My double door “frig” is more than a home appliance. It is the central hub of motivating our son, Wyatt, to achieve and overcome his challenges with Autism. I like to refer to it as “Motivation Station.”
The “station” is merely a tracking and reporting site on Wyatt’s daily progress at school. We track his success with the support of an amazing school team. A behavior plan measures his compliance in all classroom settings.
Specifically, Wyatt is required to follow directions the first time they are given, work right away (no excuses) and complete his work. He has eight time blocks in his academic day that add up to twenty-four checks or “yes” marks on his daily recap/communication/data sheet. If Wyatt complies on all 24 points, he earns a sticker for the day.
The sticker is connected to a daily, weekly and six week reward. The family refrigerator serves as our “Motivation Station” to recap the daily results. Here’s how it works:
- A calendar is posted on the” frig.”
- The area around the frig features pictures of what might be the motivator for the day or week. For example, our son loves surfing, building models of SpongeBob’s underwater village, creating Ducky Mo Mo costumes out of paper, playing games or going to a fast food restaurant for a treat. Big prizes could be a day at one of the nearby Disney World parks or a trip to see Thomas the Tank Engine.
- We use pictures of past trips and reward days to serve as motivators and reminders. We also use magnets to post positive messages.
- Each day that Wyatt returns home we review the daily communication sheet. We talk about what happened: what went well and what was a challenge and discuss the “why” if it was a hard day.
- If Wyatt earns the sticker, he gets to pick the colored marker of his choice and then put an “x” if he earned a sticker. If he didn’t then he marks a circle. Wyatt hates marking the circle. We then say, can you try a little harder tomorrow? This often results in tears but typically brings an “x” the next day.
- To earn the big or six week award, he has to average 4 stickers a week. If we are not achieving this goal, we get with the team to revise the plan and find out what is getting in the way.
- The process must always stay positive.
- The strategy is all part of our behavior plan that involves Applied Behavior Analysis. ABA is also often referred to as “trail therapy.” I am not a behavior therapist. I am just a parent who has been blessed to learn from so amazing professionals. It’s not bullet proof but it works.
To learn more about what we have learned, check out our additional iReports.