Most ABA curricula present skills as lists. Check the box, move on. What those lists rarely tell a clinician is which skills need to come first, how one domain supports another, or what “ready” actually looks like before advancing to the next target.
When that architecture is missing, sequencing decisions get made by intuition, and intuition varies from clinician to clinician, center to center. This PEBBL study is focused on designing and empirically testing a developmental scope and sequence for early learning, using data already present in everyday ABA sessions.
When curricula are built as flat checklists, each skill taught in isolation, gains are linear and slow. When they’re built as developmental systems, skills compound, each one accelerating the next.
A scope and sequence answers two questions: what should be taught, and in what order, not as flat checklists, but as developmental systems that build on each other.
A scope and sequence answers two questions: what should be taught, and in what order, not as flat checklists, but as developmental systems that build on each other.
When the curriculum architecture is sound, children move through learning with more momentum and less friction. This work is ultimately about making the path from early learning to independence clearer and more replicable.
It is a curriculum framework that defines both what to teach and in what order, based on how skills relate to and build on each other developmentally, not just what appears on a standardized assessment.
If a child is working on a target they are not developmentally ready for, progress stalls. Good sequencing means fewer dead ends and more sessions that build genuine momentum.
The current scope and sequence covers imitation, joint attention, early language, and play, studied as interdependent systems rather than separate skill buckets.
Using practice-based research designs, including single-case and group experimental designs, run within everyday ABA sessions. No disruption to clinical services.
A prerequisite relationship exists when one skill reliably needs to be in place before a child can meaningfully learn another. For example: does a child need to respond to joint attention bids before initiating them? We are using real session data to test those assumptions.
No. We are in active development and replication. We are presenting preliminary work at the New Jersey Association for Behavior Analysis 2026 conference and will share plain-language updates as findings become reliable.
No. The scope and sequence is a framework that supports clinical decision-making, not a substitute for it.
We do not make individual predictions. What this work builds toward is a curriculum architecture that is more consistently reliable across learners, which means better starting points and clearer paths for more children.
Explore PEBBL research tracks, including Contributor, Manager, and Fellowship options, and connect with our team through the interest form below.
Visit biermanautism.com/pebbl for an overview of our research program, active studies, and how to get involved.
