Science Archives - Page 9 of 11 - Autism: Chaos to Calm

Now you’re talking my language!

December 11, 2013February 15, 2016 Martha Gabler 2 Comments

Bonjour! Hola! Ciao!

Hello! If you travel to another country, it helps to know a few words in the native language. It makes getting around so much easier and builds relationships with local residents. But, having a few words takes you only so far. To really communicate, you need to make a study of the local language.

Now let’s look at kids with autism; they seem to live in a different world from ours. Their condition is often characterized by deficits and delays in language and communication. How do you communicate with a kid who cannot endure the sound of human speech? How do you find out what is bothering a child who is hitting or biting, if he can’t explain? We could not communicate with our son and had very hard times during the early years.

Over time I learned that there is a language, or more specifically, a form of communication in which my son excelled: he was brilliant at comprehending positive reinforcement. Bingo! We achieved communication.

The Language of Positive Reinforcement

The method I stumbled upon is called TAGteach, or Teaching with Acoustical Guidance. TAGteach is a teaching and communication method based on the science of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), and involves the use of positive reinforcement to achieve behavior goals. The unique aspect of TAGteach is that it combines positive reinforcement with an audible event marker signal. The marker—the key communication tool used in the system—makes a distinctive “click” sound to mark a behavior at the time it occurs. The mark (or “click”) means YES, YOU DID SOMETHING GOOD, and the absence of the mark means TRY AGAIN.

With my event marker (sometimes referred to as a “tagger” or “clicker), I was able to “tag” my child every time he did something good. “Good” things were behaviors like Quiet Mouth, Both Feet On The Floor, Hands Still, or Eye Contact. The procedure is: Observe child, “tag” (press clicker) when child performs Quiet Mouth, reinforce child (give a treat or token).

When I started doing this, I was amazed by all the good behaviors my son was able to deliver. Tantrumming? Tag Quiet Mouth and Both Feet On The Floor; the tantrum was over in 12 minutes with no exertion on my part. Bolting? Tag Walks Next To Parent. Toe walking? Tag Heel On Ground. My son’s world changed. Previously, it had been incomprehensible to him. With the tag and positive reinforcement, he understood precisely what he was being rewarded for, and he responded by producing more of the desired behaviors.

Now we’re talking the same language!

The more I communicated with him via tags and positive reinforcement, the happier and better behaved he became. Despite the lack of speech, despite the sensory issues, the tag rang loud and clear and told him he had done something good. He loved that and responded brilliantly. My favorite moments were when I would tag him for something, and a look of total comprehension flooded across his face, “Oh! So that’s what I’m supposed to do!” We all like knowing what to do, and we all like the feeling of success. With TAGteach, I communicated with my son by giving him lots of success.

We found the right language and made a study of it. It is called positive reinforcement with an event marker signal. Tag!

Behavior Basics 1 and 2: End of week wrap-up

December 8, 2013February 15, 2016 Martha Gabler

Behavior Basic #1: Remember the ABCs of behavioral science:

Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence.

Behavior (physical movement of the body) occurs in a specific time and place. When studying behavior, analysts look at what happened just prior to the behavior (the Antecedent), the specific physical movements that the learner made (the Behavior itself), and what happened immediately after the behavior (the Consequence). For example, let’s look at this scenario: The antecedent: a powerful storm rolls in with thunder and lighting. Behavior: a little boy dives under a table and screams. Consequence: instructor comes over, comforts the child and gives him a lollipop. This sequence of events will have an effect on the future behavior of both the boy and the instructor.

Behavior Basic #2: What is Behavior?

Behavior is movement, physical movement of the body.

Behavior is composed of physical movements of the body. Imagine somebody playing the violin: one hand supports the instrument, the fingers of that hand press on the strings, and the other hand moves the bow over the strings. Now imagine somebody hailing a taxi in New York City: the body leans toward the street, the head faces oncoming traffic, the hand nearest to the street waves at passing cabs. Every behavior we do is composed of anywhere from one to dozens of distinct physical movements of the body.

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 3 and 4: End of week wrap-up

December 6, 2013February 15, 2016 Martha Gabler

Behavior Basic #3:

When we behave, we move parts of our body.

To do even the most mundane chores, we move several parts of the body, move those parts in specific ways and often in a specific sequence. Think of making coffee in the morning: Walk to the cupboard and grasp coffee can, grasp coffee pot, walk to sink to fill with water, pour water into coffee maker, scoop coffee into filter basket, push basket back into place, press ON button. The everyday behavior of making coffee requires the physical movements of walking, grasping, lifting, turning knobs, pouring, scooping, pushing and pressing.

4. Behavior is movement, so it is observable.

Behavior is movement of the body, so it is something that you can see or hear. If you can see or hear it, you can observe when and where that behavior happens. For example, if a child engages in the behavior (physical movement) of shrieking, you can observe to see if it happens in certain rooms of the house, outside in the yard or playground, or in the car. You can observe to see if it happens more often in the morning, afternoon or evening, on weekdays or weekends. This observation provides information that can be used to develop a behavior plan to address shrieking.

Behavior Basics: An introduction to behavior science for parents

December 4, 2013February 15, 2016 Joan Orr

By popular demand, Chaos to Calm will be re-issuing its series on Behavior Basics! The newly designed series of Behavior Basics will address six topics to help autism parents understand the fundamentals of behavioral science. Two Behavior Basics will be released each week on Tues and Fri, starting on November 29, 2013. These will be just like the one you see here. You will be able to download these from here at the blog and from the Chaos to Calm Facebook page.

Be sure to collect the whole set of Behavior Basics! 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.

Once a week on Fridays I will write a short article about the Behavior Basics released that week to provide additional explanation.

Review of the Book “Chaos to Calm” by Dr. Lee A. Wilkinson

November 29, 2013February 15, 2016 Lee Wilkinson

The demands placed on parents caring for a child with autism can contribute to a high level of parental distress and adversely affect family functioning. Unfortunately, families are often exposed to unsubstantiated, pseudoscientific theories, and related clinical practices that are ineffective and compete with validated treatments. The time, effort, and financial resources spent on ineffective treatments can create an additional burden on families. As a result, parents and caregivers everywhere are eager for credible, research-based information on the most effective treatments for autism. Chaos to Calm: Discovering Solutions to the Everyday Problems of Living with Autism by Martha Gabler describes an evidence-based method that can be used by parents and caregivers to address the everyday challenges associated with autism and improve the quality of life for their children and families.

The book is a personal account of Martha Gabler’s journey from chaos to calm and how she discovered and implemented an effective teaching method for decreasing the challenging behaviors of her non-verbal son Doug, who was diagnosed with severe autism. Gabler shows parents how to use a method called TAGteach to address many of the common and difficult problems of autism. Briefly, the acronym TAG stands for “Teaching with Acoustical Guidance.” The method utilizes an acoustical signal such as a click or a hand clap to “mark” the behavior that will earn positive reinforcement. TAGteach is based on the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) and relies on the use of positive reinforcement, prompting, fading, and shaping to increase desired behaviors. It is a completely positive approach that is relatively easy to learn and implement by parents and other “non-experts.”

Sometimes people think their child is too high-functioning for TAGteach. Let’s take another look.

November 27, 2013February 15, 2016 Martha Gabler

I would like to show you how TAGteach is a great teaching method for all kinds of learners in all kinds of areas. TAGteach is not only effective for children with autism and other disabilities, but also for sophisticated learners working on advanced academic and athletic skills.

TAGteach (Teaching with Acoustical Guidance) is a scientifically-based teaching and communication method. It is based on the science of behavior, the same science underlying Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), and involves the use of positive reinforcement to achieve behavior goals. The unique aspect of TAGteach is that it combines positive reinforcement with an acoustical event marker signal. The marker—the key communication tool used in the system—makes a distinctive “click” sound to mark a behavior at the time it occurs. The mark (the “tag”or “click”) means YES, YOU DID SOMETHING GOOD, and the absence of the tag means TRY AGAIN.

TAGteach has had a huge, positive impact on my family in teaching skills to my nonverbal son with severe autism. It has helped many other children with autism and other types of learners too. Yet I hear people say, “My child is too high-functioning for that. She has speech.” TAGteach offers much more than the event marker. The teaching protocol for TAGteach has five important features that are beneficial to all learners, whether low or high functioning. These are discussed below.

Autism: Turning liabilities into assets with TAGteach

November 22, 2013May 8, 2018 Martha Gabler 3 Comments

Hello. My name is Martha Gabler and I am the parent of a nonverbal teenage boy with autism. I would like to invite you to learn about a teaching approach known as “Teaching with Acoustical Guidance” (TAGteach), and how it turned the “liabilities” of autism into “assets” in our house. I will also give an example of how I used TAGteach to teach my son two useful behaviors that greatly improved our quality of life. I hope you will want to learn more, and if you do, I invite you to contact me with any questions.

The liabilities

If you ask, “Why is it so hard to teach a child with autism?” you will get a long list of “liabilities.” These include sensory issues, speech and language difficulties, and challenging behaviors, many of which are severe. Recent findings show how just a few of these problems can create confusion for a learner with autism. Research at the University of Rochester has demonstrated that children with autism perceive movement as occurring faster than it actually is. So, if you demonstrate something with objects or your hands, the child will perceive the movements as happening faster than they actually are. Combine this perception problem with research from SFARI which demonstrated that children with autism take longer to listen to and process speech. Now, imagine the confusion for the child: objects, people’s movements and activities are moving too fast, but language comprehension is going too slowly: everything is out of snyc. No wonder the child has a hard time with learning and becomes frustrated. These negative emotions can lead to anger, acting out and all those challenging, sometimes aggressive behaviors we hear about.

A lost opportunity for America

November 5, 2013December 4, 2018 Martha Gabler 1 Comment

The purpose of this post is to recommend an excellent book for parents of children with autism, and to share some personal comments on my reactions after reading this book. The book is Educating Children with Learning and Behavior Problems, by Dr. Martin Kozloff.

Written for parents

This book, written for parents, explains the basic principles of Applied Behavior Analysis, especially the role of positive reinforcement in teaching skills to special needs learners. It explains how to assess a child’s skill levels, set up a home education program, and teach functional, communication and self-help skills. In the back of the book is a detailed Behavior Evaluation Scale, which covers many aspects of a child’s development, including such things as eye contact, imitation, fine and gross motor skills, play skills and communication skills.

Comprehensive

Why is this book so good? First, it lays things out clearly for parents. As autism parents, we all have to learn about Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and the arcane language of positive reinforcement, reinforcement schedules and concepts such as “satiation.” This book describes these concepts in an easy-to-understand way. Plus, you do not become overwhelmed while reading this book. After a discussion of a new topic, Dr. Kozloff asks you to stop, take a break and make yourself a sandwich or get a fresh cup of coffee!

Scientific methods for educating a child with autism

November 2, 2013January 20, 2018 Martha Gabler

asat logo

I have been working with my son, who has severe autism and is profoundly non-verbal, since he was 4 years old (he is now a young adult). I started off knowing virtually nothing, but having heard vaguely of something called “ABA” (Applied Behavior Analysis). Had I known then what I know now about the behaviorally-based methods, therapies and curricula available, our journey would have been much smoother and faster.

This article describes the topics that I had to educate myself about: teaching methods, curriculum, how to make adaptations to help a child with autism learn, and increasing desired behaviors with positive reinforcement. At the end of this post is a list of methods that have worked well for us, plus my personal recommendations for books to read if you are fairly new to the task of teaching a child with autism.

Check out what reputable research organizations have to say

I recommend that autism parents begin by reviewing the websites of two reputable autism research organizations: the Organization for Autism Research (OAR), and the Association for Science in Autism Treatment (ASAT). Both provide information about successful methods for working with children with autism. ASAT has extensive information about methods that have scientific validity and methods that are much-promoted, but do not have scientific validity in the treatment of autism.

The National Autism Center has produced a guide for parents entitled: A Parent’s Guide to Evidence-Based Practice and Autism.

Learning to swim with TAGteach

October 31, 2013February 15, 2016 Joan Orr

Here is an example of TAGteach at work. This child is diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. His verbal skills are good so we can tell him what the tag point is (that is what exactly he needs to do to get a tag (click sound) and a candy. A non-verbal child would learn just as fast once he understood the game.

This child is easily distracted and does not like to be asked or told do something. But he loves games!

Note that there is no talking other than to tell him the tag point. He chooses to do it or not to do it. There is no begging, cajoling, coaxing or other coercive action on the part of the coach.

This was the one and only time that we needed to tag him to go into the pool. By the end of the session he was going in and paddling around on his own. This short session of TAGteach had created a positive association with swimming and built confidence so that the activity became self-reinforcing. It took about 10 minutes and 1 small package of Skittles.

TAGteach is great for teaching kids with autism, but it started with elite level gymnastics coaching, and sport coaches for people of all ages and abilities can benefit.