Tip 3
Increase Cooperation with Reinforcement
Summary
Planning ahead and providing reinforcement for the behaviors you want your child to exhibit can create lasting positive change. You will increase cooperation by clearly stating your expectations and the reinforcer to be earned prior to having your child completing assignments or activities.
Using a picture reinforcement menu is very helpful and allows children to choose what they want to work for. It is a visual representation of items they can work for and allows freedom of choice; which will increase the likelihood of task completion. Menus minimize the chances that the child will get "tired" of reinforcers. You can have one page with multiple pictures or individual pictures to control choices being offered.
Once you create your menu, you can determine when you want to offer which choices, always offer at least three to choose from (Tip 10). For example: if you know your child has the hardest time doing their math work, then offer the highest preferred item/reinforcer as a choice during that time. Reach out to your child's teacher if they were using a token system or a point system; this will provide consistency from school to home. If your child earned reinforcement for every 10 minutes of work, you may want to reduce it to 5 minutes. If they were completing 20 problems, have them complete 10. This will build success in the new learning environment.
Reinforcer Menu
Reinforcers Chart
Checklist
⃞ Determining what is reinforcing for your child.
⃞ Create a menu of reinforcing items that your child can earn.
⃞ Look at your child's schedule and identify 3 choices for each activity.
⃞ Save the most highly preferred items for the toughest times of day.
⃞ Talk with your child's teacher about appropriate work expectations.
Template Documents
Resources
Positive Reinforcement: Tips for Parenting and Teaching (video)