Upcoming TAGteach seminar- Moondog recommendation

[moondog]

I have no commercial interest in this. It has been one of the most useful things i have learnt about in my work and this is a very rare opportunity to get some training in this area to help your child with Special Needs with one of the most interesting and dynamic women I have ever met.
It will be hugely enjoyable.

March 17-18. Leyland

Moondog could I use this to train ds to observe and talk about the here and now? I'm sick of star wars, I'm sick of penguins, I'm sick of hearing his stock phrases. I want him to live in and learn from the real world.

Desperate to go. Unfortunately I have used all up all my favours and other people's good will just surviving this current transition and up and coming tribunal.

DH will have a fit if I even ask him if I can go, as will my mum!

Oodles, I use it with children with similar needs.
You identify specifically what it is that you want from the child and reinforce it when it occurs with a specific acoustic marker (the TAG itself).

Star, I'll be passing on the latest from the TAGteach gang if/when we finally meet up in April/May. I'm just putting the final details for that together then I shall let you all know.

I'm using it at present with a few kids where they have difficulties asking for help. We have task analysed what asking for help involves so they are crystal clear, then we will start TAGging it as and when it occurs, which, gratifyingly, is happening more and more.

Thanks Moondog. Usually nothing stops me but I'm getting tired and running out of reserves at 6months pg with little opportunity to exercise, living in a Premier Inn with dodgy internet access during the run up to the tribunal, a daughter I don't see during the week who is in need of an ENT operation that will require 10 days at home which I am struggling to figure out the logistics for, frightening expert witness and tribunal bills and an LA-hired solicitor finding fault with every aspect of everything I have ever done for my ds and collecting witness statements to 'prove' it.

Even YOU can't tell me to stop whinging at this point - surely!

Hehe you will never let me forget that one.

It sounds like an absolute nightmare. You have my unconditional sympathy.
So glad to hear your s seems to be settling well into his new school.

Yeah. He's doing great. They say they don't do ABA but they have 'behavioural plans' coming out of their ears for everything and they know what behaviour actually is rather than reducing it to simply something that disrupts the class.

Funny thing is, they have their Ofsted inspection next week and they have asked if they can show them all the information I have on ds about his prior learning and how they have used it to inform their planning for him. It's amazing to be treated seriously not only as an equal but as an expert on him.

I don't expect it will be perfect but we're starting from such a significantly higher level in the first place. It's worth it.

Marvellous.
It is so frustrating to hear over and over of people who have a misconception about what ABA is. I think the ABA machine itself is partly at fault.

I'm doing a lecture in a couple of weeks on implementing behavioural principles in cost conscious public sector educational settings. He will present all the latest research and then I will come at it from the angle of those on the factory floor so to speak.

By the way, the details of British Association for ABA are being finalised as we speak.

Sorry, forgot to mention I am presenting with Professor Richard Hastings.

Ooooh! So glad that when I had a long chat with him in a foyer I didn't actually know who he was. Might have fainted!

Sorry moondog just had a little rant there!

No, you go ahead Oodles. Good for the soul.
Star, he is a top bloke and hates the way many in the ABA industry removes itself from the rough and tumble of the everyday world.

oodles, - ds is JUST starting to learn from the real world.

One thing I have learned, and would perhaps have done differently is discover that most of his progress has been through quality SALT, or at least work on language etc.

Language seems to be the key for ds, which is why I have fought for his attendance in a good SALT school (which the LA are fighting against because it isn't ASD specific).

The more language he has, the more he uses it and the more varied his topics become.

Every day I ask him to recall some things about the day with 3 fingers which I fold down so he knows it is a short exercise. I make sure I already know the answer to two of the things he has to tell me. I help him model the answers if he needs it. If the answer is boring or repetative, I keep my finger up and ask a related question. This has had the effect of getting him to respond with a unique answer.

So if I say 'what did you do at school?' and he says 'had snack', I say 'oh, did you, - what was it?' and he says 'rice cake', I say 'oh really? what did it taste like/who else had one/who gave it to you etc.?'

So he has stopped answering 'had snack'! and tries to think of something new. If it is novel I put my finger down faster and we move on.

I hate that too Moondog.

I have a love-hate relationship with ABA. Well, not ABA, but 'ABA' iyswim.

I have trouble with it's inaccessibility due to the dual pronged barrier. State professionals are against it due to their ignorance, and many providers like to keep it expensive and mythical and I feel, have a level of interest in keeping it 'underground'.

As a parent in the middle, you only have a rare chance of getting it and no-one but no-one on either side will listen to you !

I've emailed you something I think would really help you Star.

Is it a holiday-voucher/taser/winning lottery ticket?

Er no.
But it should help your lad.

Yes Star, many behaviour analysts have no interest in getting ABA to be more mainstream.
If they do, their business might just go pffft.
It concerns me greatly.
They watch parents rip themselves to shreds then step in to offer something that in some cases, does nothing to bring the child more into the mainstream of life.

Thanks starlight, limiting the painful recall chat we have every evening to three items might help him. Finite is definitely good for ds.

The language thing is wierd. This morning he suddenly started talking about an aquarium we visited over two years ago (when he was three) using new words he's learned in the last few months. He must have been carrying the mental image all that time and only now has the labels to describe it.
But he can't remember what happened this morning without loads of prompting.

If the chat is painful it's not reinforcing and he won't want to do it.
It has to be something good for him.
How can you make it good?

Lol, you're right Moondog. DS just does it now and I've forgotten how we started. But it would have absolutely been something like saying 'ready steady go' with the expectation that he answers one question quickly then I jump out of his path whilst he peddles a big circle on his bike or something with grins and excitement.

There's no need for all that now but sometimes I might have to time when I ask so it is just before he gets in the bath or gets the ketchup or something.

I wish I knew!
He feels like its a test, which I suppose it is. I just want to have natural conversations about real things like I do with dd (2.9), so the recall chat is to try and steer conversation back to reality.

Moondog - the thing that you sent me to get ds talking about what happened in school. At first he was very resistant and tearful so we dropped it to 1 question.

Well, he now will talk more willingly and sometimes come up with information himself especially if something exciting happens. He will come home and open his bag if there is something to show me etc. He will also talk about things that happened in other settings.

Thanks - it worked like you said it would.

That's great.
Why do you think he was tearful then?

That's what I want, ds to tell me truthfully, real stuff that he's done.