Each month I will be sharing information on a different strategy I will be using here at the school to help the students. For October it will be about Positive reinforcement.
Positive reinforcement is a type of behavior management that focuses on rewarding what is done well by students. It is used to encourage students to perform tasks more accurately. In this case, positive does not mean “good”, it actually means “adding to”. So from a behavioral standpoint positive reinforcement is adding something to make the behavior reoccur in the future.
Positive reinforcement has shown to really help those with Autism, ADHD, or any other child who has difficulties in school or at home. When we reward these individuals for following a given direction, even the simplest direction such as clapping your hands, we create more opportunities for them to appropriately respond or behave and not be stigmatized by their peers.
By having reinforcers (fancy behavioral term for rewards) readily available for desirable behaviors, we can begin properly implementing positive reinforcement to promote accuracy and consistency in the students’ choices.