behavior chart

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behavior chart
By ECE teacher

I understand what you mean by needing instant reinforcement. I had a child that was on a behavior system that we worked out with the parents. They used it at home too & they were responsible for providing the "reward" which
was usually a special activity, video, bubble bath, etc., simple things that were "special" to the child & did not involve food, candy or buying things (a concern of mom). He'd always get to take home a sticker, but it's size depended on his behavior & although he had a 3 strike rule, his worked differently. He'd be given 2 warnings on his behavior, 3rd warning led to a checkmark.

If he got 3 checkmarks, the sticker size decreased (from large to medium to small to an unhappy face). He kept a mini notebook into which we would place his daily sticker (or unhappy face) with the page dated. In this manner mom knew at a glance what kind of day he had, we could provide a brief communication to mom if needed, & she would continue with the behavior program at home.
I had another child that we put on a 30 minute cycle of behavior reinforcement, using a timer. If his behavior was acceptable for 30 mins, he received a sticker on an index card for that time frame. He was allowed a 3 strike rule: 2 warnings, 3rd call ment no sticker; a check mark or unhappy face was noted on the card, and the timer was reset for 30 mins from that point. [He was smart enough to figure out that if he messed up in the first 5 mins of a 30 min cycle, it didn't "pay off" to behahve for the next 25 mins because he'd already blown it, so why bother.] We then set up a reward system that aligned with the number of stickers he had received. His program was not carried over into the home.
Another teacher had a young child that was given a mini M&M every 15 minutes for good behavior. This may sound extreme, but we work with very young special ed children and sometimes you just have to go with what works!
Hope this helps you out!