We have started a new motifvational reinforcer system here. The old system was based on 1-2-3 Magic, where they had three shots, then the reward was removed. We were working for stickers, and at teh end of the month if we had enough stickers, we got to go to Chuck E. Cheese. We haven't been in two months. Not working any more.
For the new system, they have to earn ten gold stars over the course of the day to get their sticker. Whenever they have earned ten stars, they get a sticker. However, in this system, they can also lose stars, so getting to the top of the star chart to get that sticker is tougher than it looks. Good behavior gets rewarded, poor behavior has a consequence. Or is it just a punishment? I suppose we'll soon see.
No one got a sticker today. The net result was one star a peice. Yikes. It's been a long week.
***EDIT: After a few days of this system, we're realizing that if the guys make it to the top once, they are going to CEC. This is a lot harder than expected.
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3 comments:
We've started using dimes (10 cent pieces) with Sweet Pea (our 7 year old).
Good behavior for the day gets a dime, bad behavior loses one. So far it's working, as she loves money.
Joe
We have lots of those kinds of weeks. Hope it gets better soon.
If you deliver a consequence contigent on a certain behavior and the probability of the behavior occuring in the future decreases, then you have a punisher (which is not a bad thing). If the behavior increases, then you have a reinforcer (ultimately what we want). Sometimes you may think you are punishing a behavior, but are inadvertantly reinforcing behavior. For example, if a child is sent to the principal's office for spitting and the spitting persists, occurs sooner in the class, or the intensity increases until they get a response, it is likely that going to the principal's office is actually reinforcing the behavior.
There will be good days and there will be bad days. Initially, they are likely to test the limits to see if they will really lose a star.
Good luck!
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