Precision teaching

Domain II · Behavioural & cognitive · Ogden Lindsley · 1966

What it is

PT is not a psychotherapy. It is a measurement and decision system that can sit on top of any teaching or treatment method. The learner or clinician pinpoints a countable behaviour, times it, records it as a frequency (count per minute or per day) on the Standard Celeration Chart (SCC), and uses…

Format

• PT has no fixed number of sessions. It runs as a continuous loop with brief daily measurement and weekly decisions for as long as a target is being worked on.
• Timescale. The daily SCC spans 140 calendar days (about one school semester). Celeration is read per week, so decisions usually run on a weekly cycle. Morningside Academy requires learners to keep doubling their performance frequency each week (×2/week) and changes the procedure if the chart shows…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• reading one line in isolation.
• waiting several flat weeks (decisions should be timely) and changing several things at once, which hides what worked.
• a big drop on any check, which means you should raise or modify the aim (Evans aims article) or add maintenance timings.
• stepping back so far that the task becomes "easy-to-do" with no room to grow. Check that the new phase actually changes the celeration.
• missed prompts, so use alarms. The authors suggest the effect may come from the frequent cue to relax and reorient, and it is a single-case self-experiment.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.