Time and time again parents tell me that they’ve tried a star chart, but it just doesn’t work for their child. Star charts might seem simple to implement, but I often see parents fall into these three traps.
Three Common Mistakes When Implementing Star Charts
1. No Backup Reinforcer
How would you start to feel about money if you couldn’t use it buy anything? Overtime, bills and coins would lose their importance to you. They would just become pieces of paper or hard metal objects. Well, the same phenomenon can happen with star charts.
Imagine that you’re trying to get your five your old, Jayden, to share his toys with his younger brother. You spend hours making this really fancy star chart. Jayden loves dinosaurs, and you find the most amazing dinosaur stickers to use as your “stars”. The first couple of days things are going so well! You’re silently patting yourself on the back. Every time you see Jayden share his toys with his brother without a fuss, you swoop in. You give him lots of praise and he gets to pick out what sticker he wants to put on the chart. He’s really into those stickers, you’re thinking to yourself. And then on day three something seems to shift. But you’re still doing everything the same. He shares his toys, you swoop in, give lots of praise, and offer one of those cool dinosaur stickers. But this time, when you show him the stickers, he just doesn’t seem as thrilled. By the time day four rolls around it’s like Jayden forgot all about his star chart. He’s back to his old ways, and the boys are constantly fighting over their toys. You’ve given up completely on star charts, and vow to never try them again.
In this scenario, the problem is that you never established a back-up reinforcer for Jayden. You thought it would be enough for Jayden to earn the dinosaur stickers. However, just like money will lose is importance overtime if we can’t use it to buy anything, dinosaur stickers will also lose their importance over time if your child never use them to get access to something really fun. Before you start a star chart make sure to establish a back-up reinforcer. Check out this blog post for more information on back-up reinforcers and how to set them up correctly.
2. Too Difficult to Earn Tokens
Sometimes, the problem isn’t with the back up reinforcer, but with the behaviors that you’re targeting. You want to set your child up for success. So, when you start out, pick a behavior that your child can already do.
Let’s say you want your daughter to start doing some chores around the house. Her room is always a disaster, and she’s always getting upset because she can’t find what she’s looking for. When you start the star chart, if you tell her she has to clean her whole room before she can get a star, then she probably won’t be motivated to get started. It might seem too difficult for her to even try. Instead, tell her that she’ll earn 1 star for making her bed, 1 star for putting her dirty laundry in the hamper, 1 star for putting her dolls in the basket, and 1 star for hanging up her towel after she dries off. This breaks the task down into more manageable activities. Plus, after every task your daughter will earn a star and she’ll see herself getting closer to the ultimate reward. This will increase her motivation to keep going. After a week or so, you can always increase the difficulty of the activities (e.g., she has to do two tasks before earning a star).
The trick here is start with behaviors that you know your child can do. Once they learn how the star chart works and you can tell that they’re motivated to earn the back-up reinforcer, that’s when you can increase the difficulty of the tasks.
3. Unrestricted Access to The Reinforcer
The last common mistake I see parents make with star charts goes back to the back-up reinforcer. You want to pick something that your child will want, and that they can’t access all the time.
Let’s go back to Jayden and the star chart for teaching him how to share toys with his younger brother. This time you remember that those dinosaur stickers will lose value over time. So, in the morning, you ask Jayden to pick what he wants to earn when he gets five dinosaur stickers. He can earn 30-minutes of screen time or a new soccer ball that he hasn’t opened yet. He chooses screen-time. So far so good. He earns two dinosaur stickers and is really excited to watch his favorite episode on PAW Patrol. Then lunch time rolls around and the kids are getting hangry. You just need them to chill out while you get their food together. Jayden starts asking for the TV, and without thinking, you throw it on to keep them occupied so that you can get everything prepped. I get it, there are times when you just need to get something done. But now Jayden learned that he doesn’t really need to earn all of his dinosaur stickers to earn TV. He can just ask for it, or catch you in a moment of weakness, and then he’ll get it.
If you won’t be able to restrict access to something, then don’t offer it as a back-up reinforcer.
Now you know how to avoid the three most common mistakes when implementing star charts.
Feel like you’re still running into roadblocks? Reach out to schedule a free phone consultation.
About Me
Alissa Greenberg, PhD, BCBA-D, has extensive experience working with parents and helping them address their child’s challenging behaviors. As a licensed psychologist and Board Certified Behavior Analyst at the doctoral level, Alissa uses Behavioral Parent Training when working with families in the Bay Area and beyond. She’s also available for telehealth parent training sessions for families throughout CA. Contact her at info@focusedbehavioralsolutions.com or 925-800-3398 to schedule a free consultation.
Please note that many states are waiving state licensure requirements during COVID-19. This means that you might be able to work with a licensed psychologist who lives in another state. If you have questions, please reach out.
This blog is not intended as therapeutic or clinical advice. If you’re in need of support, please consider speaking to a professional.