TAGteacher Spotlight - Sara McLoudrey

Congratulations to TAGteacher Sara McLoudrey for becoming our most recent Certified Level 2 TAGteacher! Thanks to Sara for sharing the story of her journey with TAGteach.

I was first introduced to TAGteach in 2008 at Clicker Expo.  That summer I was lucky enough to attend my first TAGteach seminar in Chicago.  After the first day my life was changed!  That night I went home to my then almost 3 year old who was not wanting to go to bed.  First step was getting him upstairs.  I started tagging any movement towards the stairs.  Then he got tagged for every stair he went up.  By the time he was tucked in it was the most uneventful bedtime routine for months.  I was sold!  

Over the next few months I worked with my son, a few client’s children, and my dog training students.  One of my favorite training sessions was teaching a client’s 6 year old how to skip.  Literally in one tag she was skipping, she was shocked, her mom was shocked and was so excited - it worked!  That fall my father passed away and I really wanted to read something at his memorial service.  I remember calling Theresa and saying I had an idea to TAGteach it with back-chaining.  She was very supportive and asked if I would videotape it.  I did, and most importantly I was able to read the piece at the service.  I used my tagulator during the reading to help keep me on track.  While attending my second TAGteach seminar in Boston in October of 2008 I decided to use TAG to tackle my biggest problem facing me and my son - going to the dentist.  

We started by tagging very simple things at home like opening your mouth and playing with the Playdough dentist.  The first visit to the actual office it took him over 15 minutes to get into the front door of the waiting room.  He would panic and bolt or stop moving out of fear.  We eventually did 10 visits, over 6 months - 9 by himself and 1 to watch Dad go to the dentist - before he was willing to try actually seeing the dentist.  The first visit with the dentist he sat on my lap and the dentist only wanted to count his teeth.  It was a success!  For the next 6 months we continued to work on skills at home but we did not visit the office.  Time came for his next check up he had an actual complete visit.  He sat in the chair by himself, had his teeth polished, flossed, counted and fluoride treated.  You could see his stress at times but he was able to do it all - independently!  I was not sure if this day would ever come.  One year after we started, with only 11 visits we had a child who was not terrified by the dentist.  Hopefully I have laid the foundation for a lifetime of healthy dental habits.  

More dentist videos on YouTube

In addition to using TAGteach with my son I use it to teach competition obedience handler skills in my dog training classes.  With one client we were able to change 25 years of footwork to new footwork more suitable to her current dog.  Recently I have started a Self Tagging Blog to share a few Self Tagging Projects.  I can’t imagine my life without TAGteach!  It makes my teaching easier, it makes being a mom easier and I feel I can tackle almost any problem!  I am honored to be called a TAGteacher.    


Visit Sara's Facebook Page
Visit Sara's blog
Visit Sara's website

Tweet

TAGteach Research

Interested in TAGteach research?
Check out this link is to the power point presentation of Megan Morien's master's thesis study:
The Effects of TAGteach™ Methods on Sign Language Object-Naming Skills in Non-vocal Children with Autism by Megan Morien presented at ABAI 2010

http://www.scribd.com/doc/33974647/Morien-ABAI-2010s

Tweet

"You Don't Act Like a Jerk When You Have Business Cards"

Great article:
Reprinted with permission from the Latham Letter
"You Don't Act Like a Jerk When You Have Business Cards"
Lynn Loar, Ph.D., LCSW with
Geoffrey Pott, Sebastian Pott and Noah Carlton
Full version available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/33977977/LLSmr2010LLoar

“You don’t act like a jerk when you have business cards” explained eight-year-old

 Geoffrey Pott when I asked about his newfound maturity and impulse control. The business cards were one in a series of reinforcers he – and by now members of his staff – had received for stellar behavior in my ice skating class at the Winter Lodge in Palo Alto, California.

The Family Ice Skating Program, featured in the short documentary TAGs on Ice,** offers ice skating instruction for children with special needs and their families. It’s one of the few programs that entire families can enjoy regardless of the disparate abilities of their several children. A peek at the class through the Winter Lodge’s picture window yields the impression of a laboratory testing prototypes for the next generation of Energizer Bunnies, lots of little boys zooming around with no interest in learning to stop – and a few zooming dads, too!

Tweet

TAGteach Reinforcers for Toddlers and Preschoolers

We are sometimes asked if TAGteach works with toddlers and preschoolers. Well of course it does! Sometimes very young children just like the sound of the tag and that fact that their actions can make it happen. It is a fun game that gives them control. Sometimes something more tangible is required. Here is a list of some possible reinforcers for toddlers and preschoolers:

• Stickers - to put on a chart, on their hand, on their clothes
• Bubbles (child blows, or you blow and child breaks)
• Using Crayola stamping markers - on their hands, feet or on a chart
• A piece of a puzzle to build later when all the pieces are collected
• Opening a drawer or window of a special prize chest - as with advent calendar - to see a new picture or get a small prize
• Giving the dog/cat/bird/fish a treat
• Pushing buttons - cell phone, remote control etc
• Putting drops of food colour in a clear glass of water to watch the swirls
• Planting seeds in little pots
• Clicking a clicker
• Adding a Duplo (or Lego) block to a tower
• Knocking down any kind of tower
• Adding something to a driveway chalk picture
• "Painting" with water on the deck or patio
• Making noise with any kind of noisemaker

Tweet

TAGTeacher Tale: Fun with Studying for a Test

By Jane Jackson

I just had to share a little feedback from some tagging experience today. I tried out my pony part  memorization exercise with a group of 4-6 kids, aged 10-12. One sat with a book with the drawing of a pony (parts labeled) and the tagger. The other four sat across from her and a large chalk drawing of a pony on the barn floor. One of the four would take a turn by looking at chalk drawing and thinking of the name of a part they thought they could find- the various kids had different backgrounds of learning and knew different parts. When she thought of a part, she would tell the tagger girl. That girl would then find the part on the chart in front of her and say '"ok", then the learner would touch the part on the chalk drawing and get tagged if it matched the drawing in the book. After two rounds, the book and tagger got passed to another girl and the previous tagger joined the others. After several rounds of this, we pulled a real pony out of a stall to do it all again.

My feedback quote of the day? This book was "required reading" and all the kids have them. When one of the girls was doing the tagging, she looked down at the book and said "this is really neat- I've never really looked at this before. I should study it". It felt like a victory to me because even though she is one of the ones being tested tomorrow, and knows she should know the parts, she hadn't looked at the chart - until she got to play this game. And that game with the tagger made the chart fun and interesting. The learning was occurring in the girl doing the tagging, not necessarily the others. They were picking parts they already knew....the girl doing the tagging had to find the part on the drawing (visual reference #1), then watch the other girl touch it on the floor chalking (visual reference #2) and then TAG....auditory marker.

I had to pull them away from this to get lunch (yes, pull them away from studying to eat!).


Link to Jane's blog

Link to Bookends Farm

Tweet

TAGteach Presentations at ABAI

Every year TAGteach presents a session at the Association of Behavior Analysis state and international meetings. This gives us a chance to show our research results to the scientific community and to generate interest from others who want to apply TAGteach in their area of endeavor.  Each year excellent presenters join us to show the world what they have been doing with TAGteach. Below are slideshows of two of the presentations from 2010 ABAI. The third was discussed in a previous blog post.

The Combined Effect of TAGteach and Precision Teaching on Learning for Children with Autism - by Kevin Cauley and Elizabeth Benedetto-Nasho, Step By Step Learning Group Inc

Tagteach and Precision Teaching 2010

Creating and Following Directions In Hazardous Situations - TAGteach on the Bering Sea - by Theresa McKeon, TAGteach International.

TAGteach_ ABASymp_2010a

You can see a video that accompanied this presentation by clicking here. This video shows clips from a TAGteach consulting workshop where workers applied the TAGteach approach to solve some problems with training on work-related tasks.

Tweet

TAGteach™ International - Classroom to Boardroom: Create, Capture and Capitalize on Success

TAGteach™ International
Classroom to Boardroom: Create, Capture, and Capitalize on Success

“It has really changed not only how I view teaching, but how I view all human interactions.”
Susan Bearden, Brevard Symphony Orchestra

Frustration free learning
Designed to highlight success
Put into practice immediately and economically
Can be used with any age, population or application

What is TAG?
The acronym TAG stands for Teaching with Acoustical Guidance, as an acoustic or sound marker is often used (but not mandatory). 

How does TAGteach work?
The program provides a platform upon which anyone can create achievable goals with clear beginnings and well-defined endings. During the actual period of skill acquisition, language is reduced, feedback is immediate, and success is reinforced. In addition, we have developed specific vocabulary that supports the breakdown of skills into single, achievable goals. We call these very specific goals, TAG points. As a tag point is accomplished, it is highlighted with a distinctive, audible marker that has no other meaning in everyday life. It is an unbiased sound that says “goal achieved. The marker also adds an element of fun, encouraging repetition of success.

Where is TAGteach being used?
If you judge a tool by how versatile it is, consider this - TAGteach has been established around the world from Japan to Iceland in an astounding variety of applications including the classroom, sports, industrial safety, occupational therapy, business management and even non-verbal children with Autism. Once learned, TAGteach can be applied to any profession as our wide range of clients suggests.

Why is TAGteach so motivating?
Because a core component of TAGteach is to capture success, leaders become proficient at looking for what is right and building on that, instead of focusing on what is wrong. Building on success is a skill that generalizes into a lifestyle.

Learn about TAGteach at a 2-Day Workshop and Certification Seminar
www.tagteach.com/events 
Learn to capitalize on your learners’ innate desire to succeed
Reengineer tasks to encourage successful and safe performance
Use specific language that virtually ensures focus
Learn how to turn NAG points into TAG points
Learn what really motivates your learners
Practice the skills needed to effectively use an audible marker
Learn to set up and deliver immediate and positive reinforcement

For more information and to schedule a seminar or consultation contact:
Theresa McKeon t@tagteach.com  704-995-9237
To find a current seminar schedule www.tagteach.com 
For updated stories and press visit www.tagteach.blogspot.com 
For case studies and TAGteach projects visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TAGteach/files/ 
TAGteach Yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TAGteach/
Facebook – TAGteach International

Tweet