Behavior incentives for middle schoolers

[amom526]

I will be working daily 1:1 with a couple middle school students this school year. I am looking for an incentive system to encourage engagement and positive behaviors. I was thinking of doing a ticket system, where I pass out tickets, and then do a prize store every few weeks. Does this sound too babyish for middle schoolers? Open to any ideas! Also if you have middle schoolers, what small prizes would they actually want to "purchase" with their tickets? TIA!

[Kindra178]

Sb, Panera and dd gift cards.


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[SnuggleBuggles]

Think experiences vs physical items. Maybe it'd be easier to sustain the purchasing if for a small group of kids but funding the physical prizes (gift cards, items..) got to be very expensive. Options like being the dj at lunch time (with a pre-sumbitted and reviewed playlist, perhaps) or other experiences are worth exploring. They always had one big, prize the kids could save up for. They used a system like at Chuck E Cheese where different things cost different amounts and they saved up their tickets.

[georgiegirl]

Our middle school does “warrior bucks” as incentives. Kids earn them and every so often there’s an auction to buy stuff (donated by the parents). Apparently a dollar store box of mike and Ike’s went for more than a $5 Starbucks gift card . I think the auction format makes it extra fun for the kids. They could also pool their “money” and buy booths in the cafeteria (the coolest seating option).

[SASM]

Our middle school was doing an incentive program. Some kids liked it, some could care less. The most popular "rewards" that kids thought worth it to comply were homework passes and candy. They will jump through hoops for chips and sour candy!

[squimp]

Our middle school used a lot of incentives like that as part of the PBIS. Not sure how well it worked but they did kind of a points system like that which accumulated and gave out gift cards every month. I think it was helpful for the kids who responded to those incentives.

[hbridge]

I am NOT a fan of incentive programs and my autistic teen HATES them and refuses to participate (ie. never turns any in). With so much controversy surrounding the use of ABA, I would try to avoid using incentives if you can. It's tough in the public school, but if you can work in time to simply connect with your kids and give them attention and understanding, a CPS approach seems to work much better in middle school and beyond.

That being said, when I was teaching, we had success with: homework passes, candy, time with class pets/therapy animals, fancy pencils/pens, extra recess time, and extra technology time. However, every kids is different, some would prefer extra time to read/write/create...

Have a great school year.

[KpbS]

Candy or Sonic gift cards for slushees/milkshakes

[niccig]

Depends on the child what is motivating. I use the school wide incentive program. For students in the special education classes, the teacher has individual program for each student. One student is only motivated by food, with her parents’ permission we use a token reward system. She has a token board and earns so many stars then gets the small amount of food. Over time we increased amount of work before she gets the reward. For another student it’s free time on the computer. I have students that we still don’t have a motivating item, even family says there’s nothing they really want.

I’d wait to meet students and see what the school or teacher has set up. I also agree with hbridge, building rapport with students goes a long way. I also try to use topics they find interesting.


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[sariana]

I agree with the comments already made. And no, that is not too babyish for middle school. (They might say it is, but secretly they will like it, assuming they ever like such things. As mentioned above, some people just don't respond to incentives, but not because they're babyish.)

And yes, middle schoolers tend to like food incentives. I'm not crazy about that concept, but it often works.