Category: Science

Part 3: Precise Reinforcement and Success versus Random Reinforcement and Confusion

In Part 1 of this series, we discussed how the click, or “tag,” is ONE specific sound that relates to ONE specific physical movement. This precise information to the child, “Hey, taking two steps in the same direction is great!” tells him that taking two steps in the same direction is a good thing to do more often. In Part 2, we discussed how the precise timing of the click helps the parent/instructor think about planning the small steps that lead up to the bigger behavior. My goal was to teach Safe Walking, and my son worked up from taking Two Steps/Same Direction, to taking Three Steps/Same Direction, and eventually Walking Beside Me, and Stopping At Corners. For reference, please see the chart I’ve been running in this series of articles.

Benefits of Precise Reinforcement

Part 3 of this series discusses how the precise reinforcement delivers success to the child, and avoids the problems of random reinforcement and confusion. The quick click of the tagger, followed up by a treat (strips of fruit roll-up), gave extraordinarily precise information to my son. The click marked the precise moment his second or third footstep hit the ground in the same direction. If he bolted or spun around, no click and no treat. Being a smart kid who likes fruit roll-ups, he quickly figured out he would get more by taking steps in the same direction.

Problems of Random Reinforcement

Because of the precise, consistent sound of the click and consistent reinforcement for that one targeted behavior, my son knew what to do. There was no confusion because there was no delay in information and reinforcement. Contrast this to what often happens when a child is being urged to walk in a straight line or stay with a group: “Hey Billy, come back here, stay with the group. We’re walking to the playground. Yes, that’s it. You can swing at the playground. No, come this way, we’re going to the left not the right. Just go straight ahead to the swings.” This verbal barrage provides lots of confusing sounds, some instructions, a reprimand, a small amount of praise, and lots of non-pertinent information. Billy experiences too many words, too much emotion, and a lot of confusion and failure. This experience does not build a foundation for continued learning.

Let’s try it with TAGteach

Let’s look at how a different instructor uses a tagger to work with Zack; he starts out by watching Zack’s feet. Zack would experience the following: when he takes Two Steps/Same Direction: he hears a click and gets a tic-tac. Wow! That was easy and he got a nice treat. He takes Two Steps/Same Direction again, and experiences more success and reinforcement. Now he’s got it, he continues taking Two Steps/Same Direction, and before he knows it, he’s standing in front of his favorite swing. Zack experiences success and reinforcement, and really knows to listen for that click—because it means good things are coming. Now the foundation is set for more learning. He’s ready to learn to take Three Steps/Same Direction, then Four Steps/Same Direction, then Walk With Group.

What’s the bottom line?

Precise reinforcement delivers success to the student: he learned something, he did something correctly, and he will do that good thing again. Success breeds success, confidence and attentiveness. Random reinforcement mixed in with confusing instructions, corrections and reprimands delivers confusion and failure to the student. Which student do you think is experiencing success and confidence, Billy or Zack?

What is TAGteach?

TAGteach stands for Teaching with Acoustical Guidance. TAGteach is a teaching and communication method based on the scientific principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).

TAGteach enables extremely precise positive reinforcement of behavior by using an acoustical signal to “mark” the behavior – at the precise moment the child performs the behavior! The acoustical signal is a short, sharp sound made by a handheld device (the “tagger”). When the child performs the correct action, the parent/instructor immediately presses the button on the tagger and hands over a treat (candy, treat, token, praise, social recognition, or money) as a reinforcer.

With TAGteach, it is easy to reinforce behaviors precisely and quickly. The immediate, accurate feedback and positive reinforcement result in the child performing the correct action more often, and for longer periods of time. With immediate feedback and learning tasks broken down into small steps, children can learn many new skills with TAGteach — at their own pace.

Check out the TAGteach International website.

Join the free TAGteach listserve.

TAGteach taggers are available here.

See Martha’s book about TAGteach for Autism or ask a question  (with no obligation).

Sign up for my mailing list to receive updates, new articles and free tips right in your inbox!

If you liked this post, please share it on social media via the vertical gray menu on the far right. Thank you!

For more information see the TAGteach International website. Join the free TAGteach listserve   TAGteach taggers are available here.  See Martha’s book about TAGteach for Autism or ask a question (with no obligation).

Part 2: Precise timing and planning versus sloppy timing and planning

Part 1 of this series described the benefits of using One Sound for One Movement to teach a skill to a child with autism, versus a babble of sounds for many movements.  Part 2 will focus on the all-important issues of timing and planning, and how they relate to teaching Safe Walking. See the table below for reference.

Why is timing important?

While many people know that a positive consequence following a behavior will result in that behavior occurring more often, fewer people appreciate the importance of timing. A precisely timed reinforcer that is presented exactly at the actual moment the child is doing the desired movement, or immediately after the desired movement, will result in the child learning the behavior much faster. Why? Because the experience of success and reinforcement is so closely tied to the desired behavior. It’s easy for the child to figure out, “Hey, that thing I just did is really great, because I keep experiencing nice rewards.”

Kids with autism live in real time, the “now”

Our kids with autism live in the moment, not the past and not the future. To work effectively with our kids, we have to live in the moment, be in the moment with them and observe them closely. The split second the child does the desired action, press the tagger and hand over a treat. Also, our kids with autism often move very fast. My son can easily do several movements in the course of a second or two. I have to be quick and precise to mark exactly which movement that I would like to see him do more often.

Next Steps In Teaching Safe Walking

Questions?

Precise Timing is Superior to Slow, Sloppy Timing

For my son, this was incredibly precise information, and he learned quickly to take Two Steps/Same Direction. You cannot “mark” a specific behavior so quickly and precisely with any other method. Try it and see for yourself. Compare the tagger with using words or directly handing over a treat when your child has done something nice.

Recently I tried to use words to praise my son for something he had done. It took me four seconds to get over to him, praise him for what he had done and hand him a treat: four long, late seconds. In those four seconds, he performed at least five or six subsequent physical movements. How could he possibly know which of those many movements was the right one? Words are slow and sloppy. For this kind of teaching, a click is definitely worth more than a thousand words.

Precise Planning and Precise Timing go Hand In Hand

As you can see from the description above, I had a precise plan of action in mind to teach Safe Walking. The first goal was to teach my son to take Two Steps/Same Direction. Once he achieved that, we moved on to Three Steps/Same Direction. To tag and treat this behavior, once again, I watched his feet. Now I looked for what happened at the time of the third step. His movements were: Right Foot, Left Foot, Right Foot, Left Foot, Right Foot (in same direction as previous two steps?). If yes, I tagged and treated, if not, I watched and waited.

He achieved the goal of taking Three Steps/Same Direction fairly quickly, and we moved on to Four Steps/Same Direction, Five Steps/Same Direction, and so forth until we got to Ten Steps/Same Direction. At this point he was walking nicely in the same direction, so I changed my reinforcement plan: I intermittently tagged and treated for Three Steps/Same Direction, Five Steps/Same Direction and so forth.

Each Step  – Part of a Behavior Chain

In other words, I had a specific behavior plan all laid out. My next steps, which are laid out in great detail in the book Chaos to Calm, were to teach Walk Beside Me, Feet on Ground, and Wait. The goal was that my son would walk beside me, stop at corners, wait for the WALK signal, and cross streets safely. Each of these actions was a precise physical movement that I could tag and treat, and eventually build into a behavior chain.

In five months, my son changed from being a chaotic bolter to going with me, safely and pleasantly, on five mile hikes in the woods. He also was able to go on family shopping trips and walk nicely with us through the stores and wait in the check-out line with no agitation. He achieved this, literally and figuratively, one step at a time. Randomly taking my son out for walks and urging him to stay with me or be quiet and calm in the store would not have achieved this goal.

Because TAGteach allows us to be so precise and to break tasks down into such small steps, it is easy to understand what comes next and how to break that next step down into achievable increments. The click, or “tag”, requires us to think about what our child needs to learn, to break those goals down into very small steps, and to reinforce those tiny little movements that will lead to the big outcome.The click is worth more than a thousand words. The precise timing and planning which you can do with TAGteach becomes self-evident to parents after a few tries.

Next Post

The next post on this Topic, Part 3, will address how the precise reinforcement offered to the child via TAGteach, and the powerful experience of success this provides, helps the child learn new skills readily and joyfully.

TAGteach

TAGteach stands for Teaching with Acoustical Guidance. TAGteach is a teaching and communication method based on the scientific principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).

TAGteach enables extremely precise positive reinforcement of behavior by using an acoustical signal to “mark” the behavior – at the precise moment the child performs the behavior! The acoustical signal is a short, sharp sound made by a handheld device (the “tagger”). When the child performs the correct action, the parent/instructor immediately presses the button on the tagger and hands over a treat (candy, treat, token, praise, social recognition, or money) as a reinforcer.

With TAGteach, it is easy to reinforce behaviors precisely and quickly. The immediate, accurate feedback and positive reinforcement result in the child performing the correct action more often, and for longer periods of time. With immediate feedback and learning tasks broken down into small steps, children can learn many new skills with TAGteach — at their own pace.

Check out the TAGteach International website

Join the free TAGteach listserve.

TAGteach taggers are available here.

See Martha’s book about TAGteach for Autism or ask a question

(with no obligation).

Sign up for my mailing list to receive updates, new articles and free tips right in your inbox!

If you liked this post, please share it on social media via the vertical gray menu on the far right. Thank you!

Sometimes people ask me this question. They have heard that the purpose of the TAGteach tagger is to teach skills by “marking” a desired behavior and following-up immediately with positive reinforcement. So, they may think, what about using the tagger to tell my child when he is doing something bad? Should I do that? The answer is NO, NEVER! Here are the reasons.

Purpose of TAGteach: Deliver positive reinforcement and increase desired behaviors

We use the TAGteach tagger to give a child two pieces of information:  (1) You just did something right, and (2) now you are getting a treat (reinforcer). The purpose of this two-step action (tag and treat) is to increase a behavior that we like! Decades of behavioral science research tells us that the best way to increase desired behaviors is to provide a positive consequence immediately after the behavior.

Using the tagger to mark an undesired behavior would be catastrophic. What if you ended up increasing the undesired behavior? That would make things worse. Also, if you mix up positive reinforcement and punishment with the tagger, it will destroy its effectiveness in increasing desired behaviors. Consequently, this great tool would be rendered useless. Please do NOT use the tagger to mark undesired behaviors.

To decrease undesired behaviors, set up a specific program to increase desired behaviors

Many children have undesired behaviors. The most effective way to reduce these is to provide high levels of positive reinforcement for the behaviors you want. Children want to please and learn, even our kids with autism. They would much rather be happy and have their caregivers be happy than have everyone be angry. Show them which actions will earn them success, praise, and positive reinforcement and they will do more of those great things. This will take some time, but a thoughtful TAGteach approach can help build new skills and new behaviors relatively quickly.

Punishment is ineffective

All the behavioral science literature explains that punishment is an ineffective way to reduce unwanted behaviors. It may appear to be successful in the short term, and it has the perverse effect of creating positive reinforcement for the person doling out the punishment (I swatted that kid and he stopped throwing blocks, next time he throws something I’ll swat him harder), but it has bad long-term effects on the child including: the escalation of punishers (hit harder), evasion, fear, anger, resentment, failure to learn the desired behavior, and worst of all, a loss of trust.

What is TAGteach?

TAGteach stands for Teaching with Acoustical Guidance. TAGteach is a teaching and communication method based on the scientific principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).

TAGteach enables extremely precise positive reinforcement of behavior by using an acoustical signal to “mark” the behavior – at the precise moment the child performs the behavior! The acoustical signal is a short, sharp sound made by a handheld device (the “tagger”). When the child performs the correct action, the parent/instructor immediately presses the button on the tagger and hands over a treat (candy, treat, token, praise, social recognition, or money) as a reinforcer.

With TAGteach, it is easy to reinforce behaviors precisely and quickly. The immediate, accurate feedback and positive reinforcement result in the child performing the correct action more often, and for longer periods of time. With immediate feedback and learning tasks broken down into small steps, children can learn many new skills with TAGteach — at their own pace.

Check out the TAGteach International website.

Join the free TAGteach listserve.

TAGteach taggers are available here.

See Martha’s book about TAGteach for Autism or ask a question (with no obligation).

Sign up for my mailing list  to receive updates, new articles and free tips right in your inbox!

If you liked this post, please share it on social media via the vertical gray menu on the far right. Thank you!

We’ve all experienced this. Your beautiful, lively child with autism has just done something wonderful. It was a beautiful moment–actually, it was a beautiful micro-second–and it was over in a flash.  But, during that flash you saw insight, connection, understanding or wisdom. Wow!

We want more

As parents, we savor these moments. We discuss them with our family and friends and speculate on what they mean. We’d love to see more of them. Did you know that you can bring about more of these heart-warming events? Yes, parents can bring about more of these moments, and even make them last longer. How? By using positive reinforcement and an acoustical support.

The acoustical support I’m talking about is something called TAGteach. TAGteach stands for Teaching with Acoustical Guidance, and it combines positive reinforcement with an event marker signal. The event marker is a sound, a “tag” or “click” made by a small plastic device called a “tagger.” The “tag” sound marks a behavior at the split second that a child performs that behavior. With a tagger, you can reinforce even a micro-second of wonderful reaction. When you tag a behavior and follow-up as soon as possible with positive reinforcement (a treat, token or item that the child likes), you will see more of that behavior.

Positive reinforcement increases even the smallest behavior

Why does this happen? The scientific laws of behavioral science are at work here. The most important law tells us that a behavior that is reinforced is a behavior that will occur again. So, if you tag and treat a child at the precise instant she is giving you that amazing flash of insight or understanding, you will see more of those flashes. When you reinforce a behavior you strengthen it. As the behavior gets stronger, it will happen more often and last longer.

Simple Steps

TAGteach makes this scientific procedure easy to do. Here are the steps:

1. Get a tagger (or anything that makes a sharp click sound: a ballpoint pen or flashlight)
2. Get some treats your child likes
3. Watch your child
4. The split second you see one of the beautiful moments, PRESS the tagger
5. Then give the child a treat

You are teaching your child that you like and appreciate what he just did. Since he is a smart kid and likes treats and the experience of success, he will repeat that action to get more treats and success. Easy. With time and practice, you will see more of those great moments. TAGteach makes it easy to “catch” those wonderful micro-seconds. Catch them and reinforce them, and you will have many more great moments to enjoy!

What is TAGteach?

TAGteach stands for Teaching with Acoustical Guidance. TAGteach is a teaching and communication method based on the scientific principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).

TAGteach enables extremely precise positive reinforcement of behavior by using an acoustical signal to “mark” the behavior – at the precise moment the child performs the behavior! The acoustical signal is a short, sharp sound made by a handheld device (the “tagger”). When the child performs the correct action, the parent/instructor immediately presses the button on the tagger and hands over a treat (candy, treat, token, praise, social recognition, or money) as a reinforcer.

With TAGteach, it is easy to reinforce behaviors precisely and quickly. The immediate, accurate feedback and positive reinforcement result in the child performing the correct action more often, and for longer periods of time. With immediate feedback and learning tasks broken down into small steps, children can learn many new skills with TAGteach — at their own pace.

Check out the TAGteach International website.

Join the free TAGteach listserve.

TAGteach taggers are available here.

See Martha’s book about TAGteach for Autism or ask a question (with no obligation).

Sign up for my mailing list  to receive updates, new articles and free tips right in your inbox!

If you liked this post, please share it on social media via the vertical gray menu on the far right. Thank you!

Three types of learning supports

We all know that kids with special needs need “supports” to help them learn. There are three categories of supports:

1. physical support
2. visual support
3. acoustical support

Two of these, the physical and visual supports, are well known. The third category, the acoustical support, is not yet well known, but is rapidly proving its worth.

Each of these supports has a unique role. Let’s look at what each type of support can provide, and at their strengths and differences.

Physical Supports

Almost everyone is familiar with supports for kids with physical disabilities: among these are adapted equipment, braces, grips, wheelchairs, slant boards and adapted keyboards. These devices provide support to the body in performing tasks. With these devices, children with physical disabilities can achieve goals (mobility, reading, writing, self-care) that they could not achieve without them. Physical supports play a vital role in helping these children build skills and achieve independence.

Visual Supports

Up until the tidal wave of autism diagnoses, adaptive equipment supports were about the only known type of support. With the advent of learners with autism, families and schools learned about another outstanding type of support: the visual support. The strength of the visual support is that it provides information to a child who may have language and communication delays. The visual array of pictures can portray the steps a task, explain the schedule for the day, or provide information about emotions and expectations. The visual support can be a sheet of paper, a computer display or a quick note on a whiteboard. People have used visual supports in countless creative ways. Visual supports have been enormously successful in the autism community and are now a standard item in the home and in special education classrooms.

Acoustical Support

Now for the newcomer: the acoustical support.

The acoustical support, known as Teaching with Acoustical Guidance, or TAGteach, combines positive reinforcement with a sound (a “tag” or “click”) to increase desired behaviors and build skills. With this acoustical “event marker,” an instructor presses the tagger to make a sound at the precise instant a learner has accomplished a specific goal.  As soon as possible after the “tag,” the instructor gives a treat, token or other desired item to the learner. These two actions, tag and treat, deliver positive reinforcement to the child.

From the science of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), we know that behavior that is reinforced is behavior that will occur again. With the “tag” (the acoustical support) an instructor or parent can mark and reinforce even the smallest flash of a desired skill. When that small flash is reinforced, it will occur again and for longer duration. Eventually, with time and practice, it can develop into a reliable behavior. TAGteach makes it quick and easy to vastly increase the amount of positive reinforcement in a child’s environment, to personalize the goals to the child’s level, and to work at the child’s pace. The acoustical support has tremendous potential for helping all children learn.

How are these supports the same, and how are they different?

They are the same in that each one does an important job. They are different in that each type of support has a different role:

Adaptive equipment provides crucial physical support to the body.

It is a static, ongoing support, and it provides a service that neither of the other supports can do. It does not provide information; it does not provide positive reinforcement.

The visual support provides information.

The visual schedule tells the child how to do something, what is going to happen next, or gives the child a way to express emotions. The visual support is usually presented to a child before something happens (before the task or before the next event on the schedule), therefore it works as an antecedent. It does not provide physical support to the body and it is not a consequence that provides positive reinforcement.

The acoustical support provides positive reinforcement.

The acoustical marker, the “tag” or click,” immediately tells a child that she has accomplished a goal. As soon as possible after the tag, the child receives positive reinforcement (a treat, token, praise or other desired item). Since the tag comes after the desired behavior, it is a consequence, and better yet, it is a positive consequence. We know from behavioral science that the consequence, not the antecedent, determines the future course of a behavior, and that a positive consequence will result in the behavior happening again. Thus the acoustical support has a key role to play in increasing and strengthening desired behaviors. The acoustical support does not provide physical support to the body, and it does not provide information about the afternoon activities.

Each support has a vital job to do, and each one has its own specific role

If you want to provide information to a child about the events of the day, use a visual schedule; a physical support or an acoustical support will not do this for you.

If you want a child with a physical disability to move across the room, use the appropriate equipment for that child; a visual support or an acoustical support will not do the job.

If you want a child to perform a desired task more often and for longer periods of time, use the acoustical support — it provides the positive reinforcement needed to achieve this. The physical support and visual support cannot do this job.

All of these supports are important to the education of children with disabilities. If we think about what we want a support to accomplish, we can better select the right one. Think about whether you want to provide physical support, information or positive reinforcement to the child, and chose your support accordingly.

Better yet, think about combining the supports in creative ways!

Want to help a small child use a walker? Provide the walker, and break down the learning procedure into small steps; use a tagger to mark each tiny action that the child makes with a hand or foot to help propel the walker. Want to tell a child that he will be leaving school early? Make a picture schedule to show that mom is picking him up after lunch, and tag/reinforce when he Picks Up His Backpack and Walks Nicely to the door. Want a child to play with blocks? Use a tagger to reinforce the child every time she Walks Near Blocks, then Looks At Blocks, then Moves Hand Near Blocks, then Touches Block.

We can help our children learn more by using the full array of supports, and understanding what each support can do. With the right support for the right job, the child can make more progress across all fronts. That is a great outcome.

What is TAGteach?

TAGteach stands for Teaching with Acoustical Guidance. TAGteach is a teaching and communication method based on the scientific principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).

TAGteach enables extremely precise positive reinforcement of behavior by using an acoustical signal to “mark” the behavior – at the precise moment the child performs the behavior! The acoustical signal is a short, sharp sound made by a handheld device (the “tagger”). When the child performs the correct action, the parent/instructor immediately presses the button on the tagger and hands over a treat (candy, treat, token, praise, social recognition, or money) as a reinforcer.

With TAGteach, it is easy to reinforce behaviors precisely and quickly. The immediate, accurate feedback and positive reinforcement result in the child performing the correct action more often, and for longer periods of time. With immediate feedback and learning tasks broken down into small steps, children can learn many new skills with TAGteach — at their own pace.

Check out the TAGteach International website.

Join the free TAGteach listserve.

TAGteach taggers are available here.

See Martha’s book about TAGteach for Autism or ask a question (with no obligation).

Sign up for my mailing list to receive updates, new articles and free tips right in your inbox!

If you liked this post, please share it on social media via the vertical gray menu on the far right. Thank you!