TAGteaching: Yes I Do Train My Son

by Adria Karlsson, BCBA, CPDT-KA

Today I’m going to deviate from my typical “dog training” topic into the realm of “child training” or “teaching” as it is typically referred to!  In my previous life (really, up until December) I taught children with dyslexia how to read and write using the Orton-Gillingham method.  As I moved through my Masters program in Applied Behavior Analysis I came to realize that the reason that method is so successful is that it really is based on sound behavioral methodology.  During that time I also learned about TAGteach essentially, using applied behavior analysis in the form of clicker training to teach people. Now I also have my own children and am constantly considering the principles and methods of behaviorism when raising them. 

No Risks

My 2-year-old son, Oliver, is a very cautious toddler.  He explores new experiences but doesn’t like to take risks.  Recently I’ve been trying to get him to use the “roller board” on the back of the stroller so that he can mostly walk, but hop on and take a ride if he gets tired.  He wasn’t having any of it. So, today, after a whole weekend of thinking like a trainer, I decided that it made the most sense to “shape” the behavior of riding on the roller board.  

Shaping

Shaping is a way of teaching where you reinforce closer and closer approximations to the sought-after behavior.
In this case, the terminal behavior was stepping onto the roller board, holding onto the stroller, and staying on for a reasonable duration of time. (Reasonable is a bit undefined, but it changes depending on where we are going.) I used freeze-dried blueberries as the reinforcer as they are currently a hot favorite in our house. I didn’t use a clicker in this instance, but he received a verbal marker (good job! or other variations) and a blueberry while still in position immediately after performing to criteria. 

Criteria for Reinforcement

This is what I reinforced:

1. Putting one foot on the stationary board. (His dad modeled this twice and was given a blueberry each time, that was the last piece that was modeled.)
2. Putting two feet on the stationary board.
3. Holding onto the stroller with two feet on the stationary board for 5 seconds.
4. Holding onto the stroller with two feet on the board while moving for 5 seconds.
5. Holding onto the stroller with two feet on the board while moving for 10 seconds.
6. Holding onto the stroller with two feet on the board while moving for 15 seconds.
7. Holding onto the stroller with two feet on the board while moving for one entire city block.

Success!

And it worked!  With no more than 1 or maybe 2 blueberries at each stage and with never having to “put” Oliver on the board (he kept asking to get back up when he finished his blueberries), we successfully shaped the behavior.  We finished steps 1-7 by the time we got to Starbucks (10 minutes away), and he rode all the way home on the board afterwards. In the interest of full disclosure, he did get a lollipop from the barber that he sucked on all the way home, which may have also helped keep him there. But, isn’t shaping fabulous?

Reinforce Kids with Food Treats? Really?

Many people are uncomfortable with reinforcing their children with food, but really- what were my alternatives here? As I see it, I could have done these:

• Held him on the board until he “got used to it”
• Waited six months until he understood the “rule” about standing on the board.
• Given up.

Wasn’t shaping it using a handful of dried fruit a better option? My relationship with my son is healthy and happy; Oliver played a fun game and got to eat something he loves (and is even healthy!); and rather than six months of pushing around an extra stroller seat, we now have a functional option to walking.  Hurray!

Behavior Analysis = Happy Relationships

So no, this is not a parenting blog or a teaching blog- but it is a blog about behavior and that extends well beyond dogs.  It impacts every relationship in our lives and everything we want to teach to any organism- be it child, dog, or goldfish.  As such, I just wanted to share how I use applied behavior analysis in my day-to-day life to make it easier, less confrontational, and more positive.

Adria is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and owner of Click'n'Treat Dog Training LLC
adria@clickntreattraining.com


Do you ever wonder what your older kids REALLY want as reinforcers? To find this out, TAGteacher Lynn Loar asked them (huh!). Click here to read what the kids told Lynn

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Do I Have to Give a Treat After Every Tag?

The short answer is no. You don't have to give an actual treat after each tag. However, the tag must be a conditioned reinforcer in order to work effectively. The tag sound (or touch, light, or other predetermined stimuli)  itself is initially meaningless. It begins to have reinforcing power only after it becomes associated with something that is already reinforcing to the learner.

With very young learners, reluctant learners or learners with cognitive delays, it may be initially necessary to follow the tag with a tangible reinforcer (a piece of popcorn, a sip of soda  a sticker or a bead etc.). With adult learners and teens or children who are motivated to learn because they wish to improve or to succeed at a chosen activity, it is not necessary to give a tangible reinforcer. The tag itself becomes conditioned as a reinforcer because it is associated with that most powerful motivator, success! The tag means success and it tells the learner "yes, that was right!".

TAGteaching is much more fluent and efficient once the tag becomes a conditioned reinforcer. Here is a video that illustrates the importance of the conditioned reinforcer in circumstances where a food treat may not work for the teacher or the student for any substantial length of time and is indeed distracting to the learning process. The tangible reinforcer as suggested by the learner in the video is a glazed donut.

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How to Introduce the Tagulator

Here is a video that shows how to introduce the tagulator to increase teaching efficiency. This child has up until now received a reinforcer after each tag. Sometimes it has been stickers, beads or melon pieces, but he is most interested in Skittles. It is often disruptive to the smooth flow of a lesson to stop and eat a Skittle after each tag. The tagulator provides a great way to reinforce without stopping to deal with the primary reinforcer. Lear is 4 and this is his introduction to the tagulator. Notice that he has no problem with the drastic reduction in the number of Skittles he is getting. Formerly he was getting 1 Skittle per tag, now he is getting 1 Skittle per 10 tags. Clearly it is more about the game than about the candy for Lear now.

He sometimes wants to stop and count remaining beads to see how far he still has to go to get a Skittle, but he does not object to the the 10X reduction in Skittles. The tagulator is fun too.

Note how matter-of-fact the teacher is here. She doesn't cajole or ask him if he wants to use the tagulator, she just tells him that this is what we are doing now and then she does it. She has a good history of reliability with Lear and he likes and trusts her. He also respects her because she sets the expectations, she is clear and she is consistent. Lear is tag savvy and is very clear on the concept of TAGteach.



If you want to know more about tagulators and see a video showing how to make one, please see our previous blog post. You can also buy them in the TAGteach store.

Note: the teacher in this video is Joan's daughter Anne Wormald who has been tagging and been tagged since 2002 and is our newest Level 1 certified TAGteacher. This video is part of her Level 1 project.

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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

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Introducing TAGteach to Fishermen Part 6

An ongoing account of TAGteach introductions, triumphs and tribulations!
Chapter 5 of
TAGteach, Parrots and the Men from the Bering Sea!

Tagging the Table

By the afternoon, I thought the class was really starting to understand the TAGteach concepts and the benefits of delivering clear information and positive reinforcement.
Later that evening, I was sure of it.

While half sitting, half leaning on those cozy casino stools provided for those of us who station ourselves at nickel slot machines, I heard a louder than normal ruckus coming from the nearby roulette table.

Intrigued enough to leave my chance at nickel fortune; I found the guys from the Seafisher gathered tightly around the roulette wheel and table. Phil, yelled out, “Theresa, watch this!”
He showed me the tagger and started chanting to the roulette dealer…
“Click it, tip it…click it, tip it…click it, tip it”
The dealer just looked up a me with a big Cheshire grin.

They had been telling the dealer about TAGteach during the night’s gaming and jokingly told the dealer that every time they won, he would hear a tag (click) and that would mean a tip was coming for him. The dealer played along and soon everyone was clicking and tipping and laughing about the whole thing.

All of the laughter brought a bit of attention from the other casino customers and also produced a few security guards. Nothing illegal or suspect, just seventeen large burly fishermen chanting and making clicking noises at the roulette table…

The guys and the dealer explained to the security guards that all was quite well; they were just practicing positive reinforcement that they had learned about in a training seminar.

Although positive reinforcement can’t make a little ball fall into the desired slot of a roulette wheel, the dealer was rewarded when it did. Interesting concept…can one reinforce fate?

I told you these guys were brilliant!

Theresa

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