The Star
Chart is an age old reward system revered by teachers and often tried by
parents, but with very little success. There
are three main challenges to the successful use of a star chart:
The first
common reason for its failure is the lack of explanation provided to
children. It doesn’t seem very complex:
behave=star, but herein lies the problem.
If children knew how to “behave”, a Star Chart wouldn’t be needed. “Good behaviour” is far too broad a term for
children to cope with; they need specifics.
This leads to the next problem, this time for parents: have you ever sat
down and made a list of “good behaviours”?
It is a daunting task, never mind trying to explain that different
settings may require modifications of these behaviours.
The final
common problem revolves around correct use of the Chart. Again, it seems very simple:
behave=star. If you have a list of ten
behaviours, consider how many times in a day parents would need to be running
to the star chart, and I use “running” on purpose because if that star does not
go on the chart immediately after the behaviour, the power is lost. The goal of a Star Chart should not be to get
x many stars to get a prize; each star going on that chart should be a mini-reward
in itself. As soon as the focus is on
collecting a certain number of stars, the behaviour(s) needed to get there
become of second importance.
