“Can’t describe the feeling when your daughter who avoids eye contact looks up at you whilst you’re talking to her and holds your gaze . TAGteach and Chaos to Calm did that”
Seany Pogson, Parent
“This remarkable book is something that any ABA person would be proud to offer parents. TAGteach has an important future in the treatment of autism and other developmental delays and this parent has shown the way. I will be recommending the book to both parents and ABA therapists.”
Joseph Morrow, PhD, BCBA-D
President, Applied Behavior Consultants
Professor of Psychology and Behavior Analysis (Emeritus)
California State University, Sacramento
Licensed Psychologist, State of California
“I completely enjoyed this book. It was an engaging and easy read with the appropriate amount of personal testimonial and practical generalization. I wish I could have read it years ago. Parents and practitioners alike will benefit from reading this book regardless if your child is high functioning or severe. After reading, you’ll know that all those other books you read on autism, sensory processing disorder, auditory processing disorder, apraxia, etc. were mostly a big waste of time and money. Don’t let your child’s doctor or other professional convince you that nothing can be done. It’s not true and this book proves it.”
Aimee Taylor – Autism Parent
“The Chaos to Calm manuscript is excellent. I think her book will be very helpful to parents for the following reasons: (1) it addresses the most common problems and needs of parents of children with autism (2) it is written in a very direct and logical manner, and (3) it is a HOW-TO book – I think that her directions and explanations lend themselves to being understood and used by parents. I would definitely suggest other parents read it.”
Mae Barker, PhD, BCBA-D
Senior Behavior Analyst
Florida Autism Consultants and Educational Services
“Effective interventions require thoughtfulness, innovation, and compassion. Gabler’s book provides parents with all three. TAGteach is a robust intervention worthy of the children who need it. I strongly recommend Chaos to Calm for those serious about learning practical uses of TAGteach.”
Rick Kubina, PhD
Professor, Special Education Program, The Pennsylvania State University
“This will be a helpful tool for parents of children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum. I found many simple statements to be profoundly impactful and will certainly be recommending this book to parents overwhelmed by the big picture of changing behavior. It is one thing to hear how to break tasks down from a behavior analyst and, I believe, quite another to hear it from a parent that has overcome the obstacles of the daily struggles that autism involves. Thank you!”
Heather Griffin, MS, BCBA
Clinical Director of Northeast Florida Services
Behavior Management Consultants, Inc.
“The author, Martha Gabler, has the heart of a tiger, the instincts of a Mamma Bear protecting and nurturing her cub, and the mind of an applied logician. Empowered with well-tested and highly generalizable concepts and teaching tools, she crafted a comprehensive and progressive curriculum for her son, delivered with technical expertise. What could easily have been a sterile account of a ‘behavioral program for a child with severe autism,’ is a book filled with wisdom, humor, commonsense, and a mother’s love. I haven’t read a book so simultaneously moving, inspiring, and just plain smart in a long time. It could, and should, be the model for a new approach to assisting families, and will also be of much use to teachers and clinicians.”
Martin Kozloff, PhD
Watson Distinguished Professor
Watson College of Education
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Author of ‘Reaching the Autistic Child’ and many other books
Autism Society Professional Advisor
“As a clinical child psychologist who teaches pediatric and family medicine residents to work with kids with disabilities and their families, my main mantra is “listen to the parents”! In this book Martha, the parent of a son with autism, takes on a remarkable new method of teaching – TAGteach – to teach her son a host of everyday living skills (e.g., walk with me) and resolve a number of problems common to children with autism. The essence of Martha’s book and of TAGteach is knowing “how to do it.” So many times when we encounter issues with children with autism and other developmental disabilities, we know what to do but we don’t know how to apply that knowledge. Martha’s book is a practical application of TAGteach’s “Five Words or Less” method to get directly to the behavior change and learning of the child. And it works! This is a most practical and valuable book that a parent of a child with disabilities should own!”
Mary C. Cerreto, PhD
“Martha Gabler has lived through the seemingly impossible hell of raising a very difficult boy with autism—and found tools and patience to change him—and herself. A wonderful book of her discoveries and her progress with her son.”
Richard McManus, Founder, The Fluency Factory
“Sound science and practical ideas. If you are a parent or a professional working with a person with autism (or almost any person working with a person with a need to learn new behaviors) this is a “must read”. The book is well written, easy to understand, and based on solid research.”
Will H Burrow, PhD
Director of Special Education, Regional School Unit #4, Sabattus, ME
“I have just read your book and have to say it is a treasure. People like you are keeping this information alive. Real issues from a real mum working under very distressing circumstances, but keeping at it and making a life changing difference for their child – and their family. I was talking to another parent about how much effort you had to put in to help your boy get into a sleep pattern. She was amazed and thought her issues paled into insignificance. Of course they don’t as every parent’s issues are as real and important for them as the next one’s. Thank you, great insight and strategies relevant to all parents.”
Dennis Sparrow
Educational Psychologist
Better Start Education Service
“Beautifully and thoughtfully written. An easy to follow, consistent and compassionate approach for changing difficult behaviors often associated with autism.”
Carol Kelley RN
“I’m currently reading The Power of Habit and it’s very interesting, but I started reading Chaos to Calm after I downloaded it and got completely sucked in – it’s a GREAT read with wonderful information and emotion. Can’t wait to get back to it!”
Lindsay J Pinkerton
“I am on the Autism Spectrum. I’m both high and low functioning but have achieved a level of integration in ‘normal’ or neurotypical society because of my higher functioning attributes. It has been a difficult path to walk alone though. If TAGteach had been around when I was a child, I am 100% sure that I would have a had an even more successful, less frustrating, anxiety ridden childhood and been a higher achiever than I currently am.”
Katie Scott-Dyer
“My now 12 son was diagnosed with Autism / Mental Retardation / Apraxia at the age of 3. Its has taken me all these years to know my child, to learn what his likes and dislikes are. I have googled a lot, spoken to his related service providers, Specialist, and how to deal with his outbursts, how to calm him down, when to not get too emotionally broken down when nothing seem to work for him. Finally, CHAOS TO CALM came across my desk and I must say it has been so inspiring for me to FINALLY START LEARNING MY CHILD. I can relate to this book because Doug has a lot of the same characteristics my son has, as do a lot of children with Autism. I have began to implement a lot of Martha’s how to in an emergency situation. This book in my opinion is a “HOW TO 101 deal with your Autistic child”. This book has begun to make a difference in my household. Thank you Martha job well done.”
Dionne – Autism Parent
“I am almost done reading Chaos to Calm; fantastic book, I am planning on reading it again and then lending it to my daughter (elementary student teacher) and friend (special ed elementary teacher). Wish I could give a copy of it to every teacher and parent of an autistic child! I can’t read too many chapters at once tho, without becoming exhausted just thinking about parenting a child with autism. Strength to parents of all challenging children, but wow, Martha, you are something special. Great book.”
Linda Backer
“Autism is challenging at best, often impossible at it’s worst. Using TAGteach technology always allows for a more effective means of communication, especially when the child is non-verbal. Here is one mother’s experience that is well worth the read.”
Alicia Smith
“I have no experience of autism, either with a member of the family or with anyone I know and I was concerned that I’d not be able to `understand’ how the book might work. However, what I found was a great insight into what autism is and how it impacts on both the individual and wider world around them.
What Martha has shown is that finding the right way to communicate is as much about `training’ as it is about communication skills. It also shows that the parenting of such children is remarkably similar to the parenting of so called `normal’ children as well, in that positive reinforcement works.”
Linda Parkinson-Hardman
“Too often the solution to working with children with special needs is medication or institutionalization. Martha Gabler presents a very achievable alternative with TAGteach. Here is a method that builds lasting relationships, is easy enough for all members of the family to participate in, gives the child the option of choice and removes the need for coercion. I would recommend this book to any parent or teacher working with a child with special needs. Whether it be autism, dyslexia, ADD, Downs Syndrome or any other need, the strategies discussed in this book are pertinent to them all and well worth the effort of putting into practice.”
Lesley Catterall
“Very wonderful heart warming story of an alternative method of dealing with autistic children, but that is not the beginning and end of the story. This method can be used for anyone learning a new skill. Coaches, teachers, anyone who instructs another can use this method. Its great to find a method that is focused on positive reinforcement and building on successes. I would recommend this book to anyone.”
Sharon Empson
“The author’s son could not tolerate being spoken to and did not speak. When the author learned about tag teaching she found a technique that helped her help her son. She started “clicking and treating” all desired behavior. Since behaviors will more likely be repeated if they result in something good happening, her son started showing those behaviors more and more. His problematic behaviors were not reinforced so they faded away. This book is a great example of how positive reinforcement can be used to change behavior. Positive reinforcement is the most ethical and effective way of helping children and other learners change behavior.”
Patty Glynn
“Great resource for parents of Autistic children and parents of all children who want to teach and not argue. The author explained the process throughout the book and gave examples from the work she did with her own son.”
Ljc Jo
“Gives hope for how to make every day problems with autism manageable. Great book. I’d recommend it to everyone with a child with autism.”
Rachel
“This is a very good book.
My son has been doing token boards for a little while, and we are using a clicker to mark some things he does, where it is hard to give him the token at just the right moment.
Like, he is working on playing Candy Land, and it helps him to understand to stop at his color. (He likes to pause at the right color and then keep going sometimes, and sometimes he hesitates before he has gotten to his color — now he knows we will click when he is at just the right place.)
It is an easier marker for him sometimes than other ways we have to show we really like what he is doing.
Especially when he is not right next to someone.
I see many times, that he starts to do something well, when we want him to do something without anyone right next to him, but he doesn’t do it all the way to the end (to get a token or piece of candy). But then how do we shape it???? This will let us re-enforce some beginning steps to shape behavior.
Honestly we have only used it for Candy Land so far, b/c somehow (oddly enough) my son has just made a big improvement in “come here” and looking towards me from a distance when I call his name. But I wish I had had it 6 months ago as a tool! I am looking for more times it will be helpful to us.
My son’s therapist is interested, too, she likes it. I have not brought it up at pre-school yet, but I am going to at his parent-teacher conference. I think it could help him with walking in line independently.
I did not feel totally comfortable with the method without talking to my son’s therapist (who said we could use it with a token board or piece of candy, which I am familiar with) and also I looked at a Karen Pryor book from the library. I think I just needed to see it from some different directions and then I understood it more.”
Lesley Noble
“Know the author and what a great book for a parent or someone who knows an autistic person. Will definitely be passing it around and recommending it to others.”
Connie
“Martha Gabler has written a compelling story filled with patience persistence and determination. Her use of TAGteach in helping her son learn skills to cope with autism is inspiring. Thank you for sharing your journey with those of us who do not have a clue about the difficulty of living with autism.”
Laura
It is a practical book. Clear steps able to be followed by all parents, but also exceptionally useful for professionals working with families in similar distress. What it means for me though is that this is a lonnnnng journey. It gives parents hope that you can make changes, but they are not going to be thorough miracle approaches. When I told a parent how long it took her to get her boy to sleep, she was amazed but realised what she needed to do to help her own child. The words of a parent, especially one with this insight and rigour, are far more valuable, to my clients, than those of the professionals. This person has done it, been there for her boy and achieved what few would say could be achieved. I also went looking for “Don’t Shoot the Dog” and found it great companion piece for Martha’s treasure of a book.
Dennis Sparrow
Senior Psychologist Better Start Education Services,
BA (Hons) (Psychology), BSc (Physics), BA (Secondary Education)
MAPS (Member Australian Psychological Society)