When it comes to getting a child used to a new routine, you might feel as though you are waffling about in the dark, just trying to find a strategy that sticks.
Perhaps your child is reluctant to get on board and follow the new schedule that you’ve set for her. Okay – it’s time to sit down together and evaluate what parts of the routine aren’t working and to get her feedback so that you can build a more inclusive plan.
But what if you’ve already done that? Sometimes, it takes a little extra coaxing to get a child used to a new routine.
Although some people may refer to positive reinforcement as “bribery” and not see its value in a long-term plan or routine, the reality is that science shows that positive reinforcement can be an effective way to encourage all kinds of desired behaviors – and that you don’t have to be doling out candy bars and stickers for it to be positive reinforcement.
If you’re wondering how you can use positive reinforcement to get a routine to stick, you’ve come to the right place.
Understanding How Positive Reinforcement Works
Positive reinforcement is a behavioral modification technique that’s often only viewed from a punitive stance as it relates to parenting. It focuses on amplifying what’s good and tapping into your child’s unique strengths, building a strategy that will work wonders since it draws attention to your child’s personality and interests.
For a child with unique learning needs, that’s imperative. Any kind of behavioral strategy you design for your child will need to be customized to match his or her strengths, weaknesses, and interests. Positive reinforcement can easily be molded to suit your needs.
At its core, it’s simple. You reward your child for a behavior you’d like to see, either with something tangible (a piece of candy) or more abstract (verbal praise). When it comes to getting a routine to stick, positive reinforcement is best used in a habitual, planned-out way.
Benefits of Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement poses many benefits for parents and teachers of individuals with unique learning needs, particularly if you’re hoping for long-term results.
One of its biggest benefits is that it supports a growth mindset. Since positive reinforcement focuses on a desired behavior and not on a certain characteristic of the child (for example, you might reward a behavior like doing homework, rather than praising a child for being so smart) it fosters a growth mindset and can help your child feel more self-efficacious and in charge of his or her routine – and similarly, his or her success.
Positive reinforcement can also help you show your child more affection. Since it offers praise rather than criticism, it’s an excellent tool to use in a routine setting to encourage repetition of the behavior or habit.
It also helps parents and teachers avoid punishment. Punishment is necessary in some situations, but not when you’re trying to encourage the development of a healthy habit, like setting a new routine. You want to encourage new behaviors, not discourage acting up. Punishment in this case can often foster feelings of distrust and resentment, making it an ineffective strategy.
Over time, using positive reinforcement can also improve your child’s sense of autonomy. It can help you set limits and offer choices for rewards, making your child feel more in control of his or her routine and life.
Tips for Using Positive Reinforcement to Get a Routine to Stick
1. Be Frequent and Consistent
The most valuable tip to remember when deciding to use positive reinforcement in the creation of a new routine is to always be consistent and to use the reinforcement frequently. If your child is just getting used to a new routine, providing reinforcement the right way and often will help keep him or her committed and motivated.
In fact, using some kind of a schedule for how you deliver the reinforcement can be helpful. You can customize this schedule based on your needs and preferences.
Using a continuous schedule, introducing reinforcement after every desired repetition of the habit in the routine, is the best way to get a routine to stick. However, it does require a lot of commitment – you’ll need to pay close attention to make sure the habit is repeated. It is intense but it is effective.
Another option is to use reinforcements that are delivered at fixed intervals. You might reinforce after the behavior is repeated five or six times, for example, or for a number of days.
You can also use a variable schedule, in which you give rewards less often as time goes on, reducing your child’s reliance on rewards as they develop more intrinsic motivation to repeat the habit.
2. Figure Out Which Kinds of Rewards are Best
There are several kinds of rewards you can use in your positive reinforcement system. These will be very dependent on context – some natural reinforcers may occur organically as the result of a certain action. They may not need any additional positive reinforcement.
Some examples of “natural reinforcers” include good grades as a reward for doing homework. There are other kinds of reinforcers, too, like social reinforcers, token reinforcers, and tangible rewards.
A social reinforcer might be a compliment or words of encouragement from you. Token reinforcers are used in replacement of tangible rewards, like a piece of candy or a toy. You might give a child a star on a chart to indicate progress toward completing a habit every day of the week and only offer the actual, tangible reward when the week is over.
Deciding which kind of reinforcement works best for your child will depend both on the behavior and on the disposition and personality of your child. What works for one child will not work for another. Similarly, using one kind of reinforcement too often may cause a child to grow weary of the initial reward – so you may need to use several types of reinforcement to get the message across.
3. Consider Using Checklists
For children with unique learning needs, visual aids like checklists and even social stories can be very helpful in getting a new routine to stick. Checklists offer lasting value and can help you keep track of when you last offered a reward.
4. Prepare for Challenges and Plan Ahead
Positive reinforcement works in almost all situations, but you’re sure to have some bumps in the road along the way. One is that your child might become overly reliant on the reward, in which case it becomes more of a “bribe” and can often lead to a materialistic mindset. The best way to avoid this is to not rely solely on a tangible rewards system but to use other methods, like social reinforcement or a token system, to provide positive reinforcement.
You may find that, over time, you can slowly reduce the frequency with which you offer positive reinforcement. This can help your child rely less on the reinforcement and more on the intrinsic motivation (and the sheer force of habit!) to complete the routine.
Plan ahead for hiccups, whenever possible. For example, you might anticipate that your child has a harder time sticking to a step in the routine when it’s a holiday. Perhaps you can step back and offer some support in advance – remind your child of the behavior that needs to be completed rather than expecting him or her to do it on his own, for example, and responding with patience if the habit isn’t perfect.
5. Make Sure It’s Age-Appropriate
One of the biggest mistakes that parents and educators make when it comes to introducing positive reinforcement is not customizing the schedule of reinforcement to the age or developmental level of their children. When you’re working with younger children or those who might not be as developmentally advanced, it’s important to remember that longer intervals between reinforcement might not work quite as well.
The younger the child, the more often you are going to need to reinforce a behavior. This is also true when it comes to considering personality and the kind of behavior or habit you are trying to encourage. More complicated or less enjoyable actions might be harder to get to stick, so it’s going to take more reinforcement to be successful.
It’s important to remember that using positive reinforcement to put a routine in place with a toddler or a child at roughly that developmental level can be particularly challenging. According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children, toddlers simply don’t have the cognitive ability to understand reasoning – you’ll have to be more creative in your approach. They also are more prone to aggression and struggle with a change in routine – something that may also be true for your child with unique learning needs.
That’s where positive reinforcement in the form of praise and actively listening to your child can be particularly helpful. Again, pay close attention to who your child is as a person rather than taking a cookie-cutter approach.
Closing Thoughts
Of course, one of the most important tips to follow when it comes to using positive reinforcement is to always monitor the results. If you don’t think your efforts to reinforce a certain behavior or habit are working, it may be time to try another kind of increment or consider the reasons as to why the reinforcement is not working.
Don’t change things up too often, though. Give the routine (and the reinforcement) some time to figure out whether it’s working. Remember, it takes time to get a routine to stick – positive reinforcement can help hurry things along, but patience will be key.
Further Reading
- ASD Toddler Initiative: Implementation Checklist for Positive Reinforcement
- Nebraska Autism Spectrum Disorders Network: Reinforcement
- Jay Belsky, Ph.D.: Rewards are Better than Punishment: Here’s Why
- Rebekah Pierce: How to Track the Effectiveness of a New Routine
- Rebekah Pierce: Social Stories for Adolescents and Young Adults
- Dr. Dan Gartrell: Readiness: Not a State of Knowledge, but a State of Mind