Fading Out Reinforcers
As we said, some parents feel that their child should not need a reward to do what she is told. We explained that learning to do things that are rewarded is just how people’s brains works. Everyone learns this way.
Sometimes parents have another reason they aren’t sure they should reward good behavior. They think the child will expect rewards. They worry that, after a while, the child won’t do anything without rewards. The answer to this is to slowly use fewer and fewer rewards as a skill becomes easier for your child.
For example, when you are first teaching a child to do a puzzle, reward her every time she puts in a piece. As this becomes easier for your child to do, you can give fewer rewards. For example, you can reward her for every two or three pieces she puts in.
In the next clip you will see a little boy learning to do puzzles. He is now putting several pieces in and only getting a little praise.
He is beginning to enjoy putting puzzles together. Soon, getting a big smile or praise for doing the whole puzzle by himself will be all he needs. After that, doing the puzzle will be fun by itself.
In the next clip, this little boy is rewarded with a toy after completing two whole tasks, a puzzle and a Mr. Potato Head toy. He needed very little help or praise along the way.
In the next clip, a little girl puts four clothespins on a plastic container and then takes them off again with very little help or praise. When she first started learning this, she needed help and a reward for putting one clothespin on the container.
The more skilled someone becomes at anything she is learning, the easier it is to do. As less effort is needed to perform a skill, less reinforcement is usually required to get the child to practice that skill. With practice, children maintain the skills they have learned. The easier a skill is to perform, the more likely it is to occur. Most of the time, you won’t need to continue giving rewards when your child practices a skill you have taught her. But even when you do, she will eventually need only small rewards once in a while. And the attention you pay her when she performs the skill may be enough of a reward to keep the behavior going strong.