DRAGEN Academy · Free lesson · Parents, caregivers, coaches · 8 minutes
How to use reinforcement at home, without bribing.
What it is. Reinforcement is anything that follows a behavior and makes that behavior more likely next time. It is a result, not a prize. A smile can be one. So can getting out of bath time.
Why it matters. Reinforcement is already running in your house whether you planned it or not; the floor-drop that delays the bath is being paid every evening. The question is not whether to use it. The question is whether you are aiming it.
Bribe or reinforcement?
The line is when the deal is made.
The method
How to do it yourself: seven steps.
- Pick the behavior you want more of, and say it as a “do.” Not “stop fighting about shoes” — “shoes on within one minute of being asked.”
- Find real reinforcers. Watch what they choose when nobody is directing them. Ask. Offer a short menu. Something is only a reinforcer if the behavior goes up — you find out by trying.
- Set the deal in advance, in plain words, when everyone is calm. Small and immediate beats big and later, especially under age eight or for a brand-new skill. Saturday is too far away for a Tuesday morning.
- Deliver right after, every time at first. Name what they did: “Shoes on, first ask — music’s yours.” Once it is steady, thin it: every other time, then now and then.
- Pair it with your words. Over time the praise itself starts to carry the weight, and the music can fade.
- Never as a way out of a meltdown. If you hear yourself negotiating mid-scream, that is the bribe line. Wait for the first calm second, then carry on with the day. The deal for tomorrow still stands.
- Tally five days. Is the behavior up? If not, change the reinforcer or shrink the step. Do not decide the child “doesn’t respond to rewards” — you have not found the right one yet, or the step is too big.
Worked example
Sam, age five, and the shoes.
Behavior wanted: shoes on within a count of ten of being asked, in the morning. Deal, made at bedtime: shoes on by ten means Sam picks the music in the car. Delivered every morning it happened, named out loud.
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Days out of 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | no | yes | yes | no | yes | 3 |
| 2 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | 5 |
| 3 (music every other day, praise every day) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | 5 |
Mistakes to avoid
How good deals fall apart.
- Promising something you will not actually deliver. One broken deal costs ten kept ones.
- A reinforcer too far away. A five-year-old cannot see Saturday from Tuesday.
- Reinforcing “being good.” That is not a behavior anyone can see. Name the do.
- Taking the earned thing away later as punishment for something else. The deal stops being trusted.
- Making the deal during the scream. That is the bribe, and it works — on the wrong behavior.
Try it
One question, then the answer.
In the checkout line, mid-scream, a parent says “stop and you can have the candy.” The screaming stops. Bribe or reinforcement — and what got reinforced?
Show the answer, and why
A bribe, and the scream was reinforced. The deal was made during the behavior nobody wanted, and the scream produced the candy. Next week’s scream will be a little longer and a little louder. The same candy, agreed at the car door before the store for “hands on the cart the whole way,” would have been reinforcement.
Something to keep
Reinforcement plan, one page.
Fill it in when everyone is calm. Tally five days. Change the plan, not the child.
DRAGEN Academy · Reinforcement plan · dragen.cloud
| Behavior I want more of (as a “do,” defined) | When and where |
|---|---|
| The deal, in the words I will say | What earns it (reinforcers, tested) | Delivered how soon after |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Out of 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| If it is flat after five days, I will change: |
|---|
Print shows only the sheet, in black on white. Nothing you write on it is sent anywhere; the page has no forms.
Where DRAGEN helps
Built with you, not handed to you.
Caregiver training in DRAGENkids is this lesson done side by side: you practice, someone watches, you get feedback. DRAGENhealth applies the same science to sport and training.
Source
Where this comes from.
Skinner, Science and Human Behavior (1953), for the idea; Cooper, Heron & Heward, Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed., 2020), the chapters on positive reinforcement and on schedules, for the practice.
Examples on this page are made up. They contain no client, student or family information. This lesson teaches a method; it does not replace your child’s care team, your BCBA, or your payer’s written rules.