Why do we want to reinforce or reward our children’s skills?

- Rewarding or increasing our children’s skills helps them learn and become more independent
- Reinforcing or increasing our children’s skills gives them something to replace their problem behavior with

What do we use to reward (reinforce) our children’s skills (good behavior) to make them increase?

- There are many different types of reinforcement, but generally we can use any item, activity, or interaction that makes our children happy – anything they like!
- Toys can be good reinforcers – either a new toy that is given to the child, or a special one that they can play with for a certain amount of time and then put away again
- Snacks can work well to reward behavior
- Activities or Privileges can reinforce the good behavior of our children
- Some activities/privileges that make children happy are going out with mom or dad, playing in a park, watching television or playing video/computer games, spending the night at a friend’s house, eating in a restaurant, staying up later at night
- Attention can also be a great reward to maintain or increase behavior.
- A smile is attention
- A hug, high-five, or thumbs-up is attention
- A pat on the back is attention
- A conversation is attention
- Praise is attention
- Praise can be a very powerful form of reinforcement – it is easy to give often,; it doesn’t cost money (like toys); it isn’t unhealthy (like some snacks); and it doesn’t need a lot of time, a special place, or a lot of arranging (like some activities). Praise should be the reward we use the most to increase our children’s skills and good behavior!

How do we do we give reinforcement?

- Keep our eyes open all the time for good behavior or skills (even attempts) that our children may do on their own. Or, ask them to try a new behavior or skill that we want them to eventually do on their own. Or, teach them a new skill or good behavior that we want them to do.
When it happens (even a little bit) praise them! You can give any of the other types of reinforcers with the praise for extra power. It’s a good idea to give some of the other types of reinforcement (toys, snacks, activities ) when kids are learning a hard skill/behavior or when we are first teaching them a new one – this makes the learning interesting and motivating and fun for them! After a while, when they are good at that skill or behavior, or when it happening more often, we can decrease the other rewards and just use praise and attention!