“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.