Teaching-Family Model

1. Introduction

Version followed: the Teaching-Family Model (TFM) as currently defined by the Teaching-Family Association (TFA): 5 goals, 4 integrated systems and 6 elements, 15 standards in all. Teaching procedures follow Blase & Fixsen's account of the ten teaching components and nine teaching types (Integrated therapeutic interactions, Journal of Child Care 3(1), reprinted in CYC-Online issue 78, 2005). Motivation-system and self-government detail comes from the original Achievement Place work (Phillips 1968; Phillips et al. 1973; The Teaching-Family Handbook, Phillips et al. 1974), which I know only through abstracts and secondary summaries. The Boys Town Family Home Program variant is noted where it differs. [source: TFA self-assessment tool; Blase & Fixsen 2005; Boys Town 50-year review]

What it is. TFM is a whole-programme model, not a single therapy. It started in 1967 at Achievement Place, a family-style group home for adjudicated boys in Lawrence, Kansas. The Teaching-Parents there were Lonnie and Elaine Phillips, with Montrose Wolf, Dean Fixsen and University of Kansas colleagues. The model has since been adapted for group homes, treatment foster care, in-home services, schools, shelters and psychiatric settings. A trained couple or team of Teaching-Parents (Boys Town calls them "Family-Teachers") lives or works with a small group of young people. They are backed by an agency system of staff selection, training, consultation, evaluation and facilitative administration. Only TFA-accredited agencies may claim to implement the model. [source: Boys Town 50-year review; CEBC; TFA home page; TFA FAQs]

How change happens. Young people change by learning missing social, self-care, academic and vocational skills. The skills are taught continually in everyday life through brief, warm, structured "teaching interactions". They are reinforced at first with an individualised token (point) system, then by natural consequences and relationships as the artificial system is faded. The skills are then generalised to home, school and community "where it counts" (Blase & Fixsen). TFA now says the main way treatment works is the therapeutic relationship with caregivers in a family-style setting, and it describes the model as strength-based and trauma-informed. Youth voice is built in through self-government. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005; TFA home page]

For an individual psychotherapist. TFM is designed for live-in or daily-contact caregivers inside an accredited agency system. You can't legitimately "run TFM" alone. You can use its teaching procedures in in-home work, parent coaching, consultation to a residential or foster team, or skills-focused sessions. You can also join an accredited or developing agency. How to use it outside the agency system is my own synthesis. [synthesis]

2. Framework

TFM has phases at two levels: the young person's stay and the practitioner's or agency's implementation. [source: CEBC; TFA FAQs; Boys Town 50-year review; Daily Kansan 1970]

A. The young person's course (residential or group home)

Typical duration: about 9 months in residence is the ideal. Home-based TFM runs 6–10 weeks at 10–15 sessions a week. It has also been used in emergency care. [source: CEBC]

B. Practitioner and agency implementation

• Selection: Teaching-Parents usually hold at least a bachelor's degree. [source: CEBC]
• Pre-service training: about 40 hours (around 1 week) of competency-based training covering theory, demonstration, behaviour rehearsal and feedback, including learning to give and accept feedback. [source: CEBC; Boys Town review]
• Consultation: ongoing on-site coaching from a trained consultant (the "Triadic Model" of Teaching-Parent, consultant and youth), with 24-hour on-call support. [source: Boys Town review; CEBC]
• Fidelity evaluation: at Boys Town, at 3, 6 and 12 months, then yearly, plus shorter minor evaluations every 3 months. These combine observation, youth interviews and consumer ratings. Individual certification usually comes after about a year. [source: Boys Town review; CEBC]
• Agency accreditation: 18–30 months of development under a mentor agency, then an on-site review. After that, annual reports and a re-review every 3 years. [source: TFA FAQs]

3. Guiding principles

[source: TFA self-assessment tool (15 standards); TFA home page; Blase & Fixsen 2005; Boys Town 50-year review]

• Humane. Care is respectful and compassionate, with zero tolerance for abuse or neglect. In practice, no consequence or procedure may humiliate, frighten or deprive a young person, and suspected abuse is reported under clear policies.
• Effective. Services are delivered as stated and outcomes are measured. In practice, keep data (point cards, incident reports, goal progress) and change the plan when the data say it isn't working.
• Individualized. Services are client-centred, strength-based and culturally sensitive. In practice, each young person has their own target skills, point values and rationales. There is no one-size rulebook.
• Consumer satisfaction. Youth, parents, schools and referrers are polled regularly (TFA expects at least a 50% return from each group), and the results feed quality assurance. In practice, ask the people you serve how you are doing and act on what they say.
• Trauma-informed. Trauma is common and affects youth and staff alike. In practice, read escalation as possible trauma response, switch to empathy and safety first, and avoid coercive uses of points or levels.
• Teaching (systematic and positive). Teach functional skills, model them yourself, and praise far more than you correct. In practice, aim for at least 4 positive interactions to every corrective one; Boys Town's rubric uses 4:1 and observed homes ran at about 9:1.
• Teach continually. Every moment is a teaching opportunity, and there are no set teaching times. In practice, teach in the kitchen, the car and at bedtime, not just in sessions.
• Self-determination. Clients control their lives as far as possible, help set their own goals, receive the least restrictive service, and learn decision-making. In practice, use family meetings, elected managers and shared goal setting.
• Relationships. Build trusting, warm relationships within professional boundaries and encourage young people to express feelings. In practice, the youth should experience you as a helper, not an enforcer. Quality components and empathy are not optional.
• Family-sensitive approach. Promote and advocate for the youth's own family and involve it in planning and delivery. In practice, the goal is usually reunification, so teach the parents as well as the child.
• Diversity. Services are culturally competent and respectful, with diverse recruitment. In practice, adapt skill definitions and rationales to the youth's culture and community.
• Professionalism. Practitioners know the model's history and goals, its ethics and its accountability. In practice, take part in consultation, evaluation and certification. These are the model.
• Behaviour first described, then treated. Careful observation and accurate description come before treatment. In practice, define the target skill in observable terms before you intervene.
• Rationales tied to the youth's own outcomes. The youth learns that outcomes depend largely on their own actions. In practice, every correction includes a brief, personal, believable reason.
• Fade artificial supports. Points are a temporary bridge to natural reinforcers. In practice, plan the fade from day one.
• Generalise. Skills must work at home, at school and in the community. In practice, practise under near-real conditions and give large rewards for first real-life attempts.
• Data-based refinement. The model was built by repeated measurement and revision. Wolf et al. (1995) describe it as data-based development; that paper is not drawn on. [uncertain] In practice, treat your own procedures as hypotheses to test.

4. Intervention inventory

The inventory has four parts:

• A. The ten teaching components, the building blocks of every interaction.
• B. The nine teaching types (Blase & Fixsen 2005) plus the TFA-named consequence procedures.
• C. The motivation system.
• D. Self-government, relationship, family and system procedures.

All example language is my own illustrative wording. Point values are shown only as relative sizes. Agencies set their own values, and the original manuals are not drawn on. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005; TFA Teaching self-assessment]

A. The ten teaching components (reference for every interaction)

• Purpose: These are the standard parts that teaching interactions are built from. Six appear in every interaction: initial praise or empathy, description of appropriate behaviour, rationale, request for acknowledgement, other praise, and quality components. The other four depend on the goal: description of inappropriate behaviour, consequences, practice, and practice feedback. TFA's teaching standard expects initial praise or empathy, specific descriptions, client-centred rationales, acknowledgement, practice with feedback, and quality components. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005; TFA Teaching self-assessment]
• Steps (usual order, which is flexible):
  1. Initial praise, empathy or affection. Open by noticing something the youth did well, or by naming how they feel. This sets a non-punitive tone.
  2. Description or demonstration of the inappropriate behaviour. Say exactly what was said or done and which skill was missing. Do it immediately, objectively and without judgement. You may demonstrate tone or facial expression, but never mock.
  3. Consequence. Give or remove points according to the youth's motivation level. Always pair a point loss with a chance for positive correction.
  4. Description or demonstration of the appropriate behaviour. Name the skill and describe or model its specific steps. Blase & Fixsen call this the heart of any teaching interaction.
  5. Rationale. Give a brief, personal, believable link between the behaviour and real outcomes for this youth, such as a job, friends, getting on with parents, or going home sooner.
  6. Request for acknowledgement. Check understanding and engagement ("OK?", "Does that make sense?"). This also tells you how clear your teaching was.
  7. Practice. The youth rehearses the skill in a safe, supportive setting. Make it as close to real conditions as possible.
  8. Practice feedback. Give descriptive praise for what went right. For what went wrong, describe it, give the rationale and describe the alternative. Repeat until the skill meets criterion.
  9. Other praise. Give brief, specific praise throughout, for listening, eye contact or staying calm.
  10. Quality components. Use enthusiastic praise and matter-of-fact correction. Keep an open posture: no hands on hips, folded arms or pointing. Keep a neutral or pleasant face. Say "please" and "thank you", and phrase requests as invitations. Smile, keep eye contact, stand nearby, use a light touch on the arm or shoulder where appropriate, and use humour.
• Example language (illustrative): "Thanks for coming over straight away. Just now when I asked you to start the dishes you said 'in a minute' and kept playing. That's a point loss of [X], but you can earn half back by practising. Following instructions means looking at me, saying 'OK', and starting right away. When you do that, adults trust you with more freedom, like later curfew. Make sense? Let's try it. I'll ask again… Great, you looked at me and said OK. That's the skill. You've earned some of those points back."
• Watch for: Interactions that drift into lectures. Keep them brief. Watch for rationales that are about adult convenience ("because I said so") rather than youth outcomes, and for missing quality components, which turn teaching into punishment. It's working when the youth acknowledges, completes practice without arguing, and starts using the skill on their own. Social-validity research found that youths judge staff more favourably when staff ask them for information and praise them. The same research found that checking understanding, practice and feedback are the components staff most often drop (Spence & Lee 1985). Willner et al. (1977) is the original study validating youth-preferred staff behaviours; it is not drawn on. [uncertain]

B1. Effective Praise (reactive)

• Purpose: Reinforce appropriate behaviour, especially newly learned skills. Use it whenever you see a target skill or a good approximation of one. The positive-to-corrective ratio depends on it. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005; TFA Teaching self-assessment]
• Steps:
  1. Show approval through initial praise and affection.
  2. Describe the specific appropriate behaviour and name the skill.
  3. Give a brief rationale for why it matters to the youth.
  4. Optionally ask for acknowledgement.
  5. Award points (positive consequence only).
  6. Use quality components throughout.
  There is no description of inappropriate behaviour and no practice.
• Example language (illustrative): "Hey, nice job! When Sam teased you, you took a breath and walked away. That's staying calm. That's exactly what keeps you out of fights at school. You've earned [X] points for that."
• Watch for: Vague praise such as "good boy" or "nice". Watch also for praising only perfect performance. Praise approximations of new skills. It's working when the frequency of the praised skill rises.

B2. Planned Teaching (proactive)

• Purpose: Teach a new skill, or polish one, at a neutral or positive time when there's no problem going on. Use it for skills on the treatment plan before the youth needs them. It suits individuals or small groups. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005]
• Steps:
  1. Choose a calm moment.
  2. Give initial praise.
  3. Name and describe the skill and its steps.
  4. Give a rationale.
  5. Request acknowledgement.
  6. Model the skill.
  7. Have the youth practise, with feedback. Repeat until fluent.
  8. Give positive consequences only.
  9. Arrange a real-life try soon after and reward it heavily.
• Example language (illustrative): "You've been doing really well with homework. Tomorrow you meet your new caseworker, so let's practise introducing yourself. There are three parts: look at the person, say your name and a greeting, and ask a question back. That way people see you as mature from the start. Want to try it with me as the caseworker?"
• Watch for: Choosing a time when the youth is upset or has just been corrected. That's Problem-Oriented Teaching, not Planned. It's working when the youth can perform the steps without prompts during practice.

B3. Preventive Teaching (proactive)

• Purpose: Prepare the youth just before a situation that will need particular skills, such as court, a restaurant, a family visit or a new school. Use it when you can foresee the demand. It suits individuals or small groups. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005; TFA Teaching self-assessment]
• Steps:
  1. Give initial praise.
  2. Describe the upcoming situation.
  3. Briefly mention any past problems in similar situations.
  4. Describe the skill needed.
  5. Give a rationale.
  6. Request acknowledgement.
  7. Practise, with feedback.
  8. Give positive consequences only.
  9. Afterwards, praise what went well.
• Example language (illustrative): "You've been calm all morning, thanks. In an hour we're at court. Last time the judge spoke, you interrupted. Today, if you disagree, wait until she asks if you have anything to say, then say it calmly. That shows her you're ready to go home. Let's practise: I'll be the judge."
• Watch for: Preventive teaching that sounds like a warning or a threat. Keep it upbeat. It's working when problems in that situation drop over repeated occasions.

B4. Preventive Prompting (proactive)

• Purpose: A quick verbal reminder just before a situation, for a skill the youth has already learned and practised. Use it with individuals or groups. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005]
• Steps:
  1. Remind the youth of the expected behaviour.
  2. Give a short rationale.
  3. Mention possible consequences.
  There is no practice and no consequence delivery.
• Example language (illustrative): "Quick reminder before we go into the store: stay with the group and ask before picking something up. That way we can come back next week."
• Watch for: Using prompts for skills that were never taught. That calls for Planned or Preventive Teaching instead. It's working when the youth performs the skill after a prompt alone and needs fewer and fewer prompts.

B5. Problem-Oriented (Corrective) Teaching (reactive)

• Purpose: Respond to inappropriate behaviour that happens in your presence by teaching the alternative skill. This is the classic teaching interaction. Boys Town and TFA call it "corrective teaching". [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005; TFA Teaching self-assessment]
• Steps: Use all ten components in roughly the order given in A:
  1. Initial praise or empathy.
  2. Describe the inappropriate behaviour.
  3. Point loss.
  4. Describe the appropriate behaviour and name the skill.
  5. Rationale.
  6. Acknowledgement.
  7. Practice.
  8. Practice feedback, with positive correction: earn back up to half of the lost points.
  9. Other praise.
  Do it immediately after the behaviour.
• Example language (illustrative): See the example under A.
• Watch for: Escalation partway through. If it happens, switch to Teaching to On-Going Behaviour (B6), or to Crisis Management (B8) if the youth is losing control. Also watch for point losses so large that the youth gives up, and for an unbalanced ratio. It's working when the youth accepts the consequence, completes practice, and the problem behaviour falls in frequency.

B6. Teaching to On-Going Behaviour (reactive)

• Purpose: Interrupt an interaction, often one already under way, to deal with behaviour that blocks learning, such as complaining, pouting, arguing or not looking at you. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005]
• Steps:
  1. Pause the original teaching.
  2. Use the same components as Problem-Oriented Teaching, focused on the on-going behaviour. Often the skill is "accepting consequences" or "accepting feedback".
  3. Once the youth is responding, go back and finish the original interaction.
• Example language (illustrative): "I'm going to stop for a second. Right now you're rolling your eyes and saying it's not fair. Accepting feedback means looking at me, staying calm, and saying 'OK'. If you disagree, you can ask to talk about it later. Can you try that now?"
• Watch for: Chains of on-going teaching with stacked point losses. If the youth is not de-escalating after one or two cycles, move to Crisis Management. [synthesis]

B7. Preventive (Intensive) Teaching

• Purpose: Prepare a youth before a situation that has caused serious problems in the past, such as aggression or running away. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005]
• Steps:
  1. Tell the youth what is coming.
  2. Recall how serious the earlier behaviour was, factually and without shaming.
  3. Teach the skills and alternative options, including how to ask for help or a break.
  4. Give a rationale.
  5. Request acknowledgement.
  6. Practise, including the alternatives.
  7. Explain that point loss with positive correction applies if the problem recurs.
• Example language (illustrative): "Your dad is visiting Saturday. Last visit, when he brought up school, you threw a chair and the visit ended early. This time, if you start to feel hot, you can say 'I need a minute' and step out with me. That keeps the visit going. Let's practise what you'd say."
• Watch for: Shaming in the recall step. Watch also for not arranging the practical supports, such as a staff member nearby. It's working when serious incidents in that situation don't recur.

B8. Crisis Management

• Purpose: Respond to extreme, out-of-control behaviour. Blase & Fixsen say it is not teaching, though it uses teaching components. The aim is safety and a return to calm. TFA requires planned, safe de-escalation and crisis techniques for aggressive or intensive behaviour, but neither source details physical procedures. Follow your agency's approved crisis-intervention training, physical interventions included. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005; TFA Teaching self-assessment]
• Steps:
  1. Use less praise and more empathy and expressions of care, in a serious tone.
  2. Give no consequences during the crisis.
  3. Describe the inappropriate behaviour sparingly, and always follow it at once with a clear description of the calm behaviour you want, such as sitting down or lowering the voice.
  4. Give simple, repeated instructions and praise any approximation of calming.
  5. Keep others safe.
  6. When calm, move to Intensive Teaching.
• Example language (illustrative): "I can see you're really angry. I want to help. Right now I need you to sit down on the couch… Thank you for lowering your voice. Keep taking slow breaths."
• Watch for: Adding point fines or arguing during the crisis, which escalates it. Watch also for staff fear or anger showing in tone and posture. Trauma-informed practice treats the crisis as possible trauma activation. [source: TFA trauma-informed standard; synthesis for application] It's working when the youth's voice, movement and compliance with simple requests settle.

B9. Intensive Teaching (post-crisis)

• Purpose: Bring a crisis to a constructive end, usually straight after it, and teach alternatives. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005]
• Steps:
  1. Open with empathy and affection.
  2. Always include practice of accepting the point fine and practice of following instructions.
  3. Then teach the skill that would have prevented the crisis, such as expressing anger appropriately.
  4. Use point loss with positive correction.
  5. Close with praise for regaining control.
• Example language (illustrative): "You worked really hard to calm down, and I know that wasn't easy. Let's finish this so you can move on. That outburst costs [X] points. Show me you can accept it: look at me, say 'OK', no arguing… Well done. Now let's practise what to do next time you feel that angry."
• Watch for: Starting before the youth is genuinely calm, which can reignite the crisis. Watch also for skipping it, which leaves the crisis unresolved. It's working when the youth completes the acceptance practice and you see fewer crises over time.

B10. Logical and natural consequences; positive correction

• Purpose: TFA lists logical and natural consequences as core procedures alongside points. Positive correction lets a youth earn back part of a point loss, up to half in Blase & Fixsen's example, by practising the alternative skill. This turns the penalty into a learning opportunity. [source: TFA Teaching self-assessment; Blase & Fixsen 2005]
• Steps:
  1. Choose a consequence logically related to the behaviour. For example, damaged property is repaired, or a missed chore is completed.
  2. Explain the link as a rationale.
  3. Offer positive correction right away through practice.
  4. Over time, point the youth to natural consequences (what happens at school or work) rather than points.
• Example language (illustrative): "Because the bike came back late, it stays here tomorrow. You can earn back half the points now by practising checking in on time."
• Watch for: Consequences that are disproportionate, delayed or unrelated to the behaviour. Never deprive a youth of basic needs, family contact as a punishment, or safety. [synthesis consistent with the TFA Humane standard]

C1. Point system (token economy) and point card

• Purpose: Give frequent, immediate, quantified feedback on target skills, backed by privileges that already exist in the home. Achievement Place used privileges such as TV, snacks, bikes, allowance, going downtown and home visits, with no expensive prizes. Point size signals how important a behaviour is. The point card also gives supervisors a record of teaching. [source: Phillips 1968 summary; Daily Kansan 1970; Blase & Fixsen 2005; Boys Town 50-year review]
• Steps:
  1. List the target skills from the treatment plan, each with a point value. Bigger values go to more important skills and to new skills being shaped.
  2. List the privileges and their prices.
  3. Explain the system to the youth during Planned Teaching.
  4. The youth carries a card. Each teaching interaction is recorded on it: the skill, points given or taken, and practice.
  5. Exchange points for privileges on the schedule set by the youth's level (see C2).
  6. Review cards daily with the youth, praising gains.
  7. Each week, review the cards with your consultant. Check the ratio of positive to negative interactions (at least 4:1), the size of losses, and patterns.
• Example language (illustrative): "Every time you use one of these skills you'll earn points, and that's how you buy things like phone time and going out. Points come off for some behaviours, but you can always earn half back by practising. Let's look at today's card. You earned a lot for homework."
• Watch for: Coercive drift. Boys Town warns that point and level systems can be manipulative if poorly designed, and current debate has pushed for moving away from them; see section 5. Also watch for losses that far outweigh gains and for privileges that are really basic rights. It's working when target skills increase and positive entries clearly outnumber negative ones.

C2. Motivation levels and fading (Achievement Place progression)

• Purpose: Move the youth from a tightly structured, immediate reinforcement system to delayed, then natural, reinforcement as skills grow. TFA's standard says clients advance through levels and earn more privileges and freedom as they progress. [source: TFA Teaching self-assessment; Daily Kansan 1970]
• Steps (Achievement Place sequence; mostly not drawn on, so treat as [uncertain]):
  1. Daily system. Points are exchanged for privileges every day. It's for new arrivals and youths who need immediate feedback.
  2. Weekly system. Points earned one week buy privileges the next. The weekly exchange is confirmed by the 1970 account.
  3. Merit system. No points are given. Privileges are freely available while behaviour stays good, and praise and natural reinforcers carry the load.
  4. Homeward Bound. This is the transition home (see D4).
  Boys Town's Family Home Program uses its own named levels. Their names are not verified. [uncertain] Moving up should depend on meeting written, individualised criteria. If the youth slips, return them to a more structured level briefly, framed as support rather than punishment. [synthesis]
• Example language (illustrative): "You've been on the daily system for three weeks and you've met your goals most days. Let's look at moving you to weekly. You'd get more freedom, and it shows you can plan ahead."
• Watch for: Youths stuck at the bottom level, which suggests the system is set up for failure. Re-check the targets and values. Watch also for drops in level after a single incident. It's working when the youth holds the skills at less structured levels.

C3. School daily report card (home–school note)

• Purpose: Extend the home's motivation system to school. Achievement Place boys carried a daily card. Teachers rated studying, following rules, completing homework and test grades, and home points depended on the ratings. The 1970 account reports large gains in study behaviour. [source: Daily Kansan 1970, secondary; original JABA studies not drawn on, so treat as [uncertain]]
• Steps:
  1. Agree three to five observable school behaviours with the teacher.
  2. Give the teacher a short card to tick each day or each lesson.
  3. The youth brings it home. Teaching-Parents award or remove points and praise.
  4. As performance stabilises, fade to weekly reports.
• Example language (illustrative): To the teacher: "Could you just tick yes or no for these three things each day? It takes 30 seconds and lets us back you up at home."
• Watch for: Forged or lost cards. Treat a missing card as a missing-skill teaching issue. Watch also for teacher fatigue. Keep the card short. [synthesis]

D1. Family meeting (family conference; self-government)

• Purpose: Give youths a real voice in running the home and teach decision-making, problem-solving and responsibility. TFA lists family meetings, manager systems and citizenship as the parts of self-government. At Boys Town they are daily, with limits for safety, health and education. In the Achievement Place experiments, boys at a daily family conference discussed rules and decided consequences for rule violations. I know this from secondary sources and did not open Fixsen, Phillips & Wolf 1973. [uncertain] [source: Boys Town 50-year review; Boys Town blog]
• Steps:
  1. Hold the meeting at a fixed daily time.
  2. Open with praise for the group.
  3. Go through the agenda: rule proposals, reported problems, chore assignments and upcoming events.
  4. Teach and prompt the skills of discussion, such as waiting your turn, giving a reason and disagreeing appropriately.
  5. Youths propose and vote on rules or consequences within adult-set limits.
  6. Teaching-Parents keep a veto for safety, health, education and fairness, and explain any veto with a rationale.
  7. Record the decisions and review them at the next meeting.
• Example language (illustrative): "OK, next on the agenda: Jordan raised the bathroom schedule. Who has an idea? Remember to give a reason. Good point, Ty. I like that you gave a reason. Let's vote."
• Watch for: Meetings turning into peer punishment or a show trial. Watch also for a few dominant voices and for adults overriding without a rationale. It's working when the youth contribute proposals, follow the rules they made, and solve problems more on their own.

D2. Manager system (peer manager)

• Purpose: Teach leadership and responsibility and get daily tasks done. Phillips et al. (1973) compared ways of choosing a manager. A democratically elected peer manager, who could give and take points for peers' task performance, worked best and was the one the boys preferred. It beat both the highest bidder and an adult-assigned manager. [source: Phillips et al. 1973 summary]
• Steps:
  1. Define the manager's duties, for example supervising chores.
  2. Hold an election at the family meeting.
  3. Teach the manager the skills: giving instructions politely, giving feedback, and recording points.
  4. The manager's own points depend on the group's task completion.
  5. Teaching-Parents monitor the manager's teaching and fairness, and teach the manager in turn.
  6. Rotate or re-elect at a set interval.
• Example language (illustrative): "As manager this week you'll check rooms each morning. Remember: start with something they did well, say what's left, and say please. Show me how you'd say it to Marcus."
• Watch for: Bullying, favouritism or retaliation. Under the TFA Humane standard, adults keep responsibility for any coercive use of peer power. [synthesis] It's working when tasks are done with little adult prompting and peers rate the manager as fair.

D3. Relationship development and youth-preferred interaction style

• Purpose: Build "mutually reinforcing relationships" (Boys Town review) and a therapeutic alliance, so the youth sees the Teaching-Parent as a helper and teaching works. TFA's Relationships element requires trusting, warm relationships within professional boundaries and encouragement to express feelings. [source: TFA self-assessment; Boys Town 50-year review; Blase & Fixsen 2005]
• Steps:
  1. Use quality components in every interaction.
  2. Spend non-contingent time with each youth daily, such as talking, joking or doing an activity together. Ask about their interests and opinions, since asking youths for information predicted positive youth ratings (Spence & Lee 1985).
  3. Show affection and empathy, especially in hard moments.
  4. Explain your decisions and be visibly fair.
  5. Encourage the youth to express feelings appropriately.
  6. Ask youths regularly how you are doing (see D6).
• Example language (illustrative): "How did the tryout go? … You sound disappointed. Want to shoot some hoops and talk about it?"
• Watch for: Relationships that depend on point contingencies, and boundary drift. It's working when youths seek you out, bring problems to you, and rate you highly on consumer evaluations.

D4. Family-sensitive work, parent training and Homeward Bound

• Purpose: Keep the youth's family central, prepare for reunification, and teach parents the same skills so that gains hold. At Achievement Place, Homeward Bound lasted about 2 to 6 months. The youth first went home at weekends, then lived at home while staff kept close contact and taught parents the programme techniques. Boys Town later packaged the abbreviated teaching interaction for parents as Common Sense Parenting. [source: Daily Kansan 1970; Boys Town 50-year review; TFA Family-Sensitive standard]
• Steps:
  1. Involve parents in goal setting from admission.
  2. Invite them to observe and practise teaching interactions: model, rehearse, give feedback.
  3. Plan graded home visits with Preventive Teaching for both youth and parents beforehand.
  4. Debrief each visit using data, such as a simple home card.
  5. Move to full-time home placement with frequent contact.
  6. Agree a plan for re-entry or support if problems recur.
• Example language (illustrative): To a parent: "Let me show you how we handle it when he doesn't follow an instruction. Then you try it with me playing him."
• Watch for: Parents who feel blamed, and treating family contact as a privilege to withdraw. It's working when parents carry out praise and corrective teaching on their own and home incidents stay low.

D5. Advocacy and coordination with school and community

• Purpose: Teaching-Parents work with teachers, probation officers, caseworkers and others. These contacts give descriptions of behaviour outside the home, which shape further teaching, and they help the youth win needed services. TFA's model statement lists client advocacy among the essential elements. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005; CEBC]
• Steps:
  1. Contact the school and other agencies regularly.
  2. Ask for specific behavioural descriptions.
  3. Turn those reports into teaching targets and preventive teaching.
  4. Advocate in meetings, such as IEP meetings and court, with data.
• Example language (illustrative): "Can you tell me exactly what happened in class? What did he say, and what did you ask him to do? That helps us teach the right skill at home."
• Watch for: Relying on vague reports such as "he was disrespectful". Get the specifics.

D6. Consumer (social-validity) evaluation

• Purpose: Ask youths, parents, teachers, referrers and others to rate the programme and staff, and use the results for improvement. TFA requires regular polling with at least a 50% return from each consumer group. [source: TFA self-assessment; Boys Town 50-year review]
• Steps:
  1. Identify the consumer groups.
  2. Use the agency's standard satisfaction questionnaire. I don't reproduce it here.
  3. Collect the ratings at set intervals and at discharge.
  4. Review them with your consultant.
  5. Make specific changes and report them back to the consumers.
• Watch for: Low return rates and dismissing negative feedback.

D7. Consultation, point-card review and fidelity evaluation (practitioner-level procedure)

• Purpose: Keep teaching skilful, humane and faithful to the model. The consultant coaches the Teaching-Parents (Triadic Model). Teaching-Parents are evaluated through observation, youth interviews and consumer ratings, with certification at about one year. After the first replication attempt failed in 1971, certification was developed. [source: Boys Town 50-year review; CEBC; TFA self-assessment]
• Steps:
  1. Hold regular sessions with your consultant. Bring point cards and incident data.
  2. Review the positive-to-negative ratio and the youths' progress toward goals.
  3. Role-play difficult interactions and get feedback.
  4. Prepare for evaluations at 3, 6 and 12 months, then yearly. This is the Boys Town schedule; others vary.
  5. Act on the evaluation feedback.
• Watch for: Defensiveness about feedback. Accepting feedback is itself a pre-service skill. Watch also for consultation that happens only after a crisis.

D8. Individualised treatment planning and goal setting with the youth

• Purpose: Make the teaching targets specific, strength-based and owned by the youth. TFA requires specific skill targets that change as clients progress, with the client involved. [source: TFA self-assessment, Individualized, Self-Determination and Teaching standards]
• Steps:
  1. Use observation and reports to list strengths and missing skills.
  2. Choose a few priority skills and define their steps.
  3. Agree the youth's own goals and the rationales that matter to them.
  4. Set point values and level criteria.
  5. Review with the youth and family at set intervals, and update as skills are mastered.
• Example language (illustrative): "What do you want to be different by the time you go home? … OK, getting your phone back and going to your brother's games. The skills that'll get you there are following instructions and accepting 'no'. Let's start there."
• Watch for: Plans written for the youth rather than with them, and targets that stay the same for months.

5. Handling problems

The sources give general direction: switch to crisis management or intensive teaching for escalation, review point cards in consultation, and treat poorly designed point and level systems as a coercion risk. They give little problem-by-problem guidance. Most responses below are therefore marked [synthesis] and built from TFM's own procedures. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005; Boys Town 50-year review; TFA standards]

• Youth refuses to acknowledge or practise during corrective teaching. Switch to Teaching to On-Going Behaviour aimed at "accepting consequences" or "accepting feedback" (B6). Give the youth a calm choice and time, and offer positive correction as the incentive. Don't stack fine after fine. If the youth is still refusing after one or two cycles, move to Crisis Management (B8) and then Intensive Teaching (B9). [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005 for the teaching types; synthesis for the cycle limit]
• Escalation to aggression or out-of-control behaviour. Drop consequences and use empathy, short instructions and praise for calming. Follow agency-approved de-escalation and any physical-intervention training. Debrief with Intensive Teaching only once the youth is calm. Then plan Preventive (Intensive) Teaching for the trigger situation. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005; TFA Teaching standard]
• Overwhelm, trauma reactions or dissociation. TFA requires trauma-informed care. Treat sudden shutdown, panic or rage as possible trauma activation. Lead with safety, empathy and choice. Postpone teaching. Avoid surprise demands near known triggers. Coordinate with the youth's clinician on trauma treatment, because TFM teaching does not replace trauma-focused therapy. [source: TFA trauma-informed standard; synthesis for specifics]
• Point-system problems: "bankruptcy", indifference or gaming. Signs include losses far outweighing gains, privileges that are really basic rights, or a youth stuck on the bottom level. On the consultant's review of point cards (D7), rebalance: smaller fines, more chances to earn, more Effective Praise, and positive correction always on offer. If the youth doesn't value the privileges, use the youth's own goals in D8 to find better ones. [source: Boys Town 50-year review on coercion risk and card review; synthesis for remedies]
• Coercion and level-system criticism. Boys Town's review cites Lieberman et al. (2019) arguing for moving away from point and level systems in trauma-informed residential care, and Peterson & Huefner (2023) defending well-designed token economies. Neither is drawn on. [uncertain] Practical guidance: keep at least a 4:1 positive ratio, never make family contact, food, safety or therapy contingent on points, fade points as early as possible, and give the youth a voice through the family meeting. [synthesis]
• Low positive ratio and teacher burnout. Track your own positive and corrective interactions on the cards. Consultation should coach planned Effective Praise and Planned Teaching to restore the ratio. [source: Boys Town review on the 4:1 rubric; synthesis]
• Non-adherence (chores, school, homework). Break the task into skills. Use Preventive Teaching and Preventive Prompting before the demand, a home–school card for school tasks, and the manager system for chores. Reinforce approximations generously. [synthesis drawing on B3, B4, C3, D2]
• Ruptures in the youth–Teaching-Parent relationship. Examples are a youth who says "you're unfair" or "you only care about points". Increase non-contingent warm time. Ask for the youth's view, since asking for information is socially valid (Spence & Lee 1985). Acknowledge your own errors and model accepting feedback. Explain decisions with rationales. Raise the issue at the family meeting if it's a group pattern. [synthesis consistent with the TFA Relationships element]
• Peer manager or family meeting misused. If you see bullying, scapegoating or harsh peer consequences, step in, re-teach fair leadership, use your adult veto with a rationale, and rotate the role. [synthesis]
• Generalisation failure: fine in the home, not at school or with family. Practise under more realistic conditions. Increase Preventive Teaching before real situations. Give large reinforcement for first real-world attempts. Bring parents and teachers into the same teaching language. [source: Blase & Fixsen 2005; synthesis for specifics]
• Family disengagement or conflict during transition. Keep family contact unconditional. Coach parents in short, graded steps and praise their attempts. Lengthen Homeward Bound or step back to weekend visits rather than ending the placement. [synthesis drawing on D4]
• Self-harm or suicide risk. TFM sources do not cover this. [uncertain] Follow standard practice:
  • Ask directly about suicidal thoughts.
  • Use your agency's structured risk assessment and safety-planning procedures.
  • Arrange clinical evaluation.
  • Restrict access to lethal means in the home through locked storage and removal of medications, sharps and firearms.
  • Never make safety measures or mental-health care contingent on points.
  [synthesis]
• Peer contagion in group living. A group of youths with conduct problems can reinforce deviant talk. The sources don't address this. [uncertain] Keep groups small, as the model specifies (about six to eight youths), supervise unstructured time, and praise prosocial peer talk in family meetings. [synthesis]
• Practitioner drift or replication failure. The first replication failed in 1971. Proximity to training and coaching predicted whether the model was sustained. Stay in regular consultation and evaluation. If you work outside an accredited agency, seek supervision from someone trained in TFM and don't present your work as TFM. [source: Boys Town 50-year review; TFA home page on trademark]
• Adapting for outpatient or in-home therapy. Use B1–B9 in session with parents as the main agents. Model, then have the parent practise with you giving feedback. Set up a simple home point card if appropriate, and review it each week, as in D7. TFA-defined home-based TFM is intensive (10–15 sessions a week), so a weekly outpatient version is an adaptation, not TFM. [source: CEBC for intensity; synthesis for the adaptation]

Sources

Sources:

• Teaching-family model (Wikipedia)
• Teaching-Family Association home page
• Teaching-Family Association FAQs
• TFA Self-Assessment Tool (15 standards)
• TFA Self-Assessment: Teaching element
• CEBC: Teaching-Family Model implementation
• Blase & Fixsen, Integrated therapeutic interactions (CYC-Online 78)
• Boys Town: 50 years of the Teaching-Family Model (PDF)
• Boys Town blog: The Family Home Program, 50 years
• Summary of Phillips et al. 1973, elected manager system
• Summary of Phillips 1968, token reinforcement procedures
• OJP abstract: Achievement Place, behavior shaping works for delinquents
• OJP abstract: Achievement Place, an evaluative review
• OJP abstract: Boys Town Family Home Program description
• University Daily Kansan, 1970: No room for failure at Achievement Place (OCR)
• Spence & Lee 1985, Observation and social validation of staff behaviours (abstract)
• Thompson, A Review of the Teaching Family Model/Boys Town Family Home Program (abstract only)

Further reading (not drawn on) [uncertain where relied on]:

• Phillips, E. L. (1968). Achievement Place: Token reinforcement procedures in a home-style rehabilitation setting for "pre-delinquent" boys. JABA, 1, 213–223.
• Phillips, E. L., Phillips, E. A., Fixsen, D. L., & Wolf, M. M. (1971). Achievement Place: Modification of the behaviors of pre-delinquent boys within a token economy. JABA, 4, 45–59.
• Fixsen, D. L., Phillips, E. L., & Wolf, M. M. (1973). Achievement Place: Experiments in self-government with pre-delinquents. JABA, 6, 31–47.
• Phillips, E. L., Phillips, E. A., Wolf, M. M., & Fixsen, D. L. (1973). Achievement Place: Development of the elected manager system. JABA, 6, 541–561.
• Phillips, E. L., Phillips, E. A., Fixsen, D. L., & Wolf, M. M. (1974). The Teaching-Family Handbook. University of Kansas Printing Service.
• Braukmann, C. J., et al. (1975). Achievement Place: The training and certification of teaching-parents.
• Willner, A. G., et al. (1977). The training and validation of youth-preferred social behaviors of child-care personnel. JABA, 10, 219–230.
• Wolf, M. M., Kirigin, K. A., Fixsen, D. L., Blase, K. A., & Braukmann, C. J. (1995). The Teaching-Family Model: A case study in data-based program development and refinement (and dragon wrestling). Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 15, 11–68.
• Fixsen, D. L., Blase, K. A., Timbers, G. D., & Wolf, M. M. (2007). In search of program implementation: 792 replications of the Teaching-Family Model. The Behavior Analyst Today, 8(1), 96–114.
• Fixsen, D. L., & Blase, K. A. (2018). The Teaching-Family Model: The first 50 years. Perspectives on Behavior Science.
• Lieberman, R. E., et al. (2019). Redefining residential: Trauma-informed practice, moving away from point and level systems.
• Peterson, J. C., & Huefner, J. C. (2023). Token economies in residential care systems: Are they bad practice?
• Burke, R., Herron, R., & Barnes, B. (2015). Common Sense Parenting (4th ed.). Boys Town Press.