A few weeks ago, I shared a level system that we have implemented in our home. I told you the basics of each tier of that system, but not the nitty gritty of how we track it and keep our dear one on board with pursuing his level goals. Here, I’m going to explain the step-by-step way that we handle that first tier – The Successful Day.
Gaining a Successful Day is a simple but focused process. We have a list of To-Do’s and our boy gets credit for each one he completes. These To-Do’s consist of chores, life skills, and the current target behavior and social skills that he is learning. We list no more than about 10 items that need earned through the day.
Any time we try a behavioral system, we make a visual board to keep track of our dear one’s progress. We use a black dry erase board for our boy. It is very important for our child to be able to see his progress in some way.
Every day, as each To-Do is completed, I place a check mark beside it on our tracker. When my boy completes all of his To-Do’s, he has earned a Successful Day. If one of the check marks is an all-day thing, like avoiding a negative behavior or maintaining a certain attitude, I simply wait until after bedtime to mark it off and show him in the morning.
When my boy gets up in the morning, I try to make reviewing their previous day a part of our morning routine. I make sure that he sees me put my signature down if he has earned one.
Him seeing the signature helps him see that the work that he put in is being acknowledged and appreciated by us. It reminds him of his goal, encourages him to keep trying, and helps him see that his choices are actively making a positive or negative impact on his life.
This can also be a good time to calmly discuss why he did or did not earn a signature and help him plan to earn one for the new day. I have to remind myself to keep this conversation very matter-of-fact, calm, and focused on growth. If he did not earn a signature, I state what he did without arguing or lecturing. If he did earn one, using this time to throw in some praise for specific ways that he mqnaged it is a great encouragement for him to do it again!
If you decide to try the Level System, let me know in the comments how it seems to work for your dear one and any questions you have on what we do! Next week, I will be writing about how we implement the second tier of the Level System- the Successful Week.
Disclaimer: The author is not a professional in child rearing, psychology, therapy, coaching, or any other field discussed. The information provided is strictly written in good faith sharing the author’s private experience, not personal advise for readers. Any use of any information provided is at your own risk with no guarantee that readers will have the same results as are shared by the author, either negative or positive. Caregiverskeeper.family.blog and affiliates will not be held responsible for any consequences of use of any information provided. You can see more on the disclaimer page from the site’s home menu.
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