Behavioral Chart

[TerryJ2]

Several of you have suggested behavioral charts, but for some reason, it just clicked yesterday. Probably because we've been working so hard on other behaviors and now difficult child has certain things under control, plus, he's mature enough to understand behavior, so it is time.
I mentioned it at the dinner table and easy child and husband thought it was a great idea. difficult child kept running back and forth to his video game (see other note) so he didn't even listen to the conversation.
I will create a chart Sunday (which is in a few hrs. )
easy child was excitied because in psychology, she's been studying behavior charts, and the "in" thing is called token economy. You use tokens to earn items or privileges. She said it is used in nursing homes in dementia units, in psychiatric units, and for third graders--IOW, it works for all ages and issues.
She said that you can't expect someone to clean his rm and only give him a penny--the token has to equal in value what the behavior was. So we will have to come up with-something that will work.
Right now, we've simply been rewarding difficult child with-Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (yes, I know they have milk) when he takes his pills at night, and a bigger prize at the end of the wk if he has behaved, as well as if his Friday Folder is good. So I think we can step it up to more specific behaviors.

Right now, I think I should address the unwanted behavior of his waking up in the middle of the night to play laptop video games.
Is there a negative item on the behavior chart? Or is it only to earn positives?

 

[Ropefree]

We did a daily chart with behavor and chores in a day. There are alot when you list them : wake up, dress, make the bed, breakfast, breakfast dishes, brush teeth, shoes on, coat on, book bag, in the car on time, no whining in the car ect
The points we counted every day as the last job of the day.
Back in the ancient old former times the rewards were doing activities and special adventures from the accumulation of points.
The first one my child wanted was to specify when and where I read to him.

The surprise for the parents is what the child wants as the reward. They, after all are the one who is earning it.

And, yes, deduction is a part as well. I think deduction works best as a less desireable activity that has to be done befor the reward. Rather than subtracting points.

Food, money and goods are not what we used for the rewards BECAUSE the lesson is in the natural consequence of doing what takes care of self and the household
creates the time to do more.

Esteem in productivity is one key developemental psycological needs that learning to and proforming chores offers children. The families praise and pride in the work and behavor is itsself suporting the fundimental need. And watch..they puff like roosters with that competance.

WE painted the chart together as we talked about it. We made the alarm clocks
AM and PM the tooth brush and floss ect I covered it with contact paper so the
awards could be stuck back up as they were done.
When the chores are well learned then we clumpt them together and the clump of chores without prompting had an added value.
Have a great time with it. We did.

 

[nvts]

Hey Terri! Behavior charts are supposed to be positive reinforcement. We had some luck with them, but not much. Basically, you want to list what behavior that you want to address and then check marks squares. You can even do stickers if you want. There are several sites out there that you can look at samples or even order premade ones. You can also find pads of them in book stores or stores that cater to teachers.

What we found to work as far as "motivators" was a treasure box. 10 stickers or checks (depending on the number of behaviors you're trying to correct) gets you a trip to the treasure box on Saturday Morning. There's a store over in Jersey called 5 Below, so I'd stop in there every once in a while and fill up the treasure box so that there would be a varied selection. Variety is key. They never get bored and they always want something to look forward to. If they see a few things in the treasure box that they want, you have them eating out of the palm of your hand!

Good luck with the whole thing!

Beth

 

[Andy]

Last year we had charts for my difficult child. Two charts. One listed everything (very detailed) of how he can earn points. Every chore we could think of - pick up clothes, pick up dishes, brush teeth, clean bathroom, to bed by 8:00, ect. The other was how he would loose points - talking back, tantrum, hand on car handle before car stopped, ect. I tried to focus on the positive - You earn points for doing what is right, if you do not pick up your clothes or brush your teeth, you do not get points but you also do not loose points. The points taken away were for those behaviors that you could not reward by doing - you can't give points for not talking back.

I even gave points for times in the day that were harder to behave - 15 points if there is no trouble (didn't loose points) from 4:00 - 5:30, ect.

When the chart started, I had to give the actual points a few times each day because waiting an entire day was too hard. Giving the results out every few hours helped him focus on the chart.

We bought poker chips - white for 5 points, red for 25 points, and blue for 50 points. We paid him in poker chips which he could save and spend as wanted.

We had a third chart listing the cost of some rewards - Donut, movie at theater, movie at home, game with mom, ect.

difficult child made each of the three posters. Poster board and a variety of colored markers.

This worked for several months for us.

 

[Jena]

HI,

We spoke of this. It is anything you want to work on with- your child, if it's for instance staying in bed and not taking video game out can be one, 2nd using your words not yelling or cursing, no hitting. I went with absolute basic's on mine. No hitting, no verbally attacking use words, clean up toys, get to school on time.

I'm doing monetary reward on mine. I figured i't sa two fold, she'll begin to learn the value of the dollar more than previous and she can learn to save. we have opened an account so that when she earns a few dollars she can save it weekly.

I'Tourette's Syndrome also interesting to see how much they can/can't control

 

[klmno]

My difficult child must be the odd ball when it comes to these charts. I had heard of and tried several of the methods listed here and am aware that they work great for many kids. But they didn't work for mine because he only registered the negative and it seemed to just reinforce bad behavior.

For whatever reason- age, no clear minuses on the chart, I don't know- this is what has worked for mine:

"We" made a list of the expectations for him weekly. These were simple things like doing homework nightly (except on Fri.), keeping his schedule (going to bed on time and getting up on time), good behavior in each class at school, chores at home, obeying house rules. Then, I assigned a VERY low amount of money to each one. The amount is very low for several reasons- 1) I'm paying restitution for him, 2) most of these things are expected from him, and I have a little problem paying for everything he is expected to do, and 3) because I didn't want him to feel like he earned much for only doing a couple of things, I wanted him to get the point that it takes doing what one is supposed to consistently in order for the benefit to add up enough to be worth much.

Breaking it down into very small "pieces" (such as $1 per class if he behaved in that class all week; $0.50 per day that he stayed on schedule, etc) seems more doable for my difficult child. Each day, I put a checkmark on his calendar for what he did to stay on track. There are no minuses. Then, it gets added up at the end of the week. If he did everything he is supposed to for the week, he would earn $19. If he did that well, which doesn't happen the majority of the time, I would give him the little bonus of $1 and give him a $20 bill. Actually, I don't physically give him the money, he just knows he has that much that he can spend at the store or save some or all of. I don't fuss at him at all if he earns $15 instead of $19.

Then, since difficult child seriously needs to work on problem solving, I added a bonus sytem where if he identifies a valid issue that is interfering with something and he brings it to the attention of an appropriate authority figure instead of acting impulsively, he gets a little bonus. If he proposes a solution and discusses a proposed solution with an authority figure, he gets a little more of a bonus, whether or not his proposed solution is accepted.

Until difficult child "shut down" emotionally a few weeks ago, this method worked very well for him for over a year. It obviously won't work for all kids, but it might be worth discussing with your difficult child things he really wants and getting him involved in the establishment of the "chart".

My son wanted an allowance given consistently. I told him he would have to do his part in order to get that, thus, we came up with this plan. I also told my son that if he wanted an allowance given like adults earn salaries, instead of having to earn it piece by piece like adults working by the hour, then he had to show that he was responsible enough to take initiative to do what he's supposed to consistently and without being told to. So, that is the goal.

Sorry this got long- it might not help you at all, I just thought I'd throw it out there!

 

[trinityroyal]

Like Klmno, I found that my difficult child responded very badly to a behaviour chart.
Instead of doing the things he was supposed to do, he ended up breaking even more rules. I think having it all spelled out for him made him feel overwhelmed, and he decided he was a bad kid and just stopped trying.

For my difficult child, what has worked is constant verbal reinforcement. Of the things he has to do, and the things he's not supposed to do. The staff at his Residential Treatment Center (RTC) keep on top of him and provide verbal instructions and guidance as needed.

(Honestly, I don't think I'd be able to keep up with that degree of scrutiny and reinforcement at home. I would never get anything else done)

Terry, I hope the behaviour charts do work for you. I like the treasure box suggestion, and the focus on the positive.

Good luck!

Trinity

 

[TerryJ2]

Esteem in productivity is one key developemental psycological needs that learning to and proforming chores offers children. The families praise and pride in the work and behavor is itsself suporting the fundimental need. And watch..they puff like roosters with that competance.

I like that! Thank you.

Treasure box, Beth? That's a thought.

I even gave points for times in the day that were harder to behave - 15 points if there is no trouble (didn't loose points) from 4:00 - 5:30, ect.

That's a good idea ...

I also told my son that if he wanted an allowance given like adults earn salaries, instead of having to earn it piece by piece like adults working by the hour,

Our child psychiatric has often mentioned that to our difficult child.

Andy, my son loves poker chips! Too funny.

Trinity, I'm worried about the negative effects and whether it will be short-term, as well.

A lot of food for thought here.