"Behavior is a difficult subject matter, not because it is inaccessible, but
because it is extremely complex. Since it is a process, rather than a thing,
it cannot be held still for observation. It is changing, fluid, evanescent,
and for this reason it makes great technical demands upon the ingenuity and
energy of the scientist." ~ B. F. Skinner

Good Things to Say to You Kids

1. I’m proud of you.
2. You really worked hard. (Be specific)
3. We all make mistakes.
4. That’s all right.
5. Thanks for helping.
6. I think you can be trusted to handle this!
7. Super work!
8. You’re right.
9. I love you.
10. Great try.
11. How thoughtful.
12. You figured that out.
13. I have faith in you.
14. You brighten my day!
15. I just like hanging out with you.
16. Outstanding!
17. Thanks for being honest.

If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome. -Michael Jordan

"Each new day gives me another opportunity to grow stronger as a person, to meditate on the things I'm learning, and to use all that knowledge to benefit me." ~ Aree Flack-Mccrimmon

"To be a teacher does not mean simply to affirm that such a thing is so, or to deliver a lecture, etc. No, to be a teacher in the right sense is to be a learner. Instruction begins when you, the teacher, learn from the learner, put yourself in his place so that you may understand what he understands and the way he understands it." -- Kierkegaard

“Smile, breathe, and go slowly.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default."
-- JK Rowling

"We actually have two opportunities to change behavior. You can manipulate the consequence so that behavior either increases or decreases, but you also have an opportunity to change behavior before it even happens. If we change or prevent the antecedent, we might be able to change the behavior. " - Crystal Thompson

"The training danger is adhering to the path instead of the goal; the danger is giving up on a dog who's quite capable, only needs a different approach. Eclecticism and humility are worth more than political correctness and moral purity." -- Geoff Stern

‎"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again this time more intelligently." - Henry Ford

A dog training question (the handler has the problem.)

"A search and rescue handler and dog team that has been performing fairly well in training, even with some blind (they don't know where the subject/article is) problems is ready to do a formal evaluation. They feel ready, but they have test anxiety anyhow. Unfortunately now, so does their dog. The dog will literally start barfing because of stress (handler is working hard to control their own stress, but having a barfing dog doesn't help). No leashes are used, but we all know the leash doesn't matter that much anyhow as the invisible ones are just as taut as the actual leashes :). The test must be called off because the dog just shuts down. The handler does not use aversive training methods either. It seems to simply be test anxiety. I know the handler works hard to stay calm during an eval and even seems to be ok, but how do we make them calmer so the dog feels it too?"

My answer:

Can you teach Self- TAGging to the handler for relaxation?

Can the handler do a couple of mock tests running someone else's already certified dog?

In another life, I spent 20 years as a Junior Olympic boxing coach, judge and referee. "Choking" was a common problem with my young athletes so we put in a lot of time working on mental toughness.

Mental toughness, by definition, toughness is "to be strong and resilient; able to withstand great strain without tearing or breaking. It is "between the ears" toughness. Mental toughness is skill.

Try the book "That Winning Feeling" by Jane Savoie which has helped lots of people who compete with their dogs. And even better book is "The New Toughness Training for Sports" by James E. Loehr.

Can you get the handler to learn to meditate? Various forms of meditation have been used for thousands of years for almost any purpose you can fathom, including reduction of stress, enhanced mental clarity, and simple relaxation.

Can you get the handler to learn to visualize?

Can you get the handler to over prepare? There should be nothing new on test day.

Can training days be varied, different, more stressful? Just as progression is an important part of training, applying any challenging stimulus to the handler's life will give the handler a greater ability to handle stress of all kinds. It would go a long way towards teaching the handler problem-solving skills and critical thinking, both of which can help the handler tough out any number of situations.

Can the handler teach the dog some stress relieving tricks to do as they warm up for the search?

Can you put a calming word into the dog and handler's training vocabulary? Get the handler to use it frequently at home when everything is relaxed and safe. The use it out and about, during trainings, until the dog realizes that it is the cue that everything is fine. (I sing happy birthday to my reactive GSD, Blue.) This can be a great tool when the handler is pushed to work a stressful area, as the dog can be reassured. (And I personally find it hard to be stressed while signing something as silly as happy birthday.)

Can the handler learn doggy calming signals and mimic them for the dog?

Can you find a way to turn the stress signals that the handler throws in to a cue for calm for the dog?

"Think about these two basic laws of learning: 1) all animals (including humans) learn by the immediate — not delayed — consequences of their behavior, and 2) behaviors that meet with rewarding consequences will happen more often." -- Unknown

"It's not the Will to Win that helps you succeed, it's the Will to TRAIN to Win that makes the difference.

"Anyone can want it, but only a few will truly take the time to TRAIN to
achieve it!" - Troy Bassham

"We need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins." - Jim Stovall

Tagteach study group questions

I posted on a local home school list that I'd like to start a Tagteach study group. I received several positive emails from people wanting to learn more about the methods, a few hostile ones wanting to know why I'd use "dog training" on children and a couple of questions.

I am not looking for more "research" subjects to tag. I am looking for adults interested in learning to use positive reinforcement to teach their children. I am looking for people interested in learning to do task analysis and teach their children to do things step by step without nagging.

The tagger or clicker, positive reinforcement, shaping, and rehearsal are all components of both TAGteach for human and Clicker Training for non humans. TAGteach also uses TAG phraseology, personalized tagpoints, debriefing, instructions, feedback, modeling, and focus points. Both methods use positive reinforcement, shaping, and rehearsal.

Here are some studies to read if you are interested:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33974647/Morien-ABAI-2010s
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33977977/LLSmr2010LLoar
http://tagteach.blogspot.com

Here is a playlist of You Tube Videos
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=AEA42891825AD74F

Here is some research for using the methods with autistic children:
http://www.tagteach.com/autism/

TAGteach is a focused, positive method that yields immediate results that are clearly evident to the teacher and the learner. TAG stands for "Teaching with Acoustical Guidance." The method relies on a distinctive sound made to mark or "TAG" a moment in time. This sound becomes an acoustical binary message, a sort of "snapshot" that is quickly processed by the brain. Regardless of age or application, the TAG trained student learns when they are correct while building muscle memory and confidence.

A tag point is a response, action, or position that when accomplished wins a reward. The reward for performing a tag point correctly is an audible signal, often made by a handheld clicker. The click, or tag, marks the exact moment the tag point is executed correctly and gives immediate and clear feedback to the student or athlete. TAGteach works on the principle of identifying correct behavior and making it stronger while ignoring mistakes and allowing them to disappear.

The tag becomes a positive reinforcer through pairing with tangible rewards (a sticker for example) or as a result of good feelings of success. Younger students trade their tags for other prizes. Older students and higher level athletes often do not require a tangible primary reinforcer, since they are reinforced just by receiving the immediate and clear feedback from the tag.

Clarity and simplicity are key aspects of TAGteach. A tag point is defined so that the teacher can easily judge whether the tag point is achieved and can mark it with a tag. For example, a teacher might say to a student who is being taught to draw the letter O, “The tag point is placing your pencil tip at the place where the top of the letter will be.”

Once this has been done correctly several times the teacher can move on; “The tag point is movement of the pencil tip to the left to start the letter.” If there is any difficulty and the student does not succeed after three tries, the teacher will break the skill down into smaller parts and go back to a previous point of success.

With some students it may be necessary to place a dot at the place where the letter should start, or to trace letters or to use other prompts to help the student succeed at first. These prompts can be gradually faded out as the student improves.

There is no scolding or negativity associated with TAGteach. If the student hears the tag he knows that the tag point was achieved. If he doesn’t hear the tag he knows to try again. There is no “better, but…” in TAGteach. If the tag point is “point your toes during the handstand” and the student points her toes, but her legs were apart, the student receives the tag and the teacher does not say “That was better, but next time try to keep your legs together.”

Instead, the teacher awards the tag for pointed toes and after a few repetitions says to the student, “Now the tag point is legs together at the top of the handstand.” The student may forget to point her toes while thinking about keeping her legs straight. In this case the pointed toes tag point can be revisited a few times and eventually the student will achieve a toe point with straight legs without ever being told that something was wrong. The student learns to self-assess and think for herself without relying on corrections from the teacher.

THINK GOOD THOUGHTS
Words become actions.
Actions become habits.
Habits become character.
Character becomes destiny.

"Before their minds have been marinated in the culture of television,
consumerism, shopping malls, computers and freeways, children can find magic
in trees, water, animals, landscapes, and their own places." ~ David W. Orr

A Girl and Her Dog

They are best friends.

Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination. - Fitzhugh Dodson

Victoria Fogel JBHM Golf Study

Victoria Fogel has had the first peer reviewed and published research piece about TAGteach.

You can find the whole article at the following link;

http://www.scribd.com/doc/34776342/VFogel-JBHM-Golf-Study

Victoria has done ground breaking work with TAGteach and people with autism, families in the foster care system, smoking cessation and exercise. Victoria continues to do valuable, interesting research in the field of health and fitness.


Journal of Behavioral Health and Medicine 2010, 1, 25-41 Number 1 (Spring 2010)
EVALUATING THE EFFICACY OF TAGTEACH AS A TRAINING STRATEGY FOR TEACHING A GOLF SWING
Victoria A. Fogel, Timothy M. Weil, and Heather Burris, University of South Florida

Vacation

The kid is away on vacation this week, so I will miss out on tagging her. She returns in a week.

TAGteach Notes from various sources:

TAGteach is a completely positive approach which uses ABA principles of shaping and conditioned reinforcement.

TAG
T = teaching with
A = acoustic
G = guidance


Unique phrasing (i.e., the tag point is... (5 words or less)

Acoustic marker: Marking the behavior

Supports the importance of immediacy of reinforcement

Precise feedback regarding achieving a predetermined response criterion (i.e., goal setting)

Removes ambiguity that is sometimes associated with praise (word choice and intonation)- is “way to go!” as good as, better than, or worse than “good job”?

Information is binary- simply means “yes”

Increased rate of tags can also serve as a reinforcer for the teacher

TAG points
Clarity of expectation for both student and teacher

Too many expectations can create “confusion” for both student and teacher

Answers the question- what am I reinforcing again?

Differentiated responding may not be very noticeable

Removing ceilings on performance and providing feedback

Teacher can provide feedback without interrupting student performance (i.e., supports but does not interfere with student performance)
Presence of tag = “Yes”
Absence of tag = Do something different

Allows multiple components to occur at once with only one behavior as the tag point

Tag point give a (clear expectation). There is no error correction procedure and no nagging, reprimands or punishment. If the student does not have success after 3 attempts, the TAG teacher adds a prompt or returns to the point of success.

The student can tag the teacher so that the teacher can see what / if the student is learning.

Effective teaching strategies = shaping, chaining, positive reinforcement, specific feedback (verbal, visual, audio), goal setting, public posting, self monitoring, chaining, task clarification, instructions, feedback, modeling, and rehearsal

The tagger which is an audible stimulus used to mark desirable behavior as it occurs.
The selection of the stimulus that follows the tagger depends on the individual’s history of reinforcement.

TAGteach uses TAG phraseology, personalized tagpoint, debrief, and the focus point.

Use new words to avoid any prior learning history so not to use a potential punisher

Tag points identify events that meet criteria, rather than identifying errors or failures

instruction for one aspect of the targeted behavior is given at a time, rather than several

Break behavior down into single units that can be easily identified when achieved (must be binary, yes or no).

Tagger- a hand-held device emitting a brief, distinct, uniform stimulus used to mark behavior as it occurs (generalized conditioned reinforcer).

Tagpoint- a single selected behavior that is acoustically marked with a tag as it is occurring.

TAGteach only tags one specific behavior at a time. Once the tagpoint is occurring consistently, the coach may move on to the next target behavior or successive approximation of the desired behavior (shaping).

Tag- the sound produced by the tagger which follows the occurrence of a tag- point. The student is taught that a tag is defined as “‘yes, that is correct,” and the absence of a tag is defined as “try again.” It is important to note that no vocal feed- back is provided when the targeted behavior does or does not occur.

BID (Break it Down) - dividing a behavior into segments that are easily achieved and reinforced. This is the process of defining and choosing the tagpoint (task analysis).


Three-try rule- a teaching procedure in which a learner is quickly redirected in the event they have not successfully produced a tagpoint within three tries. At this juncture, the teacher utilizes the BID method to outline a new tagpoint within the learner’s repertoire from which a new shaping plan can be developed.

Value-Added tagpoint- a single tagpoint that will produce more than one desired behavior within the same behavioral chain (behavioral cusp).

Debrief- a verbal interaction between the teacher and the learner in which the tag session is analyzed to determine the next tagpoint(s). For example, after a specific behavior has been tagged consistently, the teacher might ask the learner if he/she is ready to move on to the next tagpoint and/or what tagpoint the learner would like to work on next.

Focus point- an instruction provided in terms of what is desired, but in which no tag will be provided (i.e. “The focus point is _”).

Personalized tagpoint- Once a behavior is defined to the student, the student engages in the behavior and provides their own tact (label) for that behavior. The TAG theory is that when the personalized tact is used in the tagpoint, this will provide a higher likelihood that the desired behavior will occur in the future.

Point of success- a behavior that occurs in the student’s repertoire, to start with or re- turn to, in which the student is guaranteed a tag. For example, if the student does not exhibit the behavior within three trials, the coach is to break this behavior down into components to increase the probability of completing the skill and to start with a behavior that is already occurring consistently in the student’s repertoire.

Forward chaining- The system of building a series of tagpoints from the start point to the end point. Teaching starts with the first behavior (tagpoint) in a chain of be-haviors. Once the first tagpoint (behavior) is acquired, training begins on the second tagpoint. This process repeats itself until all tagpoints are acquired.

Task analysis is the analysis of how a task is accomplished, including a detailed description of both manual and mental activities, task and element durations, task frequency, task allocation, task complexity, environmental conditions, necessary clothing and equipment, and any other unique factors involved in or required for one or more people to perform a given task. Task analysis emerged from research in applied behavior analysis and still has considerable research in that area.

The TAG point is always a behavior, it is never a response you do not want to occur.

Ask for the behavior you want, not the behavior you don’t want.


Determine starting point of success

Lesson

Directions

TAG point

repetition of success

Measurable outcomes

Debrief

TAGteach™ has clear beginnings, clear endings, it breaks long term goals into achievable short term goals, allows for repetition of success and decreases stimuli to improve processing potential.

Log July 23, 2010

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07/23/10

Cello / lesson

The Kidlet is working on the proper way to hold her body while playing her cello.

The Kidlet 's cello teacher asked if I would continue to help the Kidlet to remember to hold her left elbow out away from her body. The Kidlet will be gone for a week on vacation and then have a week of strings camp when she gets back. There will not be any chance to work on elbows up with a real cello so I will look at ways to do shadow cello playing and mirror work.

Gardening

Log July 22, 2010

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07/22/10	20	Archery / Girl Scout Camp	I attended girl scout day camp with the Kidlet . She tried fishing and archery.	Tag point: Feet Tag point: Nock Arrow red feather up Tag point: Park Arrow Tag point: Girl Scout promise fingers Tag point: Hook it Tag point: Straight arm Tag point: Small draw Tag point: Eye High hand Tag point: Aim up Tag point: Pointer under chin Tag point: Head up Tag point: Lineup	The Kidlet and I went to a Girl Scout day camp today. One of the things that the Kidlet tried was archery. The young lady teaching archery showed the girls how to do it. The Kidlet was frustrated and asked me to remind her of the steps and tag her. There are seven basic steps for shooting including stance, nock, draw, anchor at full draw, holding and aiming, release, and follow through. I started with Archery stance. Stand straddling the shooting line with left hip facing the target. Feet shoulder width apart with equal weight on both feet. Keep legs straight. Tag point: Feet Because the same stance is needed for every shot, I dug some markers into the ground. (When we do it again, I'll put some tape on the ground.) While standing on the shooting line, take an arrow and put the nock on the string between the nocking points. The arrow should be placed so that two fletching are against the bow and one fletching point right out from the bow. The arrows the kids were using had one odd colored feather that was to be placed towards the body. Tag point: Nock Arrow red feather up Put the arrow on the rest. Tag point: Park Arrow Put three fingers to the string. The index finger above the arrow and the second and third finger should be under the arrow. The fingers are held like the Girl Scout promise fingers. Tag point: Girl Scout promise fingers Form a deep hook with the fingers, they should be bent in both first and second joint. Tag point: Hook it Place the string in the first joint. Don't pinch the nock with the fingers; this might cause the arrow to fall of from the rest. Place bow hand in the grip and let the knuckles form a line 45 degrees against the bow. Don't grip the bow with the hand; fingers should be open and relaxed. Keep bow hand wrist relaxed straight. Tag point: Straight arm Rotate the elbow joint so the inside of the arm becomes near vertical. Straighten bow arm and lift it. At the same time lift draw arm and pull the string from almost nothing to approximately 1/3 of the draw length. Tag point: Small draw Keep the draw hand in the same height as the bow hand, approximately in the level of the eye. Tag point: Eye High hand Aim a little above the target. Tag point: Aim up In one smooth motion, draw the string to the face and place the index finger under chin. Tag point: Pointer under chin Try to place the string against nose tip without bending neck or lending forward. Tag point: Head up The arrow and underarm forms a straight line against the target. Tag point: Lineup Repeat the anchor, exactly the same every shot. We worked on archery for 90 minutes rotating the girls on and off the line. By the end of the session, my kid was able to hit the target 20% of the time with both a recurve and a compound bow.
07/22/10	5	Cello	The Kidlet is working on the proper way to hold her body while playing her cello.	Tag Point: Left Elbow UP I marked the tags 20 times each with a loud box clicker so that she could hear it over her playing.	The Kidlet 's cello teacher asked if I would help the Kidlet to remember to hold her left elbow out away from her body. Elbows should flap like the wings of a bird, she said. We will work on that this week.

Log July 21, 2010

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Date	Minutes Spent Tagging	Activity	Notes	TAG Points	Comments/ Lessons learned
07/21/10	15	Tennis	The serve is coming a long nicely. I noticed that the kid teaching the lessons is now breaking the serve into smaller parts for kids.		see July 12 for more instructions and details. Today was the Kidlet 's last lesson for the summer. I'll need to get her out once a week or so to work on her serve. She'll have more lessons in the fall. One of the communities has free clinics on Saturdays. We will make as many as we can.
07/21/10		Karate / On the Road	We reviewed the 25 techniques.		I did not tag. The Kidlet preformed all 25 techniques from a set of shuffled the cards every place that we stopped today.
07/21/10	5	Cello	The Kidlet is working on the proper way to hold her body while playing her cello.	Tag Point: Left Elbow UP I marked the tags 20 times each with a loud box clicker so that she could hear it over her playing.	The Kidlet's cello teacher asked if I would help the Kidlet to remember to hold her left elbow out away from her body. Elbows should flap like the wings of a bird, she said. We will work on that this week.
07/21/10	10	Karate	We reviewed the 25 techniques.	Tag point: Victim Stance Tag point: Eyes to nose Tag point: Repeat Tag point: Check I marked her with a box clicker	The Kidlet preformed all 25 techniques from a set of shuffled the cards. I shuffled after each time through the cards. I TAGged a different point.
07/21/10		Karate / Results	We will resume learning techniques in two weeks after the Kidlet returns from vacation.		The Kidlet preformed all 25 techniques in class tonight, without error, and earned her Blue belt. She needs to know 53 before her next test which she can take in early November.

Log July 20, 2010

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Date	Minutes Spent Tagging	Activity	Notes	TAG Points	Comments/ Lessons learned
07/20/10	15	Tennis	The serve is coming a long nicely. I noticed that the kid teaching the lessons is now breaking the serve into smaller parts for kids.		see July 12 for more instructions and details.
07/20/10		Karate / On the Road	We reviewed the 25 techniques.		I did not tag. The Kidlet preformed all 25 techniques from a set of shuffled the cards every place that we stopped today.
07/20/10	5	Cello	The Kidlet is working on the proper way to hold her body while playing her cello.	Tag Point: Left Elbow UP I marked the tags 20 times each with a loud box clicker so that she could hear it over her playing.	The Kidlet's cello teacher asked if I would help the Kidlet to remember to hold her left elbow out away from her body. Elbows should flap like the wings of a bird, she said. We will work on that this week.
07/20/10	10	Karate	We reviewed the 25 techniques.	Tag point: Victim Stance Tag point: Eyes to nose Tag point: Repeat Tag point: Check I marked her with a box clicker.	The Kidlet preformed all 25 techniques from a set of shuffled the cards. I shuffled after each time through the cards. I TAGged a different point.

Log July 19, 2010

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Date	Minutes Spent Tagging	Activity	Notes	TAG Points	Comments/ Lessons learned
07/19/10	15	Tennis	The serve is coming a long nicely. I noticed that the kid teaching the lessons is now breaking the serve into smaller parts for kids.		see July 12 for more instructions and details.
07/19/10	5	Cello	The Kidlet is working on the proper way to hold her body while playing her cello.	Tag Point: Left Elbow UP I marked the tags 20 times each with a loud box clicker so that she could hear it over her playing.	The Kidlet's cello teacher asked if I would help the Kidlet to remember to hold her left elbow out away from her body. Elbows should flap like the wings of a bird, she said. We will work on that this week.
07/19/10	10	Karate	We reviewed the 25 techniques.	Tag point: Victim Stance Tag point: Eyes to nose Tag point: Repeat Tag point: Check I marked her with a box clicker saying the name of the technique before preforming each one.	The Kidlet preformed all 25 techniques from a set of shuffled the cards. I shuffled after each time through the cards. The first time I gave her the direction to stand up straight, look me in the eye and say the name of the technique after I say it. Then she was to preform the technique. I clicked her for standing up straight. They call this the victim stance in her class. Tag point: Victim Stance The second time we did the stack I gave her the direction to stand up straight, look me in the eye and say the name of the technique after I say it. I clicked her for looking at my nose as I said the name of the technique and she repeated it back to me. Tag point: Eyes to nose The third time we did the stack I gave her the direction to stand up straight, look me in the eye and say the name of the technique after I say it. Tag point: Repeat The fourth time I gave her the direction make sure that she checks with the non working hand. Tag point: Check The fifth time I did not TAG.

Hanging with her dog

Log July 18, 2010

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Date	Minutes Spent Tagging	Activity	Notes	TAG Points	Comments/ Lessons learned
07/18/10	5	Cello	The Kidlet is working on the proper way to hold her body while playing her cello.	Tag Point: Left Elbow UP I marked the tags 20 times each with a loud box clicker so that she could hear it over her playing.	The Kidlet's cello teacher asked if I would help the Kidlet to remember to hold her left elbow out away from her body. Elbows should flap like the wings of a bird, she said. We will work on that this week.
07/18/10	10	Karate	We reviewed the 25 techniques.	Tag point: Victim Stance Tag point: Eyes to nose Tag point: Repeat Tag point: Check I marked her with a box clicker saying the name of the technique before preforming each one.	The Kidlet preformed all 25 techniques from a set of shuffled the cards. I shuffled after each time through the cards. The first time I gave her the direction to stand up straight, look me in the eye and say the name of the technique after I say it. Then she was to preform the technique. I clicked her for standing up straight. They call this the victim stance in her class. Tag point: Victim Stance The second time we did the stack I gave her the direction to stand up straight, look me in the eye and say the name of the technique after I say it. I clicked her for looking at my nose as I said the name of the technique and she repeated it back to me. Tag point: Eyes to nose The third time we did the stack I gave her the direction to stand up straight, look me in the eye and say the name of the technique after I say it. Tag point: Repeat The fourth time I gave her the direction make sure that she checks with the non working hand. Tag point: Check The fifth time I did not TAG.
07/18/10		Karate / On the Road	We reviewed the 25 techniques.		I did not tag. The Kidlet preformed all 25 techniques from a set of shuffled the cards every place that we stopped today.

Log July 17, 2010

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Date	Minutes Spent Tagging	Activity	Notes	TAG Points	Comments/ Lessons learned
07/17/10	5	Cello	The Kidlet is working on the proper way to hold her body while playing her cello.	Tag Point: Left Elbow UP I marked the tags 20 times each with a loud box clicker so that she could hear it over her playing.	The Kidlet's cello teacher asked if I would help the Kidlet to remember to hold her left elbow out away from her body. Elbows should flap like the wings of a bird, she said. We will work on that this week.
07/17/10		Karate / On the Road	We reviewed the 25 techniques.		I did not tag. The Kidlet preformed all 25 techniques from a set of shuffled the cards every place that we stopped today.
07/17/10	10	Karate	We reviewed the 25 techniques.	Tag point: Victim Stance Tag point: Eyes to nose Tag point: Repeat Tag point: Check I marked her with a box clicker saying the name of the technique before preforming each one.	The Kidlet preformed all 25 techniques from a set of shuffled the cards. I shuffled after each time through the cards. The first time I gave her the direction to stand up straight, look me in the eye and say the name of the technique after I say it. Then she was to preform the technique. I clicked her for standing up straight. They call this the victim stance in her class. Tag point: Victim Stance The second time we did the stack I gave her the direction to stand up straight, look me in the eye and say the name of the technique after I say it. I clicked her for looking at my nose as I said the name of the technique and she repeated it back to me. Tag point: Eyes to nose The third time we did the stack I gave her the direction to stand up straight, look me in the eye and say the name of the technique after I say it. Tag point: Repeat The fourth time I gave her the direction make sure that she checks with the non working hand. Tag point: Check The fifth time I did not TAG.

Learning to ride a bike

Log July 16, 2010

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Date	Minutes Spent Tagging	Activity	Notes	TAG Points	Comments/ Lessons learned
07/16/10		Karate / On the Road	We reviewed the 25 techniques.		I did not tag. The Kidlet preformed all 25 techniques from a set of shuffled the cards every place that we stopped today –in the lot before tennis, in the lot after tennis, at the service dog school, in the waiting room at the music school be for her cello lesson, at the restaurant while waiting for lunch, at the playground, in the driveway before going into the house (five times).
07/16/10	5	Cello	The Kidlet is working on the proper way to bow her cello.	Tag Point: Over Bend Wrist Tag Point: Straight Elbow Tag Point: Arm Only I marked the tags 10 times each with a loud box clicker so that she could hear it over her playing.	The Kidlet got up early, on her own, to play her cello – before her cello lesson. She said that she had a song that she was almost done memorizing. I gave her a 5 token token jackpot for taking the initiative. She also asked that I tag her bowing (however she no longer needs it.)
07/16/10		Cello / lesson	The Kidlet is working on the proper way to hold her various body parts while she plays her cello.	Tag Point: Left Elbow UP	The Kidlet's cello teacher asked if I would help the Kidlet to remember to hold her left elbow out away from her body. Elbows should flap like the wings of a bird, she said. We will work on that this week.

Log July 15, 2010

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Date	Minutes Spent Tagging	Activity	Notes	TAG Points	Comments/ Lessons learned
07/15/10	5	Karate / Kicking Set	The Kidlet doesn't know Kicking Set which is the set for this session. She has had it before and earn a ribbon for it but doesn't remember it. She will be tested on it, along with her 25 self-defense techniques on 07/21/2010.	There are four steps to the kicks. The steps are to bring you knee up, extend your foot out, bring your foot back in and then put your foot down on the ground. Kicking tag points are: Tag Point: up Tag Point: out Tag Point: in Tag Point: down	First we reviewed all the kicks. They are front, side, roundhouse and back. Then, for each type, I tagged each part of the kick – up, out, back, down. The first five times she preformed it I tagged the up, the second group I tagged the out, then the back and lastly the down. Because she does not remember the order of the kicks for the set, I had her make a flash card for each side with the starting stance and the order of kicks. There are four for each side. We worked her memorizing each side, starting with side one. After she could say the name of the kicks in the correct order, I had her preform side one ten times.
07/15/10	5	Karate	We reviewed the 25 techniques.	Tag point: Check	We reviewed and did not add any new stuff. The only thing I tag was the Kidlet keeping her hands up. She preformed all 25 techniques then I shuffled the cards and she did then again. She did them for a total of 6 times.
07/15/10		Karate / On the Road	We reviewed the 25 techniques.		I did not tag. The Kidlet preformed all 25 techniques from a set of shuffled the cards every place that we stopped today – parking lot at the grocery store, in the lot before tennis, in the lot after tennis, at the service dog school, in the driveway before going into the house (three times).
07/15/10	5	Cello	The Kidlet is working on the proper way to bow her cello.	Tag Point: Over Bend Wrist Tag Point: Straight Elbow Tag Point: Arm Only I marked the tags 10 times each with a loud box clicker so that she could hear it over her playing.	When I came inside from walking the dog, the Kidlet had her cello out. I gave her a token for starting without being asked.
07/15/10	15	Tennis		We started with the toss. Tag point: Begin toss at shoulder Tag point: Extend fingers with toss. Tag point: Eyes and hand follows ball I chalked a box on the court for her to let her toss bounce into. After using her racket to gage the correct height, she did about ten or 12 tosses and just let the ball drop on the court in to the box. Tag point: Little Lean Tag point: Statute of Liberty. Tag point: Reach high Tag point: HIT Tag point: Point racket top to net Tag point: Out Tag point: Across Tag point: down	See July12 for instructions and details. I marked with a loud box clicker and the tennis coach came to watch us today.
07/15/10	10	Softball / lesson	The Kidlet had a lesson with her pitching coach who is amazed at how well Tayja is doing pitching. She wants to make the Kidlet her "poster child." She is now also interested in learning more about that "tag stuff." The kid loves it and we try to get in 10 to 15 minutes most days. I attend every lesson and break the information down into tag points. The Kidlet's first lesson with the coach was the week she turned 8 years old. (Her birthday is March 13.) On June 5 - less than 3 months after her first lesson, she pitched live to batters in a five game tournament. That was her second time pitching to batters. The Wednesday before I talked her coach into letting her pitch batting practice. Before the mid season tournament all games where played using a pitching machine and the coach saw little value to using team practice time to develop pitchers. So when we got to the tournament, the Kidlet pitched in all five games. Because she was the only kid on the team who could get the ball over the plate, she was both the starting pitcher and the closer. She threw strikes in the rain (without ever practicing in the rain), hit one batter, did not WALK a batter and struck out 11 batters. She had three innings - not in the same game - where she stuck out 3 in a row. She was named most valuable player of the tournament for her age group. (She also had several hits and great fielding plays during the tournament.) After the tournament all the girls on the team wanted to learn to pitch and the coach started to make a little practice time for pitching.	Tag point: Statute of Liberty. Tag point: Release at hip. Since I was also the catcher, I did the tagging with a verbal "NICE"	We had not had a lesson since June 30 when the pitching coach did a clinic that I organized for The Kidlet's team. And since the priority for July had been Karate, we did not practice pitching much in the last week. The Kidlet was rusty and grumpy about it.

Log July 14, 2010

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Date	Minutes Spent Tagging	Activity	Notes	TAG Points	Comments/ Lessons learned
07/14/10	10	Karate	We reviewed the 25 techniques.	Tag point: Check	We reviewed and did not add any new stuff. We worked for about an hour. The only thing I tag was the Kidlet keeping her hands up.
07/14/10	5	Cello	The Kidlet is working on the proper way to bow her cello.	Tag Point: Over Bend Wrist Tag Point: Straight Elbow Tag Point: Arm Only I marked the tags 10 times each with a loud box clicker so that she could hear it over her playing.	I requested that she take out her cello today. I rewarded her with a board game for when she was done. She was pleased to pick the game.
07/14/10	5	Tennis	We worked on the serve from a different directions.	Tag point: Reach high to release	See July 12 for more instructions and details. The swing of the serve is not exactly like the throwing motion , but has many things in common with throwing a softball. I had the Kidlet stand at the base line and near the center mark and throw balls diagonally into the opposite service court. I had her stand with the non-throwing shoulder/hip toward net, step son-throwing foot toward net and reach up high to release. My only tag point was to reach high to release because that is not how she was taught to throw a softball. My instructions did not make sense to the Kidlet so I had her tag me. She likes to tag me. I don't know if we will do this drill again because she was a little confused about why one would release the ball so high.
07/14/10	3	Cooking	The Kidlet is learning kitchen safety while cooking.	Tag Point: Handle to Rear Tag Point: Hold handle while stirring Tag Point: Ask for help I used a box clicker and marked each tag point.	She made a box of mac and cheese for the first time today.
07/14/10		Basketball	The Kidlet's favorite sport is basketball. Each summer she attends a basketball camp and she plays on a team in the winter (which I coach – we will be tagging this year!).	Possible tag points. Each part might need to be shaped. Tag point: balance Tag point: elbow Tag point: line Tag point: index finger Tag point: extension Tag point: flick Tag point: hold Goose Neck	Shooting is one of the most important aspects of basketball. To give the Kidlet consistently correct technique as well as shooting confidence and belief in her shot, we've written this poem of tag points to lay the foundations for future development. B for balance - Players square their feet up to the basket. E for elbow - Players get their elbow in an L shape facing the basket. L for line - Line up their right foot, hand and eye. I for index finger - Index finger lined up pointing towards the basket. E is for extension - Players extend their arm to straight. F is for flick - Players extend their arm and flick their wrist when fully extended to release the ball. Then then hold the flick in a “goose neck.” In the coming weeks we will using Tagging to get the shooting poem in to muscle memory. She has already memorized to poem.
07/14/10		Karate / Kicking Set	Watching the Kidlet in class tonight I discovered that she doesn't know Kicking Set which is the set for this session. She has had it before and earn a ribbon for it but doesn't remember it. She will be tested on it, along with her 25 self-defense techniques on 07/21/2010.	There are four steps to the kicks. The steps are to bring you knee up, extend your foot out, bring your foot back in and then put your foot down on the ground. Kicking tag points are: Tag Point: up Tag Point: out Tag Point: in Tag Point: down	The Kidlet's kicks are pretty good. She gets lazy kicking and just lifts and drops her leg. We can go back to tagging each part of the kick – up, out, back, down – to make them sharper. The largest problem with Kicking Set is that she does not remember the order of the kicks. I will have her make a flash card for each side with the starting stance and the order of kicks. There are four for each side.
07/14/10	15	Karate Class	I tag in class using a thumbs up or a loud verbal NICE! Tag points are given mostly with hand signals.	During class tag points and markers are mostly non verbal. However I do use “CHECK!” for hands up.	The class is 90 minutes long. The Kidlet's is a talker. I use a hand signal of a zipper going across my lips to tag for a quiet mouth. Tag point: Zip it! The Kidlet drifts instead of watching the other kids preform their parts or instead of watching the coach give direction. I use a hand signal of pointing to my eyes and then to the instructor for looking at instructor. Tag point: Watch I say her name to get her to look at me for tag points. Tag point: NAME When she looks at me on her own to see what the tag point might me I give her one or I give her a thumbs up. When I catch her doing the correct thing I say NICE! loudly. She knows my voice and will grin without looking at me. The Kidlet brought her technique cards with her because she wanted to practice in the classroom where the test will be next week. She preformed all 25 well after class, standing in the middle of the room while everyone else was leaving. It was chaos and she could do it in that sea of distraction. The test will be EASY, I think, after that.