Creating Incentives
Develop Incentives:Some students are self-motivated, but some may need an incentive to complete their work . Remember school work can be frustrating for many children, so breaking tasks into chunks may be helpful. Some children need an incentive often, and others can wait until the end of the day, week or month.
TIP: Establish the incentive and how the student will achieve it BEFORE you begin work. Think about what is realistic for you to give as incentives. Don’t have a new Xbox as an incentive at the end of the month/year if you aren’t sure you can afford one. Start small, and see what works. You may need to modify your incentive system if it isn’t working. However, if you think you have a good system, don’t let your child bargain with you just to make it easier for them to earn the incentive. Be consistent.
Take Breaks: Downtime is just as helpful in getting through the school day as a schedule. Students have downtime at school throughout a normal school day, while they're changing classes or while they're waiting for other students to finish their work. Remember to give them the same while they're at home.
Ideas for Incentives
SMALL (several per day) | Short Break - approximately 1-2 minutes long (see chart below for ideas) | Stickers | Gum | Individual pieces of cereal, M&Ms, raisins, etc. | Give tokens/checkmarks to trade in for a prize/activity | ||
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MEDIUM (1-2 per day) | Medium Break - approximately 15-20 minutes long (see chart below for ideas) | Favorite snack | Get to choose the next family movie | Get to choose the evening meal | One on one time with someone in your family | Board game with family member(s) | Get to pick a bedtime story |
LARGE (once a week or once a month) | Make homemade craft (Slime, jewelry, bath bombs, etc) | Family slumber party in the living room (outside when it gets warmer) | New item that you both agree to (sweatshirt, baseball glove, trading cards, jewelry, tennis shoes, etc) | Home movie night (child chooses movie and favorite snack) | Choose an item to bake/cook with someone in your family |
Dialogue for Discussing Incentives
It might sound like this if your child works “X” number of minutes.
| It might sound like this if your child completes “X” task.
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