For years, shaping was often described as a stairway to heaven — a clear, step-by-step progression. You start from the bottom, reinforcing tiny approximations, building up one step at a time until you reach your goal behavior. Everything happens in order. Each step is mastered before you move on to the next. If your learner struggles, you step back, make it easier, and move forward again. It’s a smooth, predictable, linear process. And for a long time — that was the gold standard. But here’s the