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Of course, you want your child to experience that internal sense of satisfaction of a job well done. That is a feeling money cannot buy. But for the tougher skills and for our more challenging loved ones, concrete rewards are appropriate and valuable as motivational tools.

I have heard parents and teachers lament, “This behavior mod stuff does not work!” Well, chances are, they just need to have a closer look at the reward component of their behavior change program. Here are six key questions to help you design and refine your child’s reward system:

1. Did you design a tracking system that is easy to implement, for both you and your child? Your child needs to have a way to visually monitor his progress and predict when a reward will happen. Your tracking system can be in the traditional form of a chart or check list. For some kids, paper systems are not particularly exciting or can even be confusing. Your child might better enjoy a tactile approach, where he gets to hold and handle objects that he accumulates towards a reward. He can drop a penny into a jar for each positive action. Or string together buttons, paper clips or beads and watch the strand grow. You can hand your child one card from a deck, each time you see the wanted behavior.

2. Is your reward plan in balance with the two other key ingredients of a behavior change program? You need to set out clear expectations [goals] and the consequences [natural outcomes] that influence when and if the rewards are coming. When you offer rewards without those other two components, you and your child are trying to finish a puzzle with two thirds of the pieces missing.

3. Did you involve your child in choosing the rewards to be earned? Participating in all the good things that will happen is a great motivator. Letting your child in on the ground floor gives self-esteem building messages. You are saying, “You are a partner in all parts of this program and I want to hear what is important to you." and "I trust you to stick to the decisions you commit to.” Kids with special needs diagnoses such as Autism, Asperger Syndrome and ADHD need rewards that are designed according to their special interests or unique ways of being motivated.

4. Do you have a 'miscellaneous' category in your behavior program? This will give you a catch-all place to give your child reward credit when you see an unanticipated, outstanding action or effort.

5. Do you reward reliably? Choose rewards that you can deliver on time. We would not like to wait for our paycheck because our employer didn’t make a bank deposit. Be prepared to pay up when the reward is earned. If the reward is something that requires planning, such as an outing to a favorite place, give immediate reinforcement by setting the date with your child - and be sure to follow through!

6. Are your rewards realistic in size? Rewards do not have to be big. The important thing is that they are 'do-able' for you. Don’t overlook time as a reward – one-to-one with mom or an outing with dad.

For more tips and tools to work with rewards in your behavior change program, see companion articles:

Social Skills and Rewards: Five Tips for Tailoring your Behavior Change System to a Perfect Fit for your Child

Social Skills and Your Behavior Change Program: Troubleshooting When the Rewards Aren't Working

Article Keywords: Special Education

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Special Education... A Special Education Success Story With ADD and ADHD The Problem In our rapidly moving culture, special education students, diagnosed with ADD or ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) are an ever-increasing challenge for teachers. Having taught in some capacity for nearly 40 years and being a parent of an active little boy, I have studied these conditions with immediate personal interest. Holding Their Attention? Early in my work with the attentionally challenged, I observed that if the learning activity were engaging enough, many of these students could hold attention for long periods. Special Education students diagnosed with ADD or ADHD often have the ability to attend for long periods working with computers or video games. I wondered, could the problem lie more in the pace of the learning activity? Give Them What They Need Subsequently, I began to provide activities in my classroom that had some of the same qualities of the immediate response achieved in those computerized attention-holders. One of the most successful of these was the excavation of fossils. The Setup Fossil excavation was a 6-week class - more of a club, really – in which students excavated a real fossil fish from a soft rock matrix. This time the class was made up of many special education students with various learning challenges, especially ADHD. The outcome of the class was remarkable. Getting Their Interest and Attention We started with a sort of guessing game involving fossils hidden in velvet bags and moved quickly into individual excavation of the fossils. Within minutes, my work was done; the students worked independently for the remainder of the two-hour class. My hardest work that day was to enforce clean-up-the students simply didn’t’ t want to stop working. Tools...