Parent Handout for the Home Poker Chip/Point System
When trying to manage a child with behavioral problems, it is common to find that praise is not enough to motivate the child to do chores, follow rules, or to obey commands. As a result, it is necessary to set up a more powerful program to motivate the child. One such program that has been very successful with children is the home poker chip program (for children 4 to 8 years old) or the home point system (for 9-year olds and older children). Your therapist will explain in detail ho to set up such a program, but here are the steps to follow.
THE HOME POKER CHIP PROGRAM
1. Find or buy a set of plastic poker chips. If the child is 4 or 5 years old, then each chip, regardless of color, represents one chip. For 6 to 8 year olds, the colors can represent different amounts: white = 1 chip, blue= 5 chips, and red= 10 chips. If you use the colors this way, take one of each color, tape it to a small piece of cardboard, and write on each chip how many chips it is worth. Post this card somewhere so your child can easily refer to it.
2. Sit down and explain to your child that you feel he or she has not been rewarded enough for doing nice things at home and you want to change all that. You want to set up a new reward program so your child can earn priveleges and nice things for behaving properly. This sets a very positive tone to the program.
3. You and your child should make a bank in which he or she will keep the chips they will earn. A shoe box, coffee can (with a dull edge on the rim), a plastic jar, etc. can serve as a bank. Have some fun decorating it with your child.
4. Now, you and your child should make up a list of the privileges you want your child to earn with the poker chips. These should include not only occasional special privileges (going to movies, roller-skating, buying a toy) but also the everyday privileges your child takes for granted (television, video games, special toys already in the home, riding a bike, going over to a friend's home, etc.) Your therapist will explain what types of privileges you might include on this list. Be sure to have at least 10, and preferably 15, rewards on this list.
5. Now make up a second list that will contain the jobs and chores you often ask this child to perform. These can be typical household chores such as setting the table for a meal, chearing the table after a meal, cleaning a bedroom, making a bed, and emptying wastebaskets. Also put on the list things like getting dressed for school, getting ready for bed, washing and bathing, brushing teeth, or any other self-help task you give a child that normally poses a problem. Your therapist can help you decide what types of jobs to put on this list for your child's age group and special problems.
6. Next, take each job or chore and decide how much you feel it is worth in chips. For 4 and 5 year olds, assign from one to three chips for most tasks, and perhaps five for really big jobs. For 6 to 8 year olds, use a range of 1 to 10 chips and perhaps give a larger amount for big jobs. Remember, the harder the job, the more chips you will pay.
7. Take a moment and add up approximately how many chips you think your child will earn in a typical day if he or she does most of these jobs. Then, remembering this number, decide how many chips your child should have to pay for each of the rewards you listed. We generally suggest that two thirds of the child's daily chips should be spent on typical daily privileges. This allows the child to save about one third of his or her chips every day toward the purchase of some of the very special rewards on the list. Don't worry about the exact numbers to use here. Just use your judgment as to how much each reward should cost, be fair, and charge more chips for the special rewards and less for the daily ones.
8. Be sure to tell your child that he or she will have a chance to earn bonus chips when chores are performed in a prompt and pleasant manner. You will not give these bonus chips all the time but should give thenm when your child has done a job in an especially pleasant and prompt manner.
9. Be sure to tell the child that chips will only be given for jobs that are done on the first request. If you have to repeat a command, the child will not receive any chips for doing it.
10. Finally, be sure to go out of your way this week to give chips away for any small appropriate behavior. Remember, you can reward a child even for good behaviors that are not on the list of jobs. Be alert for opportunities to reward the child.
Note: DO NOT TAKE CHIPS AWAY THIS WEEK FOR MISBEHAVIOR!!! You can do that when your therapist tells you to, but otherwise chips are to be used ONLY as rewards this week, not taken away as punishment.
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