How Do You Make Behavior Charts Work?
Behavior charts — on which doing chores, behaving, and handling self-care tasks are rewarded with points — can be effective ways of getting children to do what parents want. But often parents of children with special needs find that their kids don’t respond to point charts; the concept is too abstract or the gratification too delayed. Adjusting and simplifying the chart idea to your child’s particular needs and abilities can help. Here’s how to do it.Difficulty: EasyTime Required: A little every dayHere’s How: • Accentuate the positive. Make the chart all about rewarding positive behavior, not penalizing negative. Make a big excited deal about putting points up or checking items off. Don’t apply blame for items not checked. The chart is an opportunity to get extra credit for things done right. • Make success easy. Don’t load up the chart with big challenging things you’d like your child to do. A couple of these is fine, but make sure there are some things he or she is already doing o
