If you have established a token board or reward system in your Autism unit or SpEd classroom, you may be wondering how to fade a token board or reward system. Here are a few tips on how to fade a token board.
First, a token board or reward system is an essential and invaluable tool in an Autism classroom or in any classroom where students are challenged with behaviors, inattention, or difficulty focusing. You can read more about how to start using a token board by reading this post here.
Why You Fade a Token Board
Reward systems and token boards are super effective in changing behavior, but some teachers worry about their students becoming dependent on the board and then not wanting to work without it. I wouldn’t work without my paycheck. That is what I am ‘working for’. If I stopped getting paid, I would stop working… but I understand the desire to stretch the time between tokens and rewards.
I am all for that.
My job doesn’t pay me every hour, they wait until the end of the month to pay me in a lump sum. I have to work for weeks without my ‘reward’. For a student with attention deficits, Autism, or other special needs, that may be impossible… but we do want them to work for more than a couple minutes before having to be rewarded.
How to Start to Fade a Token Board
When you start using a token board, you will reward a student (what feels like) all the time. Really, you are just rewarding them at an interval that is just a little shorter than their current work time. If a student usually only attends for 2 minutes before having behaviors or getting distracted, then reward them every 110 seconds or so. If they currently only get a couple of problems done on a worksheet, you may reward them for every half page. Rewarding them often allows the board to start to have power and a student learn what they need to do to earn tokens as well as how the tokens get them what they want. That learning cycle is different for different kids and will have to be tailored to the student.
Once they get it, start to change the work between the rewards. If they were working for 110 seconds, start to stretch the time. If they were working for half a worksheet, start to ask for a full one. The reward is still there and they will still get ‘paid’… you just want more work. It would be like getting paid every day and then starting to get paid every week. I can see I will still get paid, but you want to have me work longer to see the money.
Another alternative if you want to keep the amount of work the same (maybe a student is working for 30 minutes and you just don’t want or need them to work harder/longer), then shorten or lessen the reward time. Still getting work, just not giving as much pay. Story of my life.
Don’t STOP the Token Board
If you are having this level of success with a student who once needed a token board or reward system, the last thing I want is for you to think “Their behavior is fine now… they don’t need the board anymore”. That is the kiss of death. They needed it for a reason and if you’ve never worked directly to change the antecedent to the behavior or the replacement behavior, then the board IS the replacement behavior. Remove it and you may see bad behaviors return. If stretching is not what you are looking for, transition from the board to a checklist of tasks- just like what we grown folks usually use. You can start by asking a student to add their ‘reward’ on the bottom of the list and their ‘token’ could be to check it off or cross it off. If you are the type of person who adds items to a list just to get to cross it off, you already know the intrinsic satisfaction that comes with completing a list. Transitioning a token board to a to-do list may be just what you were looking for and what your student needs.
Where to Find a Token Board
The token board in the Noodle Nook store is a great digital resource for teachers who work in SpEd or Autism Units. The digital download has tons of versions to customize just what you need for students.
There are 7 Token Board formats with 26 different versions and 67 different token icons with high-interest themes like Star Wars, Minions, Superheros, Mario, and more. Also, there are 30 Rule Icons for the Rule Token Boards as well as 20 ‘working for’ icons to round out the set. Literally, everything you need to customize a token board and reward system for every student in your classroom!
To see a token board in action, check out the video on this post all about Token Boards.