It’s important to reinforce with every tag, especially with sensitive, very young or reluctant learners or when just getting started. If the learner is very focused on the primary reinforcer, then you must give it if you tag, even if you tag at the wrong time, or you tag an incorrect behaviour. The tag is a promise to the learner that the reinforcer is coming. Tagging without following up with a reinforcer is a breach of trust and causes frustration to the learner and can damage the relationship you are building.

Eventually in many cases the tag itself will become enough of a reinforcer on its own and nothing additional will be required. Sometimes the tag sound is reinforcing without any conditioning. In these cases, you do not need to worry about giving a reinforcer after the tag. On ther other hand, if you are conducting a session wherein the learner is expecting reainforcement after the tag, it is important to deliver this with every tag.

Sometimes you might be anticipating a correct response and you tag a bit early, but at the last second the learner does something else. Don’t worry about this, give the reinforcer anyway. The occasional error will not matter. If you are making frequent tagging errors, then you will need to practice your timing without a learner present, or change your tag point to make it easier to tag it.