Why Your Rewards Chart Isn’t Working

Here’s why behaviour modification programs never work long-term

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When a child’s behaviours are challenging or concerning, we often jump to looking for solutions which address the behaviour, but not the underlying cause.

When I receive reports from school staff and psychologists, they all have a similar theme: recommendations for behaviourism-based approaches, such as behaviour charts and ABA therapy.

These methods grossly oversimplify human behaviour, which is incredibly complex. Behaviourism identifies a problem behaviour and seeks to replace it with a preferred behaviour. Then the adult is to reward that preferred behaviour and dole out consequences for the undesired behaviour.

Sounds kind of like dog training, doesn’t it?

Kids are cute, but they’re not puppies, and human brains are much more complex than this approach would suggest.