Behavior Modification Charts

(Disclaimer - this is pretty dry, straight forward information! If your child isn't prone to throwing tantrums or you are not trying to modify their behavior, I would read one of our other blogs, but for preschool to school age kids, this can be pretty helpful!)

Behavior Modification Charts (BMC)

Parents often ask us how to change their child’s behaviors, either at school or home.  Often punishments feel like they no longer work, and parents tell us, “They don’t care what we take away.  We have taken everything away and they still don’t do x, y or z.”  Punishments are negative consequences to negative behaviors, but to get long lasting change for your child, positive reinforcements for good behaviors is much more powerful.  Being nagged/scolded by your parents and teachers all day is rough on a child’s self-esteem and personal image of themselves, but being rewarded for good decisions makes them more likely to be confident, independent, and have a better relationship with their parents.

What is a behavior modification chart (BMC)?

A behavior modification chart is used when you are wanting to change an undesired behavior or to encourage a positive behavior for your child. They work very well from the age of 4 to 12, although similar strategies can work on older children as well.  It can be utilized for common behavioral problems (talking back, decreasing electronic usage, making their bed, cleaning up, not keeping hands/feet to themselves, etc.) and/or when your normal ways of discipline are not working. 

The first step in making a BMC is to determine timed intervals for your child and their goal behavior. Preschoolers and school age children have much shorter attention spans, so to positively encourage a young child with a BMC, the goals need to be within short intervals. Their goal intervals should be from waking up to breakfast, breakfast to lunch, lunch to dinner, and dinner to bedtime. These intervals use normal daily events that do not rely on a clock, so they work good for all ages!  If you have an older child, you can create longer goal timeframes for example once they wake up until lunch and then lunch until bedtime.  If the desired behavior is accomplished for that timeframe they earn progress towards a small prize.  What about the goal behavior?  It is important to make the target behavior very specific and easy to define and identify.  Children are very “black and white” and grey areas will not work well for a behavior modification chart.  For instance, if the behavior is “being good at school” that could mean a million things, and there is no way for your child to always know what “good” means to the adults watching them.  The goals can’t be too much to remember as well.  For instance, if the progress (sticker in this example) is made on the chart by “Johnny, on each day, if you are polite with adults, you brush your teeth twice a day, and you don't talk excessively during school you will get a sticker!” there is no way a child can keep track of that!  Plus, there is zero chance any kid can do perfectly all day.  Johnny is doomed to not make progress, and that is demoralizing to him and will make the modification chart worthless.  A better example would be “Johnny, you will earn a sticker for not arguing with adults when you are told to do something.  You can earn a sticker for the time from waking up to breakfast, breakfast to lunch, lunch to dinner, and dinner to bed.  When you put enough stickers on your chart that you get to the car picture we drew, you will get a hot wheel car!”

This progress could be a sticker on a chart, a stamp of an animal footprint, a penny dropped into a bucket - anything that will make the BMC engaging and entertaining.  In our current example we will assume you are using stickers.  The next step is to decide how many stickers your child has to obtain on their chart before they receive their special prize! Initially, the goal should be relatively easy to obtain.  Making it easy at the beginning proves to your child that being “good” is rewarding, and using the BMC is fun and worth doing.  Over time, the goal number of stickers should increase and become more difficult.  

Tips to make the chart be successful:

Be sure to have their special prize at the house, so that when they hit their goal the behaviors will be positively reinforced by earning their prize right then! Children are not capable of delayed gratification; if they don’t receive the prize when they earn it they will not engage with the BMC. As a toddler, it is much less encouraging if you get told that you can go to Target tomorrow to choose their prize, as opposed to getting the toy they have been looking at longingly on top of the fridge!  The prizes should be inexpensive toys or experiences/time with parents.  Studies show that very large rewards don’t change our personalities and future behaviors, but small rewards actually make long lasting change.  For grade school children it is okay to have a bigger reward towards the end of a BMC.  For instance, if they gain stickers on a path where they collect hot wheel cars, maybe the last stop on the sticker trail is a hot wheel garage.

Change up the BMC every few weeks to keep your child engaged. If you are on a sticker trail one month, maybe the next month you have an animal paw print stamp and they stamp a path through a drawing of woods, where they can choose which direction they go to get different prizes.  The following month, maybe it is dropping nickels onto a cooking scale, and once the scale hits different weights they can earn prizes. All prizes shouldn’t be material items, like toys. Some additional great ideas can be individual one on one time with a parent, crafts that can be done together, an extra book before bed, a special bike ride/scooter ride, a sweet treat, movie night, etc. It is incredibly helpful to do these things together with your child, as it also creates special bonding time for you both.  

Consistency is key! If your child does not perform the desired behavior for the timeframe, they do not earn their sticker. If they were one sticker away from their special prize, they do not earn their special prize. Children know how to get what they want, so the more consistent you are the more they will understand and learn that ideal behavior is not optional but instead expected of them. They will also learn to respect you and understand that you will follow through with what you tell them.  

In conclusion, this should be fun! Making the BMC should be a craft the family does together and displays in a public place in the home.  The child should enjoy earning progress towards their rewards, and they should be praised often about their successes.  This should change the focus of the behavior issue to the child feeling “I am always bad or in trouble” to “I did a good job and people are proud of me”.  If it goes well for your family, feel free to bring the BMC into one of your child’s appointments so they can show off their successes!

Until next time, good luck parenting!

Dr. William J. Fisher, MD

Caitlynn Worden, PNP