Accountability in Self-Determination

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The Legacy of Marc Gold 1939-1982
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California 1939 - 1965

• Marc was born and raised in California. He grew
  up in the largely Hispanic area of East Los
  Angeles in a swirl of cultures and attitudes. He
  attended Garfield High Sch.
• His parents, Morey and Fanny, were his strongest
  influences, imbuing him with clear lessons of
  life and respect.

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From the cradle, it started at home
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The values of Try Another Way

• I must attach the roots of this (TAW) to my
  father, Morey Gold, who operated a bicycle and
  key shopin East Los Angeles from 1930 until
  1966. My earliest memories include spending time
  there with him talking to people of many
  different income levels, backgrounds,
  capabilities and stations in life. Watching him
  provided me with the basic set of values
  reflected in the TAW system.

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Marc graduated with a degree in music from Cal
State LA. At that time he did not expect to enter
the disability field.
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A life-changing event

• Marc and his wife to be, Ronna, went to a state
  institution as a part of a class and were in the
  audience as a group of persons with various
  pathologies were lined up and forced to endure
  being described by a narrator. A person from the
  group ran up to Ronna and embraced her in a
  terrified manner. Marc and Ronna were outraged
  enough to learn more about this field.

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When Marc graduated from college in 1960 , he
became a special education teacher after
completing a degree as a music therapist
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Personal Passions from music
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To cars
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To camping
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To his kids
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Marcs strongest passion was his kids
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Illinois 1966 - 1976

• Marc and Ronna left California for the University
  of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana following the
  completion of a Masters Degree and the death of
  his dad.
• The trip was an odyssey that took them from the
  deep South to Baltimore on their way to the
  Midwest.

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The research years

• During the late 60s and early 70s, Marc and
  his student colleagues began laying the
  foundation for the Try Another Way approach and
  the strong value statements that would follow.
• Later, in 1980, Marc would publish the critical
  aspects of that research in Did I Say That?, a
  collection of 27 research studies and papers that
  were used to formulate the TAW system. He also
  criticized himself for language, perspective and
  value lapses that hed made in his research.

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This fascinating book not only contained Marcs
research but also pre and post statements
concerning how he felt at the time as well as 5
10 years later.
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The research years

• While working on my PhD thesis in 1967 I was
  seeking tasks for which data collection would not
  be a problem. Having described the task in such
  detail, I then spent approximately one week doing
  nothing but trying to create or discover
  appropriate tasks. When I finally came upon the
  bicycle brake, I felt extremely stupid. I had
  assembled thousands of them as a youngster, but
  it had taken me a long time to realize they would
  be ideal tasks for my project.

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An opportunity for respect
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The Try Another Way Approach

• TAW was Marc Golds enduring legacy. A strategy
  of instruction that put the onus of
  responsibility on the trainer instead of the
  learner.
• This shift in the learning equation opened the
  door to competency and respect for all persons
  with intellectual disabilities.

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An opportunity to acquire complex skills
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At the heart of the TAW Approach
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Marc and Steve Zider A relationship comprised of
a blend of friendship, colleagueship and challenge
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The Birth of TASH 1975

• In 1975 Marc joined a group of radicals and
  malcontents in Kansas City to form an
  organization called the American Association for
  the Education of the Severely and Profoundly
  Handicapped AAESPH perhaps the most
  unfortunate organizational name in history and
  the original name of TASH.

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Try Another Way 3 Day Trainings

• Started in Philadelphia, 1975
• Mississippi Gulf Coast, 1976
• Los Angeles, 1976
• Dozens of trainings were held across the U.S.
  from 1976 1982 for thousands of participants.
• The final 3 day training was held in Kansas City,
  MO, March 24-26, 1982

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Taking TAW on the road. How many of us met Marc
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Making a point with outrageousness

• Once in a training in Kansas City, Marc asked
  everyone in the front row of a large audience to
  stand up and take their pants off. He assured
  them it was to show that there were a variety of
  methods that one might use to teach persons with
  disabilities tasks of life.

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Making a point with outrageousness

• At a time when the practice was commonplace, he
  characterized, in a training film, long term
  reliance on token economies as a fascist plot.
• His challenge caused many in the field to
  reconsider their arbitrary use of a variety of
  behavioral control strategies.

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Making a point with outrageousness

• We have made reinforcement junkies out of
  learners.

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Making a point with outrageousness

• When an assist works, dont use it again. This
  seemingly contradictory admonition challenged
  scores of trainers to continue to find different
  ways to teach a step(s) of a task instead of
  relying on the static ability of an assist to
  accomplish a step without actually teaching the
  step.

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Fundamental beliefs that touched the heart

• You cant have a teaching technology outside of
  a set of values
• No news is good news.
• When the task provides the motivation, you dont
  have to.

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Train, Dont Test
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Challenges that touched the heart

• Too often, reinforcement has become the currency
  between a buyer and a seller.

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Challenges that touched the heart

• How can we expect people to take their places
  next to us in society if so many of the ways to
  supposedly help get them there force them to
  recognize, in one way or another, their
  subservient positions?

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The TAW Films 1976-1977

• Try Another Way Introductory Film
• The Film Series
• Film 1 Task Analysis
• Film 2 Content and Process
• Film 3 Formats for Single Pieces of Learning

• Film 4 Formats for Multiple Pieces of Learning
• Film 5 Feedback, General Issues
• Film 6 Feedback, Specific Issues
• Film 7 Reinforcement Influence

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The stars of Marcs films Eugene
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The stars of Marcs films Barbara
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The stars of Marcs films Tom
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The beginning of MGA

• In early 1976, Marc was invited by Ed Roberts to
  train human services staff across California.
  Marc, with the assistance of others started our
  company, recruited staff, trained them and
  implemented a state-wide staff-training project
  in the USAs largest populated state.

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California Project 1976-1978

• Focused on staff in agencies within seven
  clusters across the state from Redding to San
  Diego
• The project trained 109 staff from 22 agencies in
  California
• 1,188 participants with disabilities learned
  2,766 discrete skills
• 3,638 task analyses were developed.

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Marc and staff of California Project
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Marc and Charlie Galloway, project director of
the California Project
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Georgia Project 1978-1981

• Project Director, Mark Stricklett
• Targeted seven regions across Georgia
• Refined the California Project approach to
  include trainer of trainers
• The impact of the Georgia Project lingers today,
  twenty-five years later.

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The Ohio Project 1979-1983

• Targeted five regions across Ohio
• Project director, Denis Stoddard
• Lessons of California and Georgia were integrated
  into a sophisticated staff training strategy
• Began implementing training on community job sites

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David was targeted to be placed in a day program
before an Ohio Project participant found him a job
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Shelly assembled circuit boards
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A shift to employment The Austin Project 1979 -
1982

• This project represented an evolution for MGA
  and for Marc in that it focused solely on
  employment, helping build the foundation for what
  would become supported employment.
• Relationships with major employers in the
  high-tech corridor around Austin -- Motorola,
  Tracor International, IBM -- resulted in over 40
  jobs for persons once thought to be unemployable.

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Early examples of support 1979
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The use of two job trainers quickly evolved to
one-to one support The foundation of portable
supports in 1980.
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We again validated that individuals with
significant disabilities could acquire and
perform complex tasks with support and instruction
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The Mississippi Project 1981

• Project targeted three regions in the state with
  twelve agencies participating in this one year
  project
• This project was a hybrid between the earlier
  staff training projects and the Austin employment
  project
• CETA funds were used to provide both staff
  training and employment assistance

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15 persons became employed in this early
Supported Employment effort
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The focus was on factory jobs
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From a state institution to a job in the
community
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We used the strategies of TAW in natural
workplaces
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Other projects and initiatives

• The Monroe, Michigan Project
• The Westfield, Massachusetts Project
• The Minnesota (Iron Range) Project
• Manitoba Project, Canada
• United Kingdom Project
• Norway Project

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Marc Gold the man
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Passing the stewardship for TAW

• In the summer of 1981 Marc welcomed all employees
  of MGA to his home in Urbana, Illinois.
• Over 25 staff converged on Urbana for what would
  become a passing of the torch
• Marc recognized that his concepts had grown far
  beyond research labs and training rooms

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Changes that were made to TAW

• Evolving toward a community imperative
• Training only in natural settings
• Further individualizing task analyses
• Accepting naturalness as a starting point for all
  support and training
• De-mystifying writing of task analyses

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Marc died December 21,1982