When it comes to parenting, the tools you choose to implement can mean the difference between a melt-down and a successful parenting moment. Rewards that work are key…as you’ll see in the example below: I could see his little body getting rigid and his eyes were dropping. A stand-off was imminent, and I had no…
I try not to bring up the trauma of the Jump Park Fiasco of 2019, but I learned some pretty great lessons about what happens when you think you have a great reward to encourage behavior, but it ends up not working AT ALL, so I am willing to share my trauma in hopes that…
When should you give in to your kids? Ever? Never? Here’s the scenario: It’s five minutes past the drop-dead moment for getting in the car and getting everyone to the right place at the right time. I’m running on fumes fueled by the insanity of needing to bring a show-and-tell item that starts with the…
Children respond to rewards…at least typically-developing children do. What about autism and rewards? Can they work in tandem? Rewards are a form of reinforcement, and reinforcement happens on a continuum. You have primary reinforcers on one of the spectrum and secondary reinforcers on the other end of the spectrum. Primary reinforcers are the things that…
“People are looking at you.” I said this in a hushed tone and without even the hint of judgment, but in the hope of recognition. My son, in his interest in keeping things predictable and exactly the same as before, had escalated at the large family gathering. The result was behavior that was not at…
Nobody likes bribery. We don’t like it in our government and we don’t like it in our parenting. Bribing your kids feels icky to think about. We just want our kids to behave out of the goodness of their hearts, right? Shouldn’t they simply WANT to behave? (Excuse me while I laugh hysterically.) I think…