Behavior Basics:

A Primer for Autism Parents

Contents
Part 1: What is Behavior?

Part 2: Maintaining Behavior

11

Part 3: Increasing Behavior

22

Part 4: Reinforcers

26

Part 5: Timing of the Reinforcer

47

Part 6: Conditioned Reinforcers

59

Resources and Additional Information

65

Part 1: What is Behavior?

1.

Remember, the ABCs of behavior science:

Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence.

Behavior (physical movement of the body) occurs in a

specific time and place. When studying behavior, analysts
look at what happened just prior to the behavior (the
Antecedent), the specific physical movements that the
learner made (the Behavior itself), and what happened
immediately after the behavior (the Consequence). For
example, lets look at this scenario: The antecedent: a child
sees a rack of candy bars at eye level in the supermarket.
Behavior: the child whines and begs for a candy bar.
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Consequence: the parent buys the candy and the child is

quiet.
This sequence of events will have an effect on the future
behavior of both the child and the parent. The child is more
likely to whine and beg the next time he sees candy in the
store. The parent is more likely to buy candy the next time
since the child was quiet as a result.

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2.

What is Behavior? Behavior is movement, physical

movement of the body.

Behavior is composed of physical movements of the body.

Imagine somebody playing the violin: one hand supports the
instrument, the fingers of that hand press on the strings, and
the other hand moves the bow over the strings. Now imagine
somebody hailing a taxi in New York City: the body leans
toward the street, the head faces oncoming traffic, the hand
nearest to the street waves at passing cabs. Every behavior
we do is composed of anywhere from one to dozens of
distinct physical movements of the body.

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3.

When we behave, we move parts of our body.

To do even the most mundane chores, we move several parts

of the body, move those parts in specific ways and often in a
specific sequence. Think of making coffee in the morning:
Walk to the cupboard and grasp coffee can, grasp coffee pot,
walk to sink to fill with water, pour water into coffee maker,
scoop coffee into filter basket, push basket back into place,
press ON button. The everyday behavior of making coffee
requires the physical movements of walking, grasping, lifting,
turning knobs, pouring, scooping, pushing and pressing.

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4.

Behavior is movement, so it is observable.

Behavior is movement of the body, so it is something that

you can see or hear. If you can see or hear it, you can observe
when and where that behavior happens. For example, if a
child engages in the behavior (physical movement) of foot
stamping, you can observe to see if it happens in certain
rooms of the house, outside in the yard or playground, or in
the car. You can observe to see if it happens more often in the
morning, afternoon or evening, on weekdays or weekends.
This observation provides information that can be used to
develop a behavior plan to address foot stamping.

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5.

Behavior is movement, so it can be observed and

counted.

Behavior is movement that can be observed (it can be seen

or heard), so it can also be counted. A simple way to count a
behavior is to count how many times it happens each day. In
the example of a child shrieking, you can count how many
times during the day the child shrieked. Many parents count
behaviors with tally counters; simply attach one to your belt,
count every instance of shrieking, and write down the
number of instances at the end of the day. This will provide
helpful information. You can establish a baseline of how
often the behavior occurs. After implementing a behavior
plan, the daily counts will tell you whether the plan is
succeeding in replacing the behavior.
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6.

Behavior is movement, so it can be observed,

counted and charted.

Behavior is physical movement of the body that can be seen

or heard (observed). The movements can be counted. After
counting behavior for several days you will have data; for
example: on Monday, Johnny shrieked 59 times; on Tuesday,
Johnny shrieked 83 times; on Wednesday, Johnny shrieked
76 times. These numbers can be charted or graphed; the line
on the chart shows whether the behavior is increasing or
decreasing. The Standard Celeration Chart, a Precision
Teaching tool, is a particularly effective, scientific tool for
charting the rate of change of a behavior.

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7.

Behavior is movement. It can be observed, counted,

charted and analyzed.

After you have observed, counted and charted a learners

behavior (physical movements), you can analyze the data.
This analysis is called a Functional Behavior Assessment
(FBA). The purpose of the FBA is to determine what function
the behavior serves for the learner: i.e., the child is doing this
behavior for a reason, so what is the child gaining from this
behavior? Studying the consequences that follow the
behavior will shed light on this question. Some common
reasons for children to engage in behaviors are to gain
attention, seek relief (escape), or divert attention. There are
many other potential reasons.
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8.

Behavior is movement. It can be observed, counted,

charted, analyzed and changed.

After the behavior has been analyzed, the next step is to set
up a plan so that the learner can achieve his/her needs (as
determined by the FBA) in more acceptable ways. Often, a
decision is made to provide positive reinforcement for an
alternative, acceptable behavior to replace the less desirable
behavior. We know from behavioral science that a behavior
that is reinforced is a behavior that will occur more often.
With consistent delivery of positive reinforcement, along
with monitoring the behavior plan and making adjustments
as indicated by data, it is possible to make good progress in

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achieving helpful behavior change in a sensitive, humane

manner.

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Part 2: Maintaining Behavior

9. The antecedent is the cue or stimulus that comes

before the behavior occurs.
The antecedent is an event that precedes another event. The
antecedent includes the setting, events and persons or things
in an environment that preceded the behavior of the learner.
The antecedent could be the sound of the smoke detector in
the home, the growling of a dog on the street, or the arrival of
a group of students in a classroom. Antecedent events can
also be things like requests to do perform a task or directions
to follow.

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10. The consequence is what happens after the behavior

as a result of the behavior.
After a learner performs a behavior (makes a physical
movement), there is a consequence that follows immediately.
Karen Pryor explains, Consequences frequently . . . affect
future behavior, making the behavior more or less likely to
occur. A behavior followed by a pleasant consequence is
more likely to occur again. The common behavior of opening
the refrigerator door will occur more often when the
refrigerator is well-stocked and offers pleasant food options.
Opening the refrigerator door will occur less often if the
refrigerator is empty and dirty.

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11. The consequence, NOT the antecedent determines

the future course of a behavior.
The consequence rules! The consequence of a behavior
determines what course the behavior will take in the future.
A behavior that results in a pleasing consequence to the
learner will be repeated in the future. A behavior that results
in painful or distasteful consequences will generally not be
repeated in the future. We all seek pleasure and avoid pain
and discomfort.

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12. A pleasant consequence maintains a behavior, keeps

it going.
When a learner experiences a pleasant consequence (praise,
treats, rewards, affirmation, recognition) after doing a
behavior, the learner will perform that behavior more often.
The more the learner experiences pleasant consequences,
the stronger the behavior will become, and the longer it will
last.

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13. A pleasant consequence causes a behavior to occur

more frequently.
This fact, this scientific law, underlies all behavioral
interventions. This fact tells us how we can increase desired
behaviors in learners. Whenever a learner performs a
desired behavior, make sure he or she immediately
experiences a wonderful consequence! The learner will do
that behavior again.
Let's say a child routinely comes home and tosses her jacket
on the floor instead of hanging it on the coat rack. You can
say to the child, "The tag point is Jacket On Hook." As soon as
the child hangs the jacket on the hook, give her a high-value
treat or token. Every time the child hangs the jacket on the
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hook, give another treat. Soon your child will hang up her
jacket as a matter of course. You have changed her behavior
without scolding, nagging or threats. The pleasant
consequence of a treat or token, along with praise and happy
looks from mom or dad, cause the child to hang up her coat
more frequently.

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14. A pleasant consequence causes a behavior to

become stronger.
Not only does a pleasant consequence cause a behavior to
occur more frequently, it causes the behavior to become
stronger.
Let's look at the girl in the example above. She continues to
hang up her jacket on the hook, and one day, she sees that
somebody else's coat has fallen off the coat rack. She picks it
up and replaces it on the hook! If her observant mom or dad
have the chance to see this and give her another pleasant
consequence, she will continue to pick up more coats, and
perhaps tackle the hats and scarves.

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15. Do we need to ask "What caused the behavior?" No

No No!
When dealing with any problem, it's always important to ask
the right question. We know from Behavior Basic #11 that
the CONSEQUENCE, not the antecedent, determines the
future course of a behavior. In the early years when I was
struggling with my child's difficult behaviors, I kept asking
myself, "What is causing this?" It was the wrong question. By
focusing on the wrong question I couldn't come up with a
solution.
It's important to be aware of factors that trigger behaviors,
such as hunger, fatigue, or stress, but we can't control our
children's environment. We can only control how we
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respond to a child's behavior. And we respond by deciding

what the consequences should be. If we know that positive
consequences increase behaviors, we can stop accidentally
giving positive consequences (attention, treats, privileges)
for undesired behaviors and train ourselves to give these
only for desired behaviors.

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16. Do we need to ask "What maintains the behavior?"

Yes Yes Yes!
This is the right question to ask. When a child does
something, think about what happened after the behavior. If
the child experienced a consequence that was useful to him,
the behavior will occur again. Please note, the consequence
may not seem pleasant to us, but if the behavior keeps
happening then the consequence was positive for the child. It
is well known that children sometimes misbehave to get
attention because a scolding is better than being ignored.
We know from Behavior Basic #12 that a pleasant
consequence maintains a behavior--keeps it going. So, the
right thing to do is to monitor the consequences we deliver
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to our kids after they do something. The right thing to do is to

provide pleasant consequences for behaviors we like, and to
ignore behaviors we don't like. (Of course, if a behavior is
dangerous or destructive, we have to step in, take charge,
and re-direct the child.) This may seem awkward and
unnatural at first, but after a while it becomes easier. The
reward for taking charge of the consequences we deliver is
an increase in desired behaviors in our children.

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Part 3: Increasing Behavior

17. To increase a desired behavior, give the learner a

treat or other positive consequence.
This is the golden rule of Applied Behavior Analysis! To
increase a desired behavior, give the learner a treat or other
positive reinforcement. As soon as the learner has performed
the desired action (which could be anything eye contact,
touching a puzzle piece, walking into a room), give the child a
treat (which could also be anything a piece of candy, a toy, a
token, a favored activity, praise, or attention). This will cause
the learner to perform the behavior again.

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18. A positive consequence that strengthens behavior is

a reinforcer.
The definition of reinforcer is anything following a behavior
that strengthens the behavior or causes it to occur more
often. Sometimes people refer to the reinforcer as a reward.
While this is a commonly used word, the technically correct
term, reinforcer, more accurately describes the result of
strengthening or reinforcing a behavior.

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19. Positive reinforcement increases the strength of a

behavior and the chance of it recurring.
When a learner experiences a pleasant consequence (i.e., the
reinforcer) after performing a desired behavior, the learner
will try that behavior again. We are all primed to understand
our environments in terms of consequences. Most people will
eat a second potato chip after enjoying the first one. When
we experience pleasure, rewards, treats, attention or praise,
we know we did something right, and we will do that
behavior again.

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20. A positive consequence after a physical movement

will cause that movement to happen again.
From behavioral science, we know that positive
reinforcement increases behavior. It is important to
remember that the positive reinforcement should be
delivered immediately after or even during the behavior
not before. The sequence is: learner performs a behavior,
then instructor gives reinforcer. At some point in the future
the learner will perform the behavior again, and the
instructor will give a reinforcer again.

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Part 4: Reinforcers

21. A reinforcer increases the likelihood that a behavior

will happen again.
When a child with autism receives a reinforcer after
performing a desired action, the child will be more likely to
perform that action again. The child has experienced a
pleasant consequence and, as a rational being, would like to
experience another pleasant consequence. This sets in
motion a positive cycle, where the child makes more efforts
to earn reinforcers, and thus performs the desired behavior
again.

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22. A reinforcer is anything that the learner likes and

will work for (candy, stickers, money, praise, etc.).
A reinforcer can be anything, provided that the learner likes
it. It can be candy, treats, tokens (for earning privileges),
activities, puzzles, games, money, praise, recognition or the
opportunity for social interaction. The important feature of
the reinforcer is that the learner (not the instructor) values it
and will work for it. Monitor the reinforcements you offer a
learner to make sure that the learner continues to like them.
If the learner gets tired of a particular reinforcer, try
something else until you have some new items that he/she
enjoys. The ability to come up with varied, enticing
reinforcers is a wonderful skill to have.

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23. To build a desired behavior, reinforce it!

This is the core principle of Applied Behavior Analysis -- the
golden rule, the way of truth! When teaching, think of what
you want the child to achieve (reading a sentence, setting the
table, hanging up a coat). When the child performs that great
behavior, reinforce it! Give him a treat, token, praise,
appreciation, recognition, money, or anything pleasing. The
child will do that behavior again. When he does it again,
reinforce it again! Reinforcement will result in that behavior
becoming a routine activity for him. Then go on to the next
step and build another great behavior.

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24. To build a desired behavior, reinforce it

immediately after it occurs.
We discussed how important it is to reinforce a behavior so
that the child performs it again. But, there is an important
detail to think about! When you reinforce the child, you have
to do it right away! Reinforce as soon as she performs the
behavior. When you reinforce right away, the child will know
exactly what she has done that is right. Dont dawdle or
delay! Get in there right away and start handing out praise,
thanks, treats, tokens, recognition, or whatever is pleasing to
the learner. If you are late with the reinforcer, the child will
be confused. What did she do to earn the treat? She won't
repeat the desired behavior and may repeat some other
random behavior. The quicker you are with immediate
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reinforcement, the faster the child will gain that great new
skill.

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25. To build a desired behavior, reinforce it every time

it occurs.
The scientific laws of behavior tell us that positive
reinforcement increases a behavior. The next step to talk
about is how often to reinforce a behavior. The general rule
is, to build a behavior you must reinforce this new desired
behavior every time it occurs! Naturally this takes vigilance,
but it is important for the child. He has to experience that
every time he does this particular desired action (touches a
block, puts a puzzle piece in place, says thank you), he will
receive a reward of his liking. This experience will cause him
to repeat the behavior more often. When this happens, you
are well on the way to building a new behavior. Reinforcing
an action every time it occurs is called a continuous
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reinforcement schedule. Continuous reinforcement is the

first part of a behavior building plan. TAGteach (Teaching
with Acoustical Guidance) is an excellent tool when building
behavior with a continuous reinforcement schedule.
TAGteach allows you to tag and reinforce behaviors
precisely and much more frequently than with verbal praise
or other methods. With TAGteach you can reinforce a
behavior every few seconds, or almost continuously, if the
child is displaying the behavior at a high rate. Its an
invaluable tool for this stage of the behavior building
process.

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26. Remember, movements are behaviors. Behaviors

are movements.
Lets review what a behavior is. A behavior is one or more
physical movements of the body. A behavior may be simple
and use only one physical movement (turning the head to
look at the source of a sound) or it be complex and require
several different physical movements in a particular
sequence (washing hands). Many times we think of the
desired end result of our teaching process as a behavior,
without taking the time to break that behavior down into
separate physical movements of the arms, legs, head or torso.
It is much easier and faster to teach one small physical
movement at a time than a constellation of different
movements in a sequence. It is much easier and faster for a
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child to learn one small physical movement at a time than a

complex sequence of movements. You want the child to have
success, so break the behavior down into physical
movements she can do. TAGteach (Teaching with Acoustical
Guidance) is an invaluable tool for breaking a behavior down
into its component physical movements. You can only tag
one small movement at a time, so simply holding the tagger
in your hand makes you think about what specific movement
you want the child to do.

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27. Children with autism may have many behaviors

going on at the same time.
Another way of saying this is that children with autism may
have many physical movements going on at the same time.
Children with autism can be extremely physically active. If
you observe them, you may see that the hands, arms, legs,
torso, neck, head, facial and vocal muscles are all active at
once. Take the time to observe your child. Download the free
Child Observation Chart from
http://autismchaostocalm.com/resources/free-downloads/
and make a note of the specific types of physical movements
your child is making. When you see how many movements
your child is displaying, you realize how careful you have to
be when reinforcing behavior. With so much going on it is
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easy for the instructor to reinforce something too early or

too late, and for the child to be confused about what is being
reinforced.

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28. So how does a child know which behavior you want?

Timing!
When a child is making multiple movements with her body,
the question comes up, how does she know what you are
reinforcing? She may be running, swinging her arms,
swiveling her head and shouting. She may be performing a
desired behavior, but that behavior appears for only a split
second and is buried in an avalanche of dizzying movements.
How do you pick out that micro-second of desired physical
movement? The answer is: Timing. You reinforce her
precisely during the split second she is performing the
behavior you want. With the quick click sound of a tagger,
you can reinforce a child for a micro-second of behavior at
the exact moment she is performing that behavior. The
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method of using a click sound to reinforce a behavior is

called TAGteach. The click sound is called a tag. The tag tells
the child: Yes - that was right, with precision, clarity and
consistency. Even though she is performing many
movements, the child will realize that something caused a
positive consequence in her world. She will quickly figure out
which movement resulted in that positive outcome (kids
with autism are brilliant at this), and she will repeat the
movement. TAGteach is extraordinarily effective for precise
timing of reinforcement. There is nothing else like it. The
human voice is much too slow and too late for this type of
precision reinforcement. By the time you say, Good job, or
Thats it, the child will have performed many more physical
movements. She wont know which movement you are
talking about, and your efforts will be wasted. Timing is
critical. Timing is all important. Time -- for our kids with
autism -- is too valuable to waste.

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29. You must give the reinforcer at the exact moment

the child does the behavior.
In Behavior Basic 28 we discussed the importance of timing
when reinforcing behavior in a child with autism. You must
reinforce the child at the precise moment he does the desired
physical movement. If you reinforce too early or too late, the
child will be confused; he wont know what he did to earn the
reinforcer, so he probably wont repeat that exact desired
movement. It is not easy to reinforce a child at the split
second he does a desired movement, but TAGteach (Teaching
with Acoustical Guidance) makes it easy. When I set out to
teach my son to kick a ball, my first tag point (physical
movement to reinforce) was Walks Near Ball. The ball was
out in the yard and every time he dashed within five feet of it
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I tagged and gave him a reinforcer. Even though he was busy

running and yowling, he realized very quickly that being in
the vicinity of that ball resulted in very nice consequences.
Soon he was running and walking around the ball, just the
result I wanted.

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30. The timing of the reinforcer is information for the

child.
In Behavior Basic 29 I described how I tagged my son every
time he dashed within five feet of a ball. This was Step One of
my program to teach him to kick the ball. Because my son
heard the tag and received reinforcement when he ran or
walked within five feet of the ball, he deduced that the area
around the ball was a great place to be. I did not verbally ask
him to approach the ball. I did not show him how to walk
near the ball. I did not take him by the hand and drag him to
the ball. All I did was tag him precisely when he was in the
vicinity of it. The quick click of the tagger and the
reinforcement gave him this information. We accomplished

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Step One quickly, easily and with no stress and no

exasperation.

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31. The timing of the reinforcer tells the child what he

did right.
We have talked about how children with autism may have
many behaviors (physical movements) going on at the same
time. At some point, the child will perform a movement that
you want to see happen more often. When this one specific
movement is happening -- in the blur of many other
movements -- the only way to distinguish it from the blur of
activity is with pinpoint timing. With TAGteach you can
pinpoint that micro-second of desired action by pressing the
tagger, and then delivering the reinforcement as quickly as
possible after that. The child knows that the sound means
that a treat is coming, so the child pays attention to what he
or she does that causes the sound to happen. The pinpoint
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timing of the tag (click sound) gives the child information

about which specific movement is earning the reinforcement.
When the child with autism knows exactly which behavior is
earning reinforcement, he or she will do that action more
often.

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32. Late reinforcement is ineffective for teaching a child,

especially one with autism.
Children with autism often perform many behaviors in quick
succession and in changing sequences. When they are
performing behaviors (physical movements) so quickly, it is
a challenge for us to tell them exactly which behavior we
want, and it is a challenge for them to figure it out. Generally,
people use their voices to tell a child, Good job, or, Thats
it. The problem is that words come out of our mouths a
second or two after the child does the behavior, plus the
words themselves take one or two seconds to emerge: this
means a three to five second delay in getting information to
the child. In that three to five second period, the child will
have performed several other behaviors. How can the child
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figure out, in his confusing world, what that praise was

intended for, even assuming he can understand the words?
The information is too late to have meaning for him. The late
praise and even later delivery of reinforcement will slow
down the childs learning process. Why create confusion and
delay when we can provide real-time, split-second
information? Delay is the last thing a child with autism needs.
Fast timely action brings much better results.

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Part 5: Timing of the Reinforcer

33. Slow reinforcement is ineffective for teaching a

child, especially one with autism.
A child with autism lives in the moment. He is keenly aware
of what is happening right now, and often, right now he has
at least three or four behaviors (physical movements) going
on simultaneously. Those movements change very quickly
every few seconds hes doing other actions. Lets say the
child momentarily does one action that you wish to reinforce,
so you run over and say, Hey, good boy for doing that, and
hand out a treat. I timed myself walking a distance of 12 feet,
saying, Hey, good boy for doing that, and handing over a
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treat. It took 4 seconds. In those 4 seconds, a child with

autism has performed many more movements and is
thinking about those new movements. The one you liked,
that happened about 5 or 6 seconds ago, is history. So if you
walk over to your child, praise him and hand over a treat, you
are too slow and too late. The child wont know what you
reinforced. He wont know what you want him to do again.
Your reinforcement will be ineffective because it is not
paired precisely with the desired behavior. Effective
reinforcement is timely, on-time, and precise information. It
tells the child, That thing you are doing right now is great.
Do it some more. Our voices and words, with which we are
so enamored, are slow, clumsy and too late to give exact,
pinpoint information to the child. So, help the child out. Make
sure that, during the time that he is doing a desired action, he
gets the information, YES. Thats right, and now a treat is on
the way. See Behavior Basic #34 for more information.

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34. Whats the solution to late reinforcement? Use a

conditioned reinforcer.
In Behavior Basic #33 we discussed the fact that a child with
autism needs pinpoint accuracy of reinforcement in order to
know that he should do a behavior again. We cannot provide
such speedy, accurate reinforcement with our slow voices or
confusing gestures. An excellent way to provide fast, timely
information to the child is with an acoustical signal, a tag
(click sound), made by a tagger. The best way to reinforce a
child is when he is actually doing the behavior you want -- to
reinforce in that right now micro-second. How can you
reinforce so quickly? With a TAGteach tagger. A tagger allows
you to provide split-second information to the child while he
is performing the desired behavior. So the procedure is:
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observe child, tag desired behavior, give treat. By following

up each tag with a treat, the tag becomes a conditioned
reinforcer. When the child hears the tag, he knows a treat is
coming his way. Eventually, the sound of the tag is
reinforcing in and of itself. He learns to listen for the tag,
think about what he was doing that earned the tag, and then
perform the behavior again -- because it brought about a
pleasant consequence. Precise, timely reinforcement builds
behaviors faster. There is nothing else like it.

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35. A conditioned reinforcer is something previously

neutral that has gained reinforcing potential.
A conditioned reinforcer can be any quick sound or action. It
can be a whistle, a tap on the shoulder, a flash of light, or a
click sound made by a small plastic device called a tagger.
Initially, the sound or flash has no significance for a child,
but, by pairing the sound with a treat or other pleasing
consequence, the tag (click sound) becomes an important
event for the child. The tag means that a treat is coming. A tag
means that the child did something right or achieved
something. The tag is good news! The tag is worth paying
attention to this is very important. The tag teaches the child
to focus on his own actions. What was I just doing that
caused Mom to tag and hand me a treat? Was it swinging my
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arm or looking at the toy? Hmmm, Ill try swinging my arm

again. Nothing, no tag. Okay, Ill trying looking at the toy
again. TAG! Oh, that was it! I get it. Ill look at the toy some
more! Boy, Mom sure seems happy when I look at a toy. I
know shes happy because she tagged and gave me a treat,
and Im happy too.

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36. Create a conditioned reinforcer by pairing it with

something the child already likes.
How does the child learn that the acoustical signal, the tag
(click sound) has meaning? You teach the child by pairing
the tag with a treat. This can be achieved very quickly. When
I first got a tagger, I sat down next to my son with a fruit rollup and proceeded to tag and hand over slivers of fruit rollup. It went like this: tag/hand over sliver, tag/hand over
sliver, tag/hand over sliver, continuously. In 25 seconds he
figured out that the tag meant that a treat was coming. 25
seconds! Thats all it took. I never had to repeat that lesson. I
could immediately start using the tag to teach new skills. Try
it! Its great fun to teach a child with autism something in just
25 seconds!
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37. Good candidates for conditioned reinforcers are a

short, sharp sound, flash of light, quick hand signal.
In Behavior Basic #30, we discussed how the TIMING of the
reinforcer is information for the child. Specific, precise,
timely reinforcement builds behaviors faster than slow, late
reinforcement. How can you deliver split second
reinforcement in a real-time setting? With a conditioned
reinforcer that is short, sharp and fast. The best reinforcers
are a short, sharp sound, a quick flash of light, or a quick
hand signal. The TAGteach tagger is an ideal tool for several
reasons. It can mark a split second of behavior the moment it
occurs, and, it is light, portable and low cost. It is easy to use:
with a quick press of the thumb, the metal tab makes a click
sound: the child knows instantly that he has accomplished
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the tag point and will soon be getting a treat. It is simple,

easy, and effective. Taggers are available from
www.tagteach.com, and cost about $1.50.

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38. Use a conditioned reinforcer immediately after the

behavior follow with the candy, stickers, etc.
Use the conditioned reinforcer, such as the TAGteach tagger
(or clicker), and mark the behavior immediately after the
child has achieved the tag point. The more closely the desired
behavior and reinforcer are paired, the faster the child will
learn. This simple, fast process of tag and treat, tag and treat,
is a great way to build behaviors faster, plus, it is pleasant for
the child.

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39. A conditioned reinforcer must be clear, precise and

consistent.
In Behavior Basics 37 and 38, we discussed how a sharp,
quick sound or flash of light is the best tool for marking a
behavior. With the press of a finger, a TAGteach tagger can
precisely mark even a split second of a desired behavior. But
why is consistency important? Lets remember that the tag
(or click) sound is a conditioned reinforcer. The definition
of the word conditioned states that the object is
characterized by predictable or consistent patterns. There
are two features of the tag that we want to be consistent for
the learner: (1) the tag means success! The child did
something right, and (2) the tag means a reinforcer (treat,
reward) is coming. When a child knows that the tag always
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means these two things, she has a great strategy for learning:
just listen, pay attention, try again, feel free to experiment,
and enjoy all the reinforcements delivered during the
process. The tag creates a path forward for the child because
it always and only means those two things success and
reinforcement.

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Part 6: Conditioned Reinforcers

40. A great conditioned reinforcer for a child with

autism is a click sound.
A click sound is an excellent conditioned reinforcer because
of the features mentioned above in Behavior Basic 39: it is
quick, precise and consistent. The click (or tag) predictably
means two things: success and reinforcement. Another
feature of the click is that because of its precision and speed,
it can only mark one small behavior (physical movement of
the body) at a time. This feature ensures that the child will
not be asked to do something that is too complex for her. The
tag can only mark one movement, not two or three, so the
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instructor or teacher has to think about a task carefully and

break it down into small steps that the child can do. This
protects the child from being overwhelmed with difficult
demands. With time and experience, the child develops trust
that she will only be presented with a task she can
comfortably perform, and only for the length of time that she
can comfortably perform it. The click sound is the best sound
because it is quick, precise and targeted.

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41. Tag once to reinforce a desired behavior.

In previous Behavior Basics we have discussed how a click
sound is an excellent conditioned reinforcer because the
sound is quick, precise and immediate. The sound catches a
physical movement by the child at the instant he performs it,
so the child gets specific information that he has achieved the
goal, i.e., he has achieved success! But, how often to tag? This
is easy, just once for a desired physical movement. When the
child performs the desired action, also referred to as the tag
point, one tag is all that is needed. As soon as possible after
the tag, give the child a reinforcer. If the child performs the
tag point again, tag once at that time. One tag is all it takes!

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42. Tag immediately to reinforce a desired behavior.

We know from the ABCs of behavioral science (Antecedent,
Behavior, Consequence) that the all-important consequence
determines the future course of a behavior. A positive
consequence causes a behavior to occur again, and
eventually causes it to occur for a longer time. The more
closely the behavior and positive consequence match up in
real time, the more effective the consequence is in
strengthening that behavior. The ideal consequence would
occur while the learner is performing the desired action.
Reinforcing during the behavior tells the learner, This is it!
This is right! Its a powerful and positive experience for the
learner, and cements that action in his consciousness. The

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best way to time a consequence this precisely is with a quick,

sharp sound, like the click sound of a TAGteach tagger. So,
watch your learner closely, tag immediately to reinforce a
desired behavior. If possible, tag while the learner is
performing the tag point!

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43. If a behavior deteriorates, strengthen it with an

intensive course of reinforcement.
Sometimes a child (any child, with a disability or without)
may appear to have forgotten a skill. The child no longer says
Thank you, or stops flushing the toilet, or goes back to
kicking the seat in the car. The solution to this is simple: go
back to reinforcing the desired behavior. To revive the thankyous, whenever you give the child a desired item, say thank
you yourself and look at the child with the expectation that
he will say it. As soon as he says, thank you, tag and give a
reward. Do this intensively for a while and the thank-yous
will return. For other problems, set the relevant tag points:
Flush or Feet Down in Car, and tag and reinforce the child
every time he performs the desired behaviors. Since the child
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already knew these behaviors, they will come back with an

intensive course of reinforcement. When the child is
performing the behaviors again, switch from a continuous
reinforcement schedule (reinforcing every time) to a
variable, intermittent schedule (reinforcing 1 out of 2 times,
then 2 out of 3, then 2 out of 4, and so forth, until you are
reinforcing only every 5th or 8th or 12th time). Keep up the
variable intermittent schedule, and the behavior will stay
nicely in place. So, if a behavior erodes, go back to the
beginning and build it back up with intensive reinforcement.

Resources and Additional

Information
Learn how to use TAGteach to teach many skills and
functional behaviors to a child with autism with the book by
Martha Gabler: Autism Chaos to Calm - Discovering
Solutions to the Everyday Problems of Living with
Autism:
http://goo.gl/vm7dgX
Read articles and download free resources from Martha at
her website: http://autismchaostocalm.com/
Learn more about TAGteach for autism:
http://tagteach.com/Autism_and_Special_Education

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