Rewards
are often central to effective school interventions. Reward systems are usually most powerful when a student can
select from a range of reward choices. Offering
students a menu of possible rewards is effective because it both gives students
a meaningful choice of reinforcers and reduces the likelihood that the child
will eventually tire of any specific reward.
However, some children may lose interest in specific reward choices more
quickly than do their typical peers. Teachers
will want to regularly update and refresh reward menus for such children to
ensure these reinforcers retain their power to positively shape those
students’ behaviors. A ‘Reward Deck’ is an idea that can help teachers to
quickly select and regularly update student reward menus.
The
teacher should create reward cards that represent the available reward choice.
Step 1: The teacher selects reward choices that he/she approves of using and believes would be acceptable to other members of the school community (parents and administration) and finds feasible and affordable.
Step 2: Teacher writes out acceptable reward choices on index cards—to create a master ‘Reward Deck.’
Step 3: Whenever the teacher wants to create a reward menu for a particular student, he or she first ‘screens’ reward choices that appear in the master Reward Deck and temporarily removes any that seem inappropriate for that specific student.
Step 4: The teacher then presents and discusses each of the reward choices in the Reward Deck. For each reward option, the child indicates whether he/she (a) likes the reward a lot, (b) likes the reward a little, or (c) does not care for the reward. The teacher sorts the reward options into three piles that match these rating categories. The teacher can then create the child’s Reward Menu using the student’s top choices.
Step 5: Periodically, the instructor can meet with the student and repeat the above procedure to ‘refresh’ the menu quickly and easily.
Click here for a sample reward deck (.pdf)
E.T.S.U. Make A Difference Project, 2002-2003