Before you start any teaching session it’s important to plan your reinforcement. Arranging the environment or using prompts to make the desired behavior more likely or to induce it to occur may get behavior started. The behavior must result in a positively reinforcing consequence in order for it to continue or strengthen. Reinforcement drives behavior:

It’s critical that the learner contacts reinforcement as a result of their behavior. Some examples of reinforcers include:

• something tangible like a sticker or candy
• the opportunity to pull a bead on a tagulator
• the opportunity to do some other thing that they like to do
• the feeling of success that comes from doing something well

Reinforcement is determined by the learner, so the best ways to discover what’s reinforcing for your learners are to ask them and to observe them.

Giving the learner as much choice as possible on the reinforcement side is a great way to increase motivation. For example

• What to work for
• When they’ll get it
• Where they’ll get
• What happens after they’ve met a goal

With TAGteach the tag is often reinforcing on it’s own because it’s the sound of success. Keep in mind however that this may not be the case for all learners and it may not always be the case for a particular learner.

The behavior and the motivation to continue or to increase it will only occur if the learner contacts reinforcement as a result of the behavior. It’s up to you to be vigilant and to ensure that the reinforcement is always flowing.