Shaping: Celebrating Every Step Forward

As parents, it’s natural to want to see your child succeed - to say their first full sentence, tie their shoes, or master a new routine. But sometimes, these goals feel far off, especially for children with autism or developmental delays. That’s where the power of shaping comes in - a quiet, powerful strategy in Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) that celebrates progress, one step at a time.

Shaping is the process of reinforcing small steps called successive approximations that gradually lead toward a desired behaviour or skill. Instead of waiting for your child to complete a task perfectly, shaping teaches us to notice and reinforce the baby steps along the way. Imagine teaching a child to say “cookie.” First, they may just make a “kuh” sound. Then, with encouragement, they say “cook.” Eventually, they reach the full word. Each step is reinforced, and each step brings them closer to the goal.

What makes shaping so powerful is that it meets your child exactly where they are. It removes pressure to “get it right” and replaces it with confidence, celebration, and success. This is especially helpful for children who are still learning how to communicate, follow routines, or develop social and self-help skills.

At home, shaping can look like this:

• If your child resists brushing their teeth, you might start by reinforcing just picking up the toothbrush. Once that’s easy, you reinforce putting toothpaste on. Next, bringing it to their mouth and so on, until the full routine is mastered.

• If your child is learning to say “help,” you can reinforce eye contact or a gesture first, then a vocalization, then a clearer word. You’re not asking for perfection up front, you’re helping them build confidence step by step.

The key to shaping is consistency, patience, and celebrating effort just as much as outcome. It’s a reminder that every small step forward is worth noticing and worth reinforcing.

Shaping isn’t just a teaching strategy. It’s a mindset. It invites us to focus less on what hasn’t happened yet and more on the progress that is happening, slowly, steadily, and beautifully. As your child learns, shaping ensures they feel successful at every stage, and as a parent, it helps you see the value in the journey, not just the destination.

At Nova ABA Services, we use shaping every day to help children build essential life skills. But more importantly, we teach parents how to apply it at home, because your everyday moments are full of opportunities to shape learning with love, patience, and hope.

So today, celebrate the small win. The first glance. The brave try. The half-step toward something new. With shaping, every moment counts and every moment matters.