Parents looking to help children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) cope better with everyday life may find it useful to use rewards based behavior management systems. Kids with ADHD often need to learn how to modify the way that they behave. Some parents may choose to use medication to achieve this aim, some may opt for behavioral modification and some may combine the two approaches. How can rewards systems help?
Some ADHD Children Respond Well to Positive Motivation and Penalty Systems
Children with ADHD often do better if their lives are organized in a structured way that sets boundaries that they can anticipate and understand. A rewards/penalty system can be used as part of everyday life to help them to learn how to modify their behavior and to control it appropriately.
Encouraging them when they do something well and discouraging them when they misbehave or act inappropriately may help them learn how to act in a world they often simply don’t understand. A parent interested in this kind of behavioral modification needs to tap into what motivates their child. Offering rewards that they actively want to earn/don’t want to lose may make this process easier.
It is worth keeping in mind that children with ADHD are considered to respond best to instant rewards/penalties. Delayed rewards/penalties may not have the same effect on their learning and may not give them the motivation they need to try and modify their behavior.
Suitable Reward Systems for Children With ADHD
Parents may be best placed trying to tie their rewards system into the likes/dislikes of their child to gain maximum effect. Some children will simply respond well to praise, for example, whilst others like a simple sticker reward chart or points system that helps them work towards earning a special treat, toy or incentive.
Any rewards given for good behavior need to be balanced with penalties when things don’t go so well (i.e. the loss of a sticker or a point or a suitable punishment as necessary). The best way to encourage a child with ADHD is to help them also understand that behaving badly brings negative consequences just as behaving well brings positive ones.
Rewards Systems Research and ADHD Drugs
A recent study by Nottingham University reported in the Biological Psychiatry journal shows that rewarding a child with ADHD may have similar effects to the medications used to modify behavior. Results showed that positive and negative behavioral rewards affect the same areas of the brain targeted by ADHD drugs, although they do not have as strong an effect.
This research seems to bear out what many parents have already learned. Giving ADHD kids a structured environment with a clear system of rewards and penalties can make it easier for some to modify their behavior. Some have also found similar effects with fish oil supplements which have helped some children with this condition concentrate better.
Sources:
Biological Psychiatry/Elsevier Publishing (" Synergy between Behavioral and Pharmacologic Interventions for ADHD ")
Medicinenet.com (" Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Behavioral Techniques for Childhood ADHD "). (accessed online 19th April 2010)
Carol Finch - Carol Finch is the Topic Editor for Retirement Planning, Budgeting, E-Commerce & Technical/Business Writing on Suite101.
Join the Conversation