Behavior Plan Common Breakdowns to Avoid

Behavior Plan Systems for Happy, Healthy Kids Behavior Plan Common Breakdowns to Avoid

Right Rewards?
Do the selected rewards work?
Are you following through?

Is there a skill deficit versus skill in place?
Are you using punishment instead of rewards?
Does your program need a reboot?

Are you Picking the Right Rewards?

Preference assessment
List of potential bonuses
Size of bonus

Right Rewards Worksheet

Do the selected rewards work?

Did you stick with it long enough to know? Is there a grey area instead of black and white?

Are there ways to look for incremental change or adjust a small component of a program?

Are you committing to the plan and being consistent?

Reward programs take time!

Don’t end a program too soon. Give your child opportunities to learn and grow with a plan.

Research shows that you need to give a behavioral program at least 3 weeks of consistent effort in order to know if the plan is working.

Committing to a Plan Worksheet

Are you following through on your part of the deal?

It is vital that when you set up a behavior plan that you follow through on your part of the deal
If you let your child know that they will earn a specific reward for a positive behavior they MUST receive that reward.
- If they do not, they will NOT TRUST YOU when you the next time
- They will lose any buy in that they had and you will have to start over

CHOOSE REWARDS THAT YOU CAN FOLLOW THROUGH ON!!!!

Be realistic with yourself when choosing rewards. If you are unsure if you can follow through, do not choose that reward!!

Skill Deficit vs Performance Deficit

A skill deficit is when a child has not learned how to properly perform a behavior

A performance deficit is when a child has the skill (they know HOW to do it), but does not perform the behavior under the desired circumstances (they don’t know WHEN to do it).

Performance deficit can often be confused with defiance, or, refusal to complete a non preferred task.

There are many times where we have heard parents say “I’ve seen them do this before!” The truth is that it is very important to consider whether your child understands WHEN they need to do something rather than just expecting that they already know. Sometimes they don’t!

Skill Deficit vs Performance Deficit Worksheet

Punishment Does Not Teach!

Research shows that when we punish, we are not effectively teaching the correct behavior. All we are doing is trying to stop the incorrect behavior. And you might be thinking, “Isn’t that the point?!” and the honest answer is no! What we really want to be doing is teaching children what to do INSTEAD of the incorrect behavior. If we punish a child, all they learn is not to do that behavior, but if we don’t teach them what to do instead, they often revert back to the negative behavior that we tried to punish because they have nothing to replace that behavior with!

Don’t Remove Rewards!

Don’t remove rewards when you are mad; delay, don’t remove, just as you decide on rewards prior to setting structure do the same with reward delay.

Here is a question to keep in mind when you see a behavior that is unwanted: What behavior would be FUNCTIONAL. Or, what behavior do I WANT to see. Rather than punish, teach the correct behavior and reward your child when you see that behavior. This is how we replace negative behavior with functional/positive behaviors.