations and to label when the instructor or someone else performs the search process incorrectly?
Are you arranging frequent practice opportunities to build fluency through repetition?
What steps do you need to take to ensure that everyone targeting that skill applies the same level of prompting and fades it out at the same rate to support initiation by the student?