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Daily Reward Plan
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Sticker Charts
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Comprehensive Reward System
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Sticker Chart
Daily Reward Plan
A daily reward program is used routinely in many settings such as home, school and extracurriculars. A key to a good daily reward program is clear contingency of the short-term expected behavior that will also be rewarded in the short-term.
Pros:
- Daily reward programs can be used for one specific behavior or multiple behaviors at the same time.
- Short-term so no need to track behaviors over time
- Straight forward and time limited
- Can fit well with an If/Then structure
Cons:
- Tend to earn smaller, immediate rewards instead of big rewards that would be earned over a longer period of time
- Other types of reward programs often track behavior over longer periods
Sticker Chart Program
A sticker chart is a classic standby that people have been using for years in both home and classroom settings. A key to a good sticker chart is clear expected behaviors that are then charted regularly in visual ways that kids can see. Typically then stickers, stamps, happy faces, etc. are used to help kids understand how they are doing in a specific area.
Pros:
- Sticker charts can be used for one specific behavior or multiple behaviors at the same time.
- We love to use sticker charts and breakdown one specific behavior into multiple steps that all can be tracked individually. This can actually be super helpful for all kids, but especially kids with special needs to help them identify what they specifically need to do. This also can help to identify areas where more skill building is needed.
- Tangible for children and parents to see progress and good choices over time
Cons:
- This type of system will breakdown if you aren’t consistent in awarding stickers or rewards.
- Older kids can feel these types of systems are more childish based on the type of chart or setup you use.
Comprehensive Reward System
We personally will always be a huge fan of a comprehensive reward system since this is what we use for Quest’s therapeutic summer camp program! We have personally seen this type of program deliver large behavior changes for kids in skill development, taking social risks, building emotion regulation and pushing comfort zones to try new things.
Some aspects of the Quest Program:
- Quest campers have individualized goals and we typically provide kids feedback every single hour
- Feedback points add up to our weekly camp store.
- Our campers also receive home points related to their home goals.
- Quest is an empirically based program that has been proven effective across several studies.
Pros:
- Children respond well to consistent programs that are clearly laid out that are consistent and where multiple parents or caregivers all use the exact same program.
- Children respond well when they have a clear sense of what the rewards are in a program with a comprehensive system with a clear reward structure where rewards happen on certain days and in certain ways
- There is clear research in the field about how well these programs can work and we have seen it across multiple studies let alone with our own eyes about how kids will do a ton of things when motivated and given the right bonuses paired with clear skill building opportunities and encouragement
- Creates structure to track multiple behaviors over time
Cons:
- Time intensive
- Can include lots of coordination if it involves more than one person providing expectations, feedback and/or rewards
- Whole system can breakdown if structure is not dependable and consistent in giving feedback or following through on bonuses
- Comprehensive systems can require higher bonuses, thus, higher funds then other setups so you need to plan accordingly for this.
Marble Jar
A marble jar reward program is a classic classroom intervention and works great with siblings! For classrooms an example would be when the class earns a pizza party or some sort of special Friday event for a specific positive behavior. For siblings, we have used this intervention for many years to pair siblings to earn a trip to a favorite restaurant, to get ice cream or to an amusement park, etc.
Key features:
- Create a common goal where everybody is working together to fill up the jar for a bonus that everybody will receive at the same time.
- Consistently hand out marbles and finding great opportunities to catch kids making positive choices.
- Provides great opportunity right when a child’s behavior starts to go south to stop them and identify exactly what behavior he or she could do instead to earn a marble.
Pros:
- Can bond kids together since they win as a group.
- A lot of focus on catching kids making positive choices
- Creates opportunities for parents to help children to turn things around when things are starting to go astray
- Kids love to earn things together.
Cons:
- This type of program can really breakdown if you aren’t consistent or systematic with implementation.
