Editor’s Note: We are thrilled to have Martha on our team of TAGteach Instructors as a Faculty Member. Martha has made a huge contribution to the development of TAGteach for autism.
Martha is the author of the popular book, Chaos to Calm: Discovering solutions to the everyday problems of living with autism.
Meet Martha in person and learn about TAGteach at the upcoming Advanced Workshop in Boston, Sept 29-30, 2018.
By Martha Gabler MA, TAGteach Faculty
My name is Martha Gabler. My husband and I are the parents of two boys. The younger one, now 22 years old, was diagnosed at age 3 as having severe autism and being profoundly non-verbal. He had all the common difficult behaviors typical of children with autism, including self-injury and aggression.
By sheer chance, I learned about TAGteach and realized instantly that this method for positive behavior change could be a huge help for us. This turned out to be the case. My son is now a delightful, happy teen who loves life and loves going places. He still has autism, but life is much, much better for us all.
Here is a video that shows my son Doug going for a walk with his friend Anne and listening to his music. I had to teach him the skills for safe walking and sitting still to listen to music; now he can apply these and gain enjoyment from them independently.