Tact Attack! The Surprising Way Labeling Might Boost Attention
Reinforcers are like magic. You knew that though. If you’ve been following along with my blog, you’re probably know that I talk a lot about attention. Of late, I’ve become increasingly infatuated with how motivation influences attention. And, how attention can influence motivation, too.
Think about it like this: You’re on your way to a friend’s house to catch the end of the ball game. You’re pumped, haven’t checked the score, and you’re ready to see how it’s going. The second you walk in, your brain locks in on that TV screen. Your eyes tunnel vision right past every friend in the room. You’re so focused on the game that someone could have waved a free pizza in your face, and you’d miss it. Why? Because the game is the high-value reinforcer. The pull of it eliminates all other stimuli in the room. We’ve all been there. Maybe not with sports (maybe that’s just a me thing), but we’ve been there with something.
Now think about our learners. Their “game” might not be basketball. It might be trains, or movies, or Star Wars characters. Whatever it is, it’s the thing that grabs their attention and doesn’t let go. They’re physically present with you, but mentally, they’re two towns over, swinging a light saber in their mind. If you’ve ever tried to get a learner to engage with an SD while their head’s “in a galaxy far, far away” you know how challenging it can be. (And, can you blame them?).
This is where labeling—or tacting—comes in (I’ll use these terms interchangeably throughout this post).
Tacting isn’t simply a functional skill. It’s not simply a skill we teach so that our learners understand their environment better. Among other strategies, it’s a quality way for creating behavior momentum.
If you’ve got a learner daydreaming about Star Wars while you’re trying to run a program, you’re competing with an epic mental movie playing in their head which is wayyyy more reinforcing. Instead of trying to redirect them back to the task at hand, it may be better to run a tacting program: “Hey, what’s that?” as you point to a ball on the table. They look. They name it. You ask them to label several other items in the environment. For a brief moment, you’ve pulled them out of their mental loop and into the present moment. They’re with you. Labeling things in the immediate environment is a great way to get behavior momentum.
Engaging in labeling behavior with your learner—and talking about the immediate environment in general with them—goes way further. It can lay the ground work for making an overwhelming environment less aversive.
Picture a loud, chaotic playroom. Toys everywhere. Kids everywhere. Sounds and lights and beeps and buzzes. Your brain is on overload trying to process it all at once. Our learners feel this too, except their sensory systems might be more sensitive, so everything’s turned up to 11. Walk them into that room, and you’ll see it. They’re scanning, eyes darting, maybe even stimming to regulate it all. But then you start asking them to label things.
“What’s that?” “A chair.” “What’s that?” “A clock.”
Suddenly, the blur of stimuli becomes a series of distinct and recognizable items. The chaos becomes something they can name. And here’s the cool part—it works for adults, too. Go into a party, bar, or crowded coffee shop. Start naming things out loud (err…maybe in your head so people don’t think you’ve lost it). “Table. Chair. Coffee cup. Counter.” You’ll notice the space feels more manageable. Less overwhelming. It’s recognizable. You realize you are a lot more familiar with it than you thought. You’re more present. That’s what tacting does.
Essentially, tacting can be a sneaky way to create distance between one’s self and an aversive stimuli. If you’ve ever heard of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), you’ve heard of “defusion.” It’s when you step back from your thoughts, watch them passively, and label them (ex: “I’m thinking about basketball…”) In that moment, you experience a separation from the thought itself. This method is helpful for individuals who struggle with adhering—or fuse—with negative thoughts and beliefs. It has an ordering effect, one might say. Either way, this is all food for thought when working with kiddos in overstimulated environments. Or, with kids that simply love saving the universe in their minds.
It’s one of the reasons why I love using labeling as a warm up at the start of the day with a kiddo. Sometimes kids come in already activated. The car ride was rough. Their favorite socks were dirty. Their energy’s off. You know the vibe. They’re not ready to dive into work. But instead of forcing it, walk around with them. Name stuff. “What’s that?” “A coat rack.” “What’s that?” “A window.” You’re not wasting time—you’re anchoring them. By the time you want to get programming rolling, they’re present. They’re ready.
Tacting turns the unknown into the known. It turns the disorder into a little bit more order. It’s a way to make sense of new spaces if need be. It can help us claim control of our environment.
There’s a coffee cup. There’s the window. There’s the couch. This is my blog post…and hopefully it helps :)
Martin Myers is a BCBA with a passion for helping improve the field of ABA. He is the creator of BxMastery, with over 4,000 goal ideas, sequenced, to inspire your programming. With 10+ years of experience in the field, he’s dedicated to empowering others and fostering positive change through effective leadership and communication. Connect with Martin on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for more insights and updates.