ABA-International Conference 2009 blog: "Recent Findings on the Use of TAGteach in Children with Autism"

This symposium at the ABA International annual conference describes applications of TAGteach to teach children with autism to follow receptive instructions, the social behaviors of eye contact and maintaining proximity to peers, and also describes the use of the TAG as a secondary reinforcer. Limitations in the studies are also described.

As described at the TAGteach International website, "TAG is an acronym for Teaching with Acoustical Guidance". In this case, the acoustical guidance is a clicker or other sound-making item that is used to mark a positively reinforced behavioral pinpoint, aka TAG point. The TAG points may vary from teacher to teacher and from student to student depending on the teaching style and the needs of the student. A TAG (the click sound) means “yes.”, absence of a TAG means “try again, Students receive a TAG at the exact moment when the TAG point is correctly performed. Rather than free-shaping the TAG points, the student is primed by the instructor labelling the TAG point ("The TAG point is,...") and sometimes having the student practice giving a TAG when the correct TAG point is performed by the instructor or a peer. Behavior analysts may recognize the procedure as behavioral shaping using a primed response (Kazdin, 2008).

The reported experience and results of studies by TAGteachers is that through use of shaping, positive reinforcement and addition of the acoustical guidance, rather than corrective feedback and error correction, that students are able to achieve rapid acquisition of skills that have not successfully achieved through other instruction methods, e.g., discrete trial training or more naturalistic interventions using corrective feedback.

The history of TAG teach was a progression from the original use of clicker training to train cetaceans without need for physical guidance (Pryor & Norris, 1998), expanded to other domesticated animals, and then applications to humans--for simple and complex multistep skills. Guides for principles of use of the clicker and clicker training can be found in books authored by Karen Pryor, and training in TAGteach procedures is available through TAGteach International.
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#381 Symposium
5/25/2009
10:30 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.
North 124 B
AUT/EDC; Applied Behavior Analysis
BACB CE Offered. CE Instructor: Lauren C. Wasano, M.A., BCBA
Recent Findings on the Use of TAGteach in Children with Autism
Chair: Theresa Mckeon (TAGteach International)
Discussant: Julie S. Vargas (B. F. Skinner Foundation)

New addition 5/7/09
Using TAG Teach Methods to Develop Eye Contact Behavior in Children with Autism.
REGINA L. MAENDLER (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology), John W Eshleman (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology), Traci M. Cihon (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology)

Abstract:

Many children diagnosed with autism demonstrate limited eye contact behavior with others. Eye contact can be an important prerequisite for the development of other behavioral repertoires including mands, imitation, and social interaction. Because the eye contact movement cycle can be quite brief, it is not always possible to provide immediate reinforcement and often one may inadvertently reinforce another behavior (e.g. looking away). The purpose of this study was to increase eye contact behavior in children diagnosed with autism using two reinforcement methods; contingent positive reinforcement and Teaching by Acoustical Guidance (TAG). During the first treatment condition, descriptive praise statements as well as access to preferred items and activities were made contingent upon occurrences of eye contact behavior. During the second treatment condition, occurrences of eye contact behavior were immediately tagged with an acoustical marker and directly followed by access to a backup reinforcer in the form of descriptive praise statements as well as access to preferred items and activities. Treatment conditions were presented during randomly alternating sessions through a multielement design. Differences in responding between conditions were attributed to the effectiveness of each treatment variable as an intervention for developing eye contact behavior among children with autism.

The use of TAG to Improve the Acquisition of Instruction Following in Young Children with Autism.
MARIDITH R. GUTIERREZ (Applied Behavior Consultants, Inc)

Abstract:

The use of TAG (Teaching with Acoustical Guidance) was examined in the acquisition of Receptive Instructions in children with autism. Receptive skills can be difficult for children with autism to acquire and the discrimination of different instructions is often an observed deficit. Four students at a non-public school for children with autism participated in the study. The students had not acquired the skill of following instructions in a structured teaching environment using standard discrete trial teaching nor through incidental teaching (e.g., within routine contexts). A multiple baseline across subjects design was used to examine whether the insertion of TAG, used to reinforce the target response prior to receipt of the highly preferred item, led to an increase in the acquisition of the skill. Students were exposed to a Receptive Instructions lesson with standard discrete trial teaching (i.e., SD-R-SR) during baseline. The use of TAG was implemented with each student in a staggered fashion and inserted immediately after a correct response.

Evaluating the Maintaining Effects of TAGteach on the Social Skills of an Individual with Autism.
LAUREN WASANO (STE Consultants)

Abstract:

There have been many noted interventions utilized in teaching social skills to children with Autism. TAGteach or Teaching with Acoustical Guidance incorporates the use of a tagger (audible marker) while pairing it with positive reinforcement and shaping in order to quickly teach a vast repertoire of skills to individuals in a variety of populations. The current study focused on analyzing the maintaining effects of TAGteach on the social skills (e.g., eye contact during manding and close proximity to peers) of a 7-year-old male diagnosed with Autism. Previously, eye contact while manding and close proximity to peers had been targeted and increased utilizing TAGteach compared to a more commonly used method. Maintenance data showed that the target behaviors did not maintain; however, required considerably less time to reacquire the skills utilizing TAGteach.

An Auditory Marker as a Secondary Reinforcer in the Shaping of Specific Behaviors in Children with Autism.
JEFF E. OOSTYEN (Focus Psychological Services)

Abstract:

This study examined the training of two behaviors (maintaining proximity and eye contact) in six children with Autism. An auditory marker, or TAG (Teaching with Acoustical Guidance) was employed as a secondary reinforcer for shaping the desired behaviors. The intervention followed the tenet of Applied Behavior Analysis and learning theory. The study was directed by personnel with TAGteach certification A multiple single case design with a multiple baseline across behaviors design was utilized to implement the intervention, as well as increase the ease of collecting data. The interventions took place in a natural environmental setting where each child’s behaviors were ecologically balanced. The data supported the efficacy of the intervention, but only in the context of training a child with Autism. Following full implementation, the rate of reinforcement was methodically reduced. The data indicated that the behaviors could be maintained at a level well above baseline. The implications of these results are discussed.

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References and for further reading