HowMuchLonger
New Member
Has anyone heard of or tried this? It was suggested to me at the ER Friday night and I'm hoping for some input or ideas. At first I laughed and told her it was yet another glorified "sticker chart" but after researching it a bit, I guess it's used quite often in psychiatric and/or correctional settings. I can't say I've tried everything if I really haven't, so I'm going to give it a shot.
My problem is coming up with a list of DO's. I don't want to make it too easy or too hard to achieve. Should I start small with things like "brush your teeth and you earn one token" (hygiene is a big cause for fighting here)...and then gradually make the token earning behaviours harder such as "full good day at school earns you one token" ? Or should I just put everything and anything that usually causes a problem on the earning list but with the bigger ones such as good day at school earning you 5 or 10 or more tokens?
The other part is the generic times of day where nothing is really a problem per se, but the behaviours can quickly go downhill. For example, in the evening we're not worrying about getting ready for school, brushing teeth, homework etc...but the other stuff like fighting with brothers, yelling, arguing etc are all possibilities to happen at that time. How do I word that on my token earning list "no fighting with brothers all day" or "no fighting with brothers for 1 hour" or "no instigating fights or arguing" earns you X number of tokens at the end of the day. Basically how long should this list be and should I put every little thing on it that I can come up with or keep it small and manageable to start with.
Secondly, we are limiting his freedom as of this weekend. He is only allowed to play on our street (one block) so he's in eyesight and earshot. He loves going to the park that is out of our eyesight but not to far (1.5 blocks). Should something like that be on the list of earnings...or should that be a total NO GO until he's built back up some trust.
I hope these questions make some kind of sense. Thanks for any input
My problem is coming up with a list of DO's. I don't want to make it too easy or too hard to achieve. Should I start small with things like "brush your teeth and you earn one token" (hygiene is a big cause for fighting here)...and then gradually make the token earning behaviours harder such as "full good day at school earns you one token" ? Or should I just put everything and anything that usually causes a problem on the earning list but with the bigger ones such as good day at school earning you 5 or 10 or more tokens?
The other part is the generic times of day where nothing is really a problem per se, but the behaviours can quickly go downhill. For example, in the evening we're not worrying about getting ready for school, brushing teeth, homework etc...but the other stuff like fighting with brothers, yelling, arguing etc are all possibilities to happen at that time. How do I word that on my token earning list "no fighting with brothers all day" or "no fighting with brothers for 1 hour" or "no instigating fights or arguing" earns you X number of tokens at the end of the day. Basically how long should this list be and should I put every little thing on it that I can come up with or keep it small and manageable to start with.
Secondly, we are limiting his freedom as of this weekend. He is only allowed to play on our street (one block) so he's in eyesight and earshot. He loves going to the park that is out of our eyesight but not to far (1.5 blocks). Should something like that be on the list of earnings...or should that be a total NO GO until he's built back up some trust.
I hope these questions make some kind of sense. Thanks for any input