Marbles can do wonders for positive reinforcement :)

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I bought a bag of marbles and have been using them with my son for positive reinforcement. Now you can set a goal ie - 25 marbles per week (tailor it to your own liking) or not have a specific amount in mind. The way it works is like this. When my son cleans his room, he puts 2 marbles in a glass, feeds dog..1 marble etc. He loves the fact that he gets to put the marbles in the glass and sees that he is really making progress. If he talks back etc., then he takes a marble out.

He has really started doing things on his own, without my asking. Or if I do have to ask him, he does it gladly and runs to the marble container. At the end of the week, based on the amount of marbles, he gets to pick something out. We usually get a book since he loves to read. He also has the choice of keeping all the marbles until the end of the month to get a video game or something he really wants.

Last edited by kattoo13 on 13 Feb 2009, 3:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Marbles! What a great idea!

Too bad I lost most of mine years ago.

haha I can relate!

i have always had a collection of marbles...except when homeless.
whenever i have had a home, one of the first things i would do was buy marbles again.
i am looking at m ycurrent collection now in my strange little kids bedroom with the single bed and cotton sheets and a dresser full of obejcts and little, special glass spheres.

A nifty idea. That is cool that you have found a way to help him like that.

I once used marbles as a part of a behavior plan for an autistic 6th grader when I was a special ed teacher and it worked well.

I guess marbles in a jar is a way of giving yourself a physical "am I productive?" meter.

We used to use marbles too. They worked nicely as positive reinforcement. The novelty wore off, as did my sons' motivation to earn after a couple of months, but it worked well for awhile.

You can make it work longer by mostly using marbles but sometimes making it something else. Candy, small toys, the book they'd trade the marbles in for at the end of the week except without having to trade. If the reinforcer is not entirely predictable, the novelty doesn't wear off much.

We did try various other charts, what we called our "star system" (earning paper stars that could be cashed in for money or rewards at the end of the week) etc. Each has only worked for a finite period of time for my guys, as the novelty dwindles so does their motivation to participate. So we move to something else. But I really like positive reinforcement in general, and it can be a really powerful tool for a parent!

Right now (at age 9) my guys respond most to logic and recognition in the form of praise. We also have a system by which they earn their allowance, and can be rewarded with extra money / video game time. And you are totally right about keeping it a little unpredictable to stretch out the novelty.

My child LOVES marbles, marbles in and of themselves might be good enough a reward for him. Forget the trading in. haha!

I doubt he would give up marbles for a video game though he loves that as well.

I'm going to have to find some marbles Great idea.

The trick is, instead of replacing a reinforcer that is boring and unmotivating with another (that will become boring and unmotivating in time) is to add one without subtracting any.

So sometimes they get a marble that can be cashed in for money, another time they get a star on the chart and everybody goes for ice cream when the chart is full, another time they don't get anything but the praise, another time they get the big reward that they usually have to save up for, but it's just for a tiny thing. This will (according to behavioral scientist types) pretty much work forever, because satisfying curiousity is a grand motivator. The learner isn't so much motivated by the possibility of getting the reinforcer, but by the desire to find out what the next reinforcer will be.

Since they are human and thus very very clever, randomly choosing off the top of your head might eventually make them think there's a pattern to your choices (and you will probably develop one 'cause human beings do that) but if you have them roll two ten-sided dice to generate the results off a chart. ie: 1-20 is a marble, 20-40 is a star, 40-45 is video-game time, 100 is a jackpot out-for-ice cream or whatever, 23 (my favourite number) and you get to negotiate the reward for a single number and get that reward (you decide to assign 'choose tomorrow's dinner menu' to 14, and get to choose it this time, too.) Should work indefinately without messing with the system, 'cause they can use any roll of 23 to change rewards they've grown out of to ones they want.

my son's not much into novelty the more something stays the same, the better..

great! let me know how it goes

My son would just want to play with the marbles He'd dump them out when I wasn't looking.

I did try a sticker chart for something he wanted and it's actually sticking. He wanted a Nintendo DS, so I did a chart, took pictures of the 3 games he wanted, and the DS and put them on tickets. When he went a day without hitting, kicking, or pushing he got a sticker , (he was allowed one warning a day) and after 5 days he got a ticket with a game picture he was allowed to pick. After 20 days he then got his DS and 3 games. He is still using the alternatives I gave him to express his anger and frustration and need for attention and it worked really well. I don't know that I can do this all the time, but if your child really wants something bad, you can use this to have him change a behavior in order to earn what it is that he wants. (I have been working on hitting for about 4 years now) I also told him that if the behavior starts up again, I will take the DS and we will start all over again to earn it back. It worked nicely

We are using a similar system with paper play money. We call it 'caughtcha cash' (as in caught ya being good--something the school came up with). The behavior analyst calls it token reinforcement. He receives so much for meeting certain goals at school and at home and then 'cashes in' on Saturdays. He can use the paper money to 'purchase' free activities like a game day, dance time, a play date with a certain friend, or monetary rewards like toys, caffeinated soda, candy, movies, etc. Or save for something really big if he has the will power. While we never remove money from the jar, we do say something like 'You didn't earn a reward for this D (or this F), but you'll try harder next time.' We make the dollars super easy to earn ($1 play dollar per page he reads, or per extra bite of food at the table), but the rewards aren't dollar for dollar. We have a price chart that would be extremely exorbiant if it were real money. Like $35 for a Mt. Dew or $150 for a movie night (which he can conceivably earn within a week).