Martha Gabler, Author at Autism: Chaos to Calm

Behavior Basics 35 and 36: End of Week Wrap-up

March 28, 2014February 15, 2016 Martha Gabler

35. A conditioned reinforcer is something previously neutral that has gained reinforcing potential.

A conditioned reinforcer can be any quick sound or action. It can be a whistle, a tap, a flash of light, or a click sound made by a small plastic device called a “tagger.” Initially, the sound or flash has no significance for a child, but, by pairing the sound with a treat or other pleasing consequence, the “tag” (click sound) becomes an important event for the child. The tag means that a treat is coming. A tag means that the child did something right or achieved something. The tag is good news! The tag is worth paying attention to – this is very important. The tag teaches the child to focus on his own actions. What was I just doing that caused Mom to tag and hand me a treat? Was it swinging my arm or looking at the toy? Hmmm, I’ll try swinging my arm again. Nothing, no tag. Okay, I’ll trying looking at the toy again. TAG! Oh, that was it! I get it. I’ll look at the toy some more! Boy, Mom sure seems happy when I look at a toy. I know she’s happy because she tagged and gave me a treat, and I’m happy too.

36. Create a conditioned reinforcer by pairing it with something the child already likes.

How does the child learn that the acoustical signal, the “tag” (click sound) has meaning? You teach the child by “pairing” the tag with a treat. This can be achieved very quickly. When I first got a tagger, I sat down next to my son with a fruit roll-up and proceeded to tag and hand over slivers of fruit roll-up. It went like this: tag/hand over sliver, tag/hand over sliver, tag/hand over sliver, continuously. In 25 seconds he figured out that the tag meant that a treat was coming. 25 seconds! That’s all it took. I never had to repeat that lesson. I could immediately start using the tag to teach new skills. Try it! It’s great fun to teach a child with autism something in just 25 seconds!

REMINDER: This concludes the wrap-up of Behavior Basics for the week. Please remember the schedule: On the release date of each module, the Behavior Basics for that module will be compiled into a PDF ebook available from our blog and Facebook page. Click on this link to download the entire series of 42 Behavior Basics for free: http://statictab.com/m7bizwt.

Behavior Basics 33 and 34: End of Week Wrap-up

March 21, 2014February 15, 2016 Martha Gabler

33. Slow reinforcement is ineffective for teaching a child, especially one with autism.

A child with autism lives in the moment. He is keenly aware of what is happening right now, and often, right now he has at least three or four behaviors (physical movements) going on simultaneously. Those movements change very quickly—every few seconds he’s doing other actions. Let’s say the child momentarily does one action that you wish to reinforce, so you run over and say, “Hey, good boy for doing that,” and hand out a treat. I timed myself walking a distance of 12 feet, saying, “Hey, good boy for doing that,” and handing over a treat. It took 4 seconds. In those 4 seconds, a child with autism has performed many more movements and is thinking about those new movements. The one you liked, that happened about 5 or 6 seconds ago, is history. So if you walk over to your child, praise him and hand over a treat, you are too slow and too late. The child won’t know what you reinforced. He won’t know what you want him to do again. Your reinforcement will be ineffective because it is not paired precisely with the desired behavior. Effective reinforcement is timely, on-time, and precise information. It tells the child, “That thing you are doing right now is great. Do it some more.” Our voices and words, of which we are so enamored, are slow, clumsy and too late to give exact, pinpoint information to the child. So, help the child out. Make sure that, during the time that he is doing a desired action, he gets the information, “YES. That’s right,” and now a treat is on the way. See Behavior Basic #34 for more information.

34. What’s the solution to late reinforcement? Use a conditioned reinforcer.

In Behavior Basic #33 we discussed the fact that a child with autism needs pinpoint accuracy of reinforcement in order to know that he should do a behavior again. We cannot provide such speedy, accurate reinforcement with our slow voices or confusing gestures. An excellent way to provide fast, timely information to the child is with an acoustical signal, a “tag,” or click-sound, made by a tagger. The best way to reinforce a child is when he is actually doing the behavior you want — to reinforce in that “right now” micro-second. How can you reinforce so quickly? With a TAGteach tagger. A tagger allows you to provide split-second information to the child while he is performing the desired behavior. So the procedure is: observe child, tag desired behavior, give treat. By following up each tag with a treat, the tag becomes a “conditioned reinforcer.” When the child hears the tag, he knows a treat is coming his way. Eventually, the sound of the tag is reinforcing in and of itself. He learns to listen for the tag, think about what he was doing that earned the tag, and then perform the behavior again—because it brought about a pleasant consequence. Precise, timely reinforcement builds behaviors faster. There is nothing else like it.

Behavior Basics 31 and 32: End of Week Wrap-up

March 14, 2014February 15, 2016 Martha Gabler

31. The timing of the reinforcer tells the child what he did right.

We have talked about how children with autism may have many behaviors (physical movements) going on at the same time. At some point, the child will perform a movement that you want to see happen more often. When this one specific movement is happening–in the blur of many other movements–the only way to distinguish it from the blur of activity is with pinpoint timing. With TAGteach you can pinpoint that micro-second of desired action by pressing the tagger, and then delivering the reinforcement as quickly as possible after that. The child knows that the sound means that a treat is coming, so the child pays attention to what he or she does that causes the sound to happen. The pinpoint timing of the tag (click sound) gives the child information about which specific movement is earning the reinforcement. When the child with autism knows exactly which behavior is earning reinforcement, he or she will do that action more often.

32. Late reinforcement is ineffective for teaching a child, especially one with autism.

Children with autism often perform many behaviors in quick succession and in changing sequences. When they are performing behaviors (physical movements) so quickly, it is a challenge for us to tell them exactly which behavior we want, and it is a challenge for them to figure it out. Generally, people use their voices to tell a child, “Good job,” or, “That’s it.” The problem is that words come out of our mouths a second or two after the child does the behavior, plus the words themselves take one or two seconds to emerge: this means a three to five second delay in getting information to the child. In that three to five second period, the child will have performed several other behaviors. How can the child figure out, in his confusing world, what that praise was intended for, even assuming he can understand the words? The information is too late to have meaning for him. The late praise and even later delivery of reinforcement will slow down the child’s learning process. Why create confusion and delay when we can provide real-time, split-second information? Delay is the last thing a child with autism needs. Fast timely action brings much better results.

TAGteach, a waiting game where both parties win!

March 10, 2014February 15, 2016 Martha Gabler

The waiting game

In a game, there is usually a winner and a loser. TAGteach involves waiting, but this waiting game ends up with two winners and no losers. Here’s how the TAGteach Waiting Game works:

TAGteach (Teaching with Acoustical Guidance) is a wonderful tool for teaching children with autism. It has many features that make it highly effective for this population. TAGteach combines an acoustical signal (a “tag” or click) with positive reinforcement to increase functional behaviors.

The acoustical signal or “tag” delivers precise, timely information to the child about what he or she has done that is correct. The tag is quick and requires no words, so the parent can reinforce a desired behavior more quickly and more often, and the child has more opportunities to learn.

With TAGteach, the desired behavior is broken down into small parts so the child can learn one small step at a time. And finally, TAGteach is based on the principles of ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis). The most important scientific law of ABA is that a behavior that is reinforced is a behavior that will occur again. By reinforcing appropriate, functional behaviors, you will teach a child to perform these behaviors more often and for longer periods of time.

First step -Assess and decide

The first step, when starting with TAGteach, is to assess your child. There is a free, downloadable Child Observation Chart on this website that you can use to make notes about your child’s behaviors (physical movements of the body). Five minutes of observation will give you an eye-opening description of your child’s behaviors.

Whenever I do the observation with my child, I’m always surprised at the difference between what I think is going on and what is actually going on. Once you have a list of what the child is doing, you can decide which behaviors you would like to see more often. If the child storms about the house a lot, you probably would like him to walk slowly. If the child screams a lot, you probably would like more Quiet Mouth or Appropriate Vocalization behavior.

Behavior Basics 29 and 30: End of the Week Wrap-up

March 7, 2014February 15, 2016 Martha Gabler

29. You must give the reinforcer at the exact moment the child does the behavior.

In Behavior Basic 28 we discussed the importance of timing when reinforcing behavior in a child with autism. You must reinforce the child at the precise moment he does the desired physical movement. If you reinforce too early or too late, the child will be confused; he won’t know what he did to earn the reinforcer, so he probably won’t repeat that exact desired movement. It is not easy to reinforce a child at the split second he does a desired movement, but TAGteach (Teaching with Acoustical Guidance) makes it easy. When I set out to teach my son to kick a ball, my first tag point (physical movement to reinforce) was “Walks near ball.” The ball was out in the yard and every time he dashed within five feet of it I tagged and gave him a reward. Even though he was busy running and yowling, he realized very quickly that being in the vicinity of that ball resulted in very nice consequences. Soon he was running and walking around the ball, just the result I wanted.

30. The timing of the reinforcer is information for the child.

In Behavior Basic 29 I described how I tagged my son every time he dashed within five feet of a ball. This was Step One of my program to teach him to kick the ball. Because my son heard the tag and received reinforcement when he ran or walked within five feet of the ball, he deduced that the area around the ball was a great place to be. I did not verbally ask him to approach the ball. I did not show him how to walk near the ball. I did not take him by the hand and drag him to the ball. All I did was tag him precisely when he was in the vicinity of it. The quick click of the tagger and the reinforcement gave him this information. We accomplished Step One quickly, easily and with no stress and no exasperation.

Never force anything, words from my father

March 3, 2014April 19, 2016 Martha Gabler 2 Comments

In the garage

One day when I was a child, I was in the garage with my father. I was pushing hard with a screwdriver trying to pry open an old wooden box. My father came over and said, “Never force anything. If you force it, you might break it. Look for a better way.” We looked over the box and found a way to open it that didn’t involve brute force. My father was an engineer, so his life’s work was devoted to designing complex technologies. He knew how important it is to consider all aspects of a case and then take action slowly and carefully.

I always remembered that incident. His words stayed with me and resonated powerfully years later, when my husband and I found ourselves raising a child with severe autism.

The struggles of the early years

My son is now a teenager. When he was three years old he was diagnosed with severe autism, plus he was profoundly nonverbal. While he was a sweet child underneath, he displayed many difficult, disruptive and aggressive behaviors. How do you change difficult behaviors in a child who spins and shrieks constantly, and who can neither speak nor endure listening to your voice?

We struggled and suffered for many years, becoming increasingly isolated from normal everyday life. I was desperate to improve his behaviors so that we could out in the community, go to the grocery store, or take a walk in the park. I had often taken him out with the “brute force” method, clamping my hand over his wrist and holding on tightly so he would stay with me. Needless to say, this was unpleasant for both of us.

Behavior Basics 27 and 28: End of Week Wrap-up

February 28, 2014February 15, 2016 Martha Gabler

27. Children with autism have many behaviors going on at the same time.

Another way of saying this is that children with autism may have many physical movements going on at the same time. Children with autism can be extremely physically active. If you observe them, you may see that the hands, arms, legs, torso, neck, head, facial and vocal muscles are all active at once. Take the time to observe your child. Download the free “Child Observation Chart” from the website below and make a note of the specific types of physical movements your child is making. When you see how many movements your child is displaying, you realize how careful you have to be when reinforcing behavior. With so much going on it is easy for the instructor to reinforce something too early or too late, and for the child to be confused about what is being reinforced.

28. So how does a child know which behavior you want? Timing!

When a child is making multiple movements with her body, the question comes up, how does she know what you are reinforcing? She may be running, swinging her arms, swiveling her head and shouting. She may be performing a desired behavior, but that behavior appears for only a split second and is buried in an avalanche of dizzying movements. How do you pick out that micro-second of desired physical movement? The answer is: Timing. You reinforce her precisely during the split second she is performing the behavior you want. With the quick click of a tagger, TAGteach (Teaching with Acoustical Guidance) allows you to reinforce a child for a micro-second of behavior at the exact moment she is performing that behavior. Even though she is performing many movements, the child will realize that something caused a positive consequence in her world. She will quickly figure out which movement resulted in that positive outcome (kids with autism are brilliant at this), and she will repeat the movement. TAGteach is extraordinarily effective for precise timing of reinforcement. There is nothing else like it. The human voice is much too slow and too late for this type of precision reinforcement. By the time you say, “Good job,” or “That’s it,” the child will have performed many more physical movements. She won’t know which movement you are talking about, and your efforts will be wasted. Timing is critical. Timing is all important. Time–for our kids with autism–is too valuable to waste.

What if you could push a button for better behaviors in your child with autism? Impossible? With TAGteach it can be done!

February 24, 2014November 6, 2017 Martha Gabler

Would you wish for this button?

Many of us autism parents wish we could sometimes just push a button that would change our kids’ behaviors. We joke, “I wish my kid had an off-switch.” Many of our kids have challenging behaviors that disrupt normal and necessary family activities like grocery shopping, going out in the car, or simply taking a walk.

We would like our children to have the skills that would allow them to participate in family and community life. Well, it’s possible, and you can do it by pressing a button.

A special button

However, the button I’m going to discuss is not an ordinary button. This button is placed on top of a small clicker device called a “tagger.” With a tagger and some basic information about using positive reinforcement any parent can build better behaviors in a child with significant behavior challenges. I know because I did this with my child. Here’s an example, and an explanation.

Pressing a button to increase calm behaviors

My son is now a teenager; at age three he was diagnosed with severe autism, plus he was profoundly nonverbal. Like many children with autism, my son was often very agitated. It was sad to see him so agitated that he couldn’t enjoy life, so I started to think about how to help him feel calmer. First I spent some time observing him. I noticed that when he was agitated he displayed a lot of physical activity: darting about, bouncing on one foot or two feet, swiveling his arms, and of course, shrieking. Since I knew about TAGteach, I decided to “tag” and reinforce the following physical movements: Quiet Mouth, Hands Still, and Feet Still.

Behavior Basics 25 and 26: End of week wrap-up

February 22, 2014February 15, 2016 Martha Gabler

25. To build a desired behavior, reinforce it every time it occurs.

The scientific laws of behavior tell us that positive reinforcement increases a behavior. The next step to talk about is how often to reinforce a behavior. The general rule is, to build a behavior you must reinforce this new desired behavior every time it occurs! Naturally this takes vigilance, but it is important for the child. He has to experience that every time he does this particular desired action (touches a block, puts a puzzle piece in place, says “thank you”), he will receive a reward of his liking. This experience will cause him to repeat the behavior more often. When this happens, you are well on the way to building a new behavior. Reinforcing an action every time it occurs is called a “continuous reinforcement schedule.” Continuous reinforcement is the first part of a behavior building plan. TAGteach (Teaching with Acoustical Guidance) is an excellent tool when building behavior with a continuous reinforcement schedule. TAGteach allows you to “tag” and reinforce behaviors precisely and much more frequently than with verbal praise or other methods. With TAGteach you can reinforce a behavior every few seconds, or almost continuously, if the child is displaying the behavior at a high rate. It’s an invaluable tool for this stage of the behavior building process.

26. Remember, movements are behaviors. Behaviors are movements.

Let’s review what a behavior is. A behavior is one or more physical movements of the body. A behavior may be simple and use only one physical movement (turning the head to look at the source of a sound) or it be complex and require several different physical movements in a particular sequence (washing hands). Many times we think of the desired end result of our teaching process as a “behavior,” without taking the time to break that behavior down into separate physical movements of the arms, legs, head or torso. It is much easier and faster to teach one small physical movement at a time than a constellation of different movements in a sequence. It is much easier and faster for a child to learn one small physical movement at a time than a complex sequence of movements. You want the child to have success, so break the behavior down into physical movements she can do. TAGteach (Teaching with Acoustical Guidance) is an invaluable tool for breaking a behavior down into its component physical movements. You can only tag one small movement at a time, so simply holding the tagger in your hand makes you think about what specific movement you want the child to do.

Marco Polo, Wandering and TAGteach

February 17, 2014February 15, 2016 Martha Gabler 2 Comments

Legend tells us that Marco Polo wandered across the deserts of Asia to reach the fabled cities of China. Our children with autism can be wanderers too, a source of worry to parents and caregivers. To compound the problem of wandering, many times our kids’ verbal abilities are limited so they cannot respond to shouts or hails. After one frightening episode, I used TAGteach to teach my son a verbal response so that he would be able to answer us if we were looking for him.

Years ago, my son disappeared from sight one afternoon when we were momentarily distracted. Instantly we and several neighbors fanned out looking for him. Nobody could find him. I finally went inside the house and thought to look around carefully. Luckily, I found him out of sight, but curled up in a big chair. Even though I had called out to him, he had not answered. We realized he had to be able to answer us verbally if we were looking for him.

Where is Douglas?

Initially, I sat down with him and taught him to respond to the question, “Where is Douglas?” by waving his arm and shouting “Here.” That worked fairly well, but a question like “Where is Douglas?” or “Where is Tommy?” may be an emotionally laden question for the child. Is he in trouble? Oh no, maybe he should stay quiet! My husband came up with the great idea of teaching him to respond to “Marco” with “Polo.” Everyone knows this phrase; it’s a common game that kids play in the pool during the summer.