Topical Blog Week #14 (Due Friday)

Token Economy

My setting will be a classroom setting in an elementary school. The behavior class I want to increase is reading behaviors. I want the children to read more. Target behaviors I want to direct toward would be finishing reading assignments and turning them in on time, also reading in their free time more often. My token will be a punch card. Considerations I have to take into account are where the kids will keep these punch cards and who will punch the punch cards. The kids will keep the punch cards at school, and the teacher will provide a filing system to keep them in. The teacher will also be the one who punches the punch card, that way the kids won’t do extra punches on their card. Once the kids fill up their punch card, which contains 5 punches, the kids will be reinforced with a back up reinforcer. These would be more time at recess, front of the lunch line, seconds at lunch, or allowed to miss one homework assignment. The kids can choose which one of these they would like. I chose these reinforcers because I remember these being some of the most rewarding things when I was in elementary school. Kids love extra recess and lunch time is a big time for children. When the children go home and read a book, they have to write a little summary of the book and the parents need to sign on the paper with the summary to prove the kid read the book. Then the kid will turn in that summary to the teacher and the teacher will give them a punch on their punch card for every book summary their write. I selected this value because I want to improve kid’s reading behaviors. The hours of operation would be half the class one day and the other half another day. That way its splits the time to do punches in half and won’t take up too much time. This will occur right away in the morning before school work and activities begin for the day. I will need to explain my program to the children, parents, and most likely the school administration. I will inform them of the program and describe the system and how it purpose is to improve kids reading skills and getting reading assignments done on time. After some time, I will increase the amount of punches on the cards to keep the behavior occurring and more challenging. I will also probably change the backup reinforcers to improve the kids interest in the prizes. I should prepare that for some children, they could forge their parents signature just to say they read a book. I also need to be prepared for some parents to just sign away on some of their kid’s summaries, without them knowing for sure if they actually read the book or not.

The behavioral setting I am using is a prison for women. The behavior class I am trying to change is functional. The target behaviors that are to be changed are yelling and slapping from one woman to another. Their behaviors will be reinforced when they are out of their cells and they are cooperating as a group. If they get in an argument and keep their cool they will be reinforced. The types of tokens used here are points that the warden will keep their hands so the amount doesn’t get changed. However, each woman is in charge of keeping track of their points on a white board in the cell. Some considerations to think about are the miscalculation of points, even though they are on record somewhere else. By using these points, no one can take some that belong to another person. Some back up reinforcers are opportunities to do outside activities, free days of not cleaning, and hangout time with other individuals. There is a board that states the amount of points and the options of activities that the women can be a part of so there is no confusion on how many points each activity is worth. My rationale for choosing these reinforcers is because I imagine that the women who are incarcerated would want to have the opportunity to do these things. The token value is 10 points for outside activities, 15 points for hangout time with other people, and 20 points for free day with no cleaning. The bank is the warden and security keeping track of the points in order for the points not to be messed with or stolen. The points are added up and traded in each Friday at the end of the day. This program is to be explained to each individual as they are new to the facility. I will lay out the instructions and make sure they understand it as they are getting used to the program. The amount of points will start out lower to ensure participation and then gradually get to a higher level. A potential problem for this token economy is that not all women enter the facility at the same time so some may be entering during the highest point value and some may be entering during the lowest point value.

Token Economy

My setting is going to be a high school classroom, and the behavior class I am going to change is doing their homework. Specifically, I will target completing the worksheet/paper/reading/etc and turning in said assignment, since sometimes one happens but not the other or neither happen.
My tokens will simply be points, because they are easy to keep track of, easily replenished, doling them out isn’t disruptive to the classroom setting, and they theoretically can’t get lost. High school aged kids won’t necessarily need a tangible token in order to feel like they have gained something, unlike younger children. Physical tokens could have very little value to them, and may even seem patronizing since using tokens can seem like something only used on little kids.
The backup reinforcers for the points are special privileges that the students can buy with their points. The privileges are getting out of a pop quiz, skipping a homework assignment (not a large project or paper, though), extra credit points on exams, and getting an extension on the deadline for a large project or paper. I chose these reinforcers because they are things that high school students want, I think. Even the students who are always on top of everything and get their homework done on time every time could use a break now and then. The students can gain points and boost their grade by simply giving an effort, even if their efforts aren’t A or B level work. The way the tokens are given out, they really don’t even need to give much of an effort to gain a few points. Attendance is not directly rewarded, but they have to be there to turn in the assignments.
When a student turns in an assignment, they have the possibility to gain two points completely unrelated to the quality of their work and their grade on the assignment. One point is gained from simply putting a name on their work and handing it in. While it’s sort of rewarding them for not doing anything, they will at least be emitting a turning-in behavior, which is a step in the right direction for some students. The point can only be gained when the assignment is turned in by the end of the class period on the day that it is due. The second point is gained from having the assignment completed. This could be every blank on the worksheet filled out, the page limit of the paper met, etc. Essentially, is the bare minimum requirement is met, they get the point. This point can be gained even if the assignment is late. If it’s completed, regardless of when, the point is given. This would encourage students to at least do the work, even if the deadline has already passed. Many teachers don’t give any points for late work, so students don’t even bother once it’s late, and thus they don’t gain the knowledge intended from the assignment. Hopefully this system will encourage completion no matter when the student gets around to it.
Assuming that the class meets 5 days a week with some sort of assignment 4 of those days, students can gain about 8 points a week. With 19 weeks in a high school semester, it’s probably be best to start really low and say that’d be able to collect enough points to buy 8 to 10 reinforcers. Hopefully every other week will be often enough for a student to still be invested in the system. That said, skipping a quiz or assignment and getting a deadline extension will all cost 15 points, or about 2 weeks of consistent work. If the class is particularly notorious for not getting their stuff done, perhaps I would start them at 10 points for a reinforcer. The extra credit points on exams would start at 2-for-1, 2 points for one extra credit point.
The students will be given some sort of table or grid to keep track of their own points by date, and the teacher would have a master backup table to keep track of all the students’ points. The students are plenty old enough to keep track of their own points and not need to ask the teacher constantly how many they are at. The system of giving out points is simple and objective enough for them to know how many points they would be getting since it’s not based on grade or work quality. The teacher would have an overall copy to check against theirs as well as provide their point total in the event that a student loses his or her record sheet or forgets to write down their points. This should be relatively easy for the teacher as well, since they already have to record the grade for each assignment.
To cash in points for a deadline extension, the student can use his or her points at any time up to the start of class when the project or paper is due. He or she simply needs to come up before class starts or after it lets out on any day after the assignment is given and ask for an extension. 15 points buys a week, and the student can buy up to two weeks extension. After the initial week is bought, the student can then go up at any point during that extra week to buy the second week, or both can be bought at the same time. For getting out of a pop quiz, the student simply needs to write his or her name on their paper along with some declaration that they are using their points to get out of it, be it writing “skip” on the paper, writing down the point deduction, whatever works for them. The same goes for getting out of an assignment. To get extra credit on an exam, the student just needs to write the number of points they wish to use on their test next to their name.
I will need to explain the program to the students and to any substitute teacher or student teacher that would be in the classroom. On the first day of class, the students would get an explanation of the program and can ask questions about it at any point if they have any. I would also write up a list of rules on how to gain points, what they can be used on, limitations (like which assignments are not allowed to be skipped, limit on deadline extensions, etc), and how to go about cashing in the points. This would be posted to remind the students and for the benefit of any other teachers that would be in the classroom and need to know the system. Essentially, I would write out paragraphs 4-7 of this blog in bullet style or something and put it on a poster. The students would also receive a typed copy of the rules and everything to keep in their folders/binders along with their record sheet.
I would increase the points required to buy reinforcers from 15 to 20 a third of the way through the semester, and then again to 25 after two thirds of the semester have passed. The extra credit points would also increase from 2 for 1 point to 3 for 1, and then 4 for 1. I don’t intend to get rid of the points, however, because I think it’s important for effort to be taken into account when grades are determined, and this is a less subjective method than “Did this student try? How would I grade their level of effort?” would be.
One of the big problems I would run across is the students who already don’t turn in assignments or come to class and simply don’t care about their grade. They would, I assume, not care if they have enough points to turn in a paper late, skip a quiz, etc, because they would probably do that anyway. If I could find a way to let them use points, perhaps, to do things outside of that specific class, like get out of a detention or something like that it could be a little reinforcing to them, but that would require getting the whole school on board with the program. If they don’t want to buy into the system, I can’t really force them to. Perhaps with the right reinforcer, I could at least get them to come to class and turn in a sheet of paper with their name on it. Even if they aren’t getting a good grade out of the class, they’d be there and hopefully absorb some of what’s being taught. I wouldn’t need to worry about a black market for tokens because they’re non-transferrable and aren’t something physical that can be stolen or replicated. Hoarding wouldn’t be an issue, either, because if they’re doing the work, they can hoard all they want and use up all their points on exam extra credit. Either way, they’re still getting the work done.

A token economy is a process of reinforcement using tokens which are given to an individual each time they emit the desired behavior. The tokens can then be turned in to receive a greater reinforcer/reward. The setting that I chose to use is my current employment setting which is at a residential care facility for individuals who have a mental illness. I currently use a token economy for all of my clients. An aversive characteristic that all of my clients had in common was poor hygiene. So, I began to reinforce target behaviors such as taking a shower daily, teeth brushing, wearing clean clothing, completing laundry once per week. The token I use is a small smiley face sticker because they are cheap and contain 1,000 stickers in one pack. I print off a graph with four horizontal boxes (each box represents a week), which serves as my way of keeping record of my clients’ progress. I keep the graph/record in my office for four weeks and at the end of the four weeks the record is given to each client. I tend to typically use differential reinforcement in the token economy I set up. In regards to increasing the appropriate behavior of improving personal hygiene, I use DRH by reinforcing the individual only after the appropriate behavior has occurred at a predetermined high rate. So, for example my clients get one sticker each week under the hygiene category on their graph if they perform all of the previously mentioned target behaviors for the seven days of that week. At the end of every four weeks, I give my clients the record containing all of the stickers they earned, which provided them access to the Reward Zone. The Reward Zone is a small grocery store that is at our facility, which contains donated food and hygiene supplies from local grocery stores. Each sticker that the individual received is worth seven points, which represents the seven days of the week. Only having to give each client potentially one sticker per week saves money because then I don’t have to purchase the stickers as often. So, an individual has a potential to use 28 points in the Reward Zone. Each food or hygiene item costs 1, 2, or 3 points depending on quantity or size of the item. For example, a large box of cereal costs 3 points and the smaller box costs 2 points. The individual has to use their points after their four weeks is up preventing clients from combining stickers which would empty the Reward Zone. The Reward Zone is always locked, so a client must have assistance from an employee when using the Reward Zone to prevent clients from stealing. The Reward Zone is available to clients from 8-5 when multiple staff are working. The nice thing about the Reward Zone is that all of the items are donated from local grocery stores so it doesn’t cost me or my employer any money to provide the clients with the reward items and it rewards the clients because then they don’t have to spend as much money on groceries. I wouldn’t have to explain my token economy to anyone because it was a system that was already set up when I was hired; however the behavior being reinforced is left up to each employee. As a way to reduce tokens, I could keep an online record or increase the amount of days that a client must have good hygiene for. The only potential problem I see occurring with the token economy is an individual who isn’t reinforced by food or hygiene products such as an individual who has an eating disorder. Another potential problem would be if the Reward Zone ran out of food, but each client doesn’t start on the same week so not everyone is using the Reward Zone on the same day or week.

The setting that I am going to use is an elementary school focusing on 3rd graders. I want to increase free reading behavior so they read more outside of class from a list provided by the teacher to benefit inside the classroom. I want to increase the enjoyment of reading so the students enjoy reading in the classroom and in the future. My tokens will be stickers. There will be individual ribbons hanging on a wall that has each student’s name on in the classroom and every time they finish a book, and able to briefly explain the book (slightly knew what was going on in the book) they are able to receive a sticker! Every time they read 10 books from the list they are able to be reinforced for their reading by choosing either to get 10 minutes of recess time, being the line leader (this was a big deal in 3rd grade in my school!) for the day, or picking some candy from the teacher, or going to lunch early. The ribbons aren’t that expensive to get and a teacher can usually buy them in bulk to get a cheaper price, and they are nice enough to give to the student once they fill up their ribbon and start a new one. The stickers are pretty cheap also and you get a lot in a pack so they aren’t hard to replace and you can find them anywhere. The stickers are just the round ones with funny pictures. Once the student finishes a book and is able to explain it they can personally pick out a sticker (this is how they know they did something good) and the teacher will put it up on the ribbon. The teacher will also have a sheet inside her desk that they will keep track of the stickers that each student have and is able to inform the student of when they can choose their reinforcement/reward.

I picked these reinforcers because they seemed like something that 3rd graders would want to be reinforced for. I tried to remember what I thought was important in 3rd grade and that was being a line leader, or having extra recess time or even getting candy. They seemed like fair and rather easy reinforcements to keep the children happy to continue reading to get the stickers and eventually get reinforced for it.
I mentioned it before each sticker is worth just one and after they get 10 stickers they are able to choose what they want from the list I mentioned before (line leader, extra recess etc.). I picked this value because some books that they might read (from the list provided) are pretty short and they are able to get through them pretty fast. I thought 10 wasn’t too much but at the same time wasn’t too little. If no one is getting to 10 after awhile I will readjust to 5 books before they get to choose and see how that goes, because I want them to enjoy reading and want to continue and not make it too hard for them to actually get reinforced for it. For my bank I will have the ribbons for the students and at the same time have a point system on paper to know exactly how much they have on their ribbon.
I figured at the end of each day, once they had time to get with the teacher to explain their book, which the teacher will have scheduled times for the students i.e. during homework time, and those who have enough stickers to turn in they can tell the teacher that they want to turn them in and they are able to redeem them for the next school day. The teacher will make an announcement for those who have enough stickers to redeem for the next day. So the teacher will put time near the end of the day so the students can line up and tell them what they want.

I think the teacher would need to explain to the parents of the students so they can encourage them to read to get benefits and reinforcements in the classroom. Also, the other teachers perhaps to help out if they aren’t busy 10 minutes before the teacher’s recess to watch the students that want to go 10 minutes early.
“To increase the students reading not only in the classroom but outside the classroom I want to start reinforcing the children for their outside reading. I have set up a program that for every 10 books the student reads and is briefly able to explain, they will receive a sticker for. Once they have reached the 10 stickers, which we will adjust if the amount is to high they are able to pick from several rewards, including 10 minutes extra recess time, being the line leader for the day, leave early for lunch or some candy. I believe that this will increase the students wanting to read more because they are getting something out of their time reading. I have provided a list of books, age appropriate, for them to pick from. This is a fun experience to increase your child’s reading! If it were to become too much for the child contact me anytime and we can adjust because each child is different!”
The reading may become too much, and some children might not be able to read that many and might feel they are getting reinforced as much because it is too hard. Finding teachers to cover the extra recess time, or having multiple children wanting to be line leader for the day and having to keep track of what students want. Them wanting more stickers! Losing track of points or mistallying the points on one student. These are just some of the problems that could occur.

The behavioral setting I am choosing to do is the family household. What behaviors I want to happen are kids (age 7-12) doing their chores on time and not sloppy. All of these behaviors will be occurring in the household. The target behaviors that I have developed would be completely all the chores on the list that is presented to the kids and make sure that each chore is done right the first time so they don’t have to be redone. I will keep a checklist of each chore I want done each day and then I will make sure that they are done when I would arrive home and done with care. If both requirements are met then they will get two checks on the check list saying that they have completed the chores. Each check is worth 1 dollar so they have the potential to make ten dollars a week, or they can save their checks until they have enough to go on a shopping trip, amusement park, etc.
The reason I have decided to keep a checklist of chores is because this age group would have a hard time keep track of their tokens and most likely would lose them which would cause extinction of the target behavior. So if I keep track I know that my token economy will go by without those problems and I will always have a clear knowledge of how far along each kid is.
My back up reinforcers will vary depending on what the child wants. If the kid wants to have money every week than he or she will receive 1 dollar every week for each check mark they receive (max of 10 a week). The child can also save their tokens for bigger reinforcers such as 40 tokens to go to an amusement park, 60 tokens to go on a shopping trip, and other reinforcers depending on the children’s interests. They also have the potential to lose tokens as well. If they refuse to do their chores they will lose a token and if they don’t do their chores to satisfactory levels they won’t receive a token for that chore. These reinforcers are suited for younger kids so that’s why they are easy to control and give out compared to someone in the high school range.
The bankers would be the parents as they will hand out the tokens and decide if the kids get checks for their work or not. Kids will be able to visit the bankers every Friday to cash in or use tokens for bigger activities.
The token economy would be explained to everyone who is in the family because that’s all it pertains to. Everyone has to understand the rules and there will be a sheet that states them all if anyone is to forget.
I hope that since they will be doing chores already, if they see other chores that aren’t on the list that need to be done that they will volunteer to do those chores as well. I want the behavior of doing things around the house to be learned so they don’t even need to be reinforced to do them.
Some potential problems that might occur are the kids refusing to do any chores at all. I don’t think this will be a major issue because if they don’t do the chores then they will have no money or opportunities to do anything fun.

My token economy.

I decided to use a token economy that was relevant to me. I work at UPS, loading semi trailors everynight for 4 hours. The only reinforcement we currently recieve for the work we do is a paycheck at the end of every week (a pretty small paycheck for that matter). There are many different jobs that different people do throughout the sort, some are easier than others but most are extremely physically strenuous. The jobs are based on senority, the longer youre with the company the easier your job is each night.

The behavior class we are attempting to change is to increase effeciency, motivation, and to improve the "numbers" at the end of the night and the total production for the week. The problem we have encountered on our specific sort is a lack of motivation amongst the employees... The supervisors are currently faced with the problem of needing to increase the motivation and efficiency of there workers. As the weeks go on and motivation has failed to improve the punishment from upper management is to yell at the supervisors who then yell at us, a pretty unproductive strategy. The only solution for this problem is to reinforce the crew for what they do well and their overall success.
The production numbers at the end of the night will serve as the token, if can hit over 197 pieces per hour at least 3-5 nights for a week we will recieve pizza during break every Friday. If we fail to meet our numbers more than 3 times we will not be reinforced. This would serve as a reinforcer for all whole crew. We will keep it to on pizza party per week to ensure that the crew doesn't become satiated with the pizza. We will also have tokens for individual workers on the sort. The main problem we are faced with is inefficient unloading of cars and trailors and slow/ sloppy loaders. Every night the unloader can finish unloading the cars before 8pm, there reinforcment will be that the next night they will be able to perform an easier job such as package puller or small package sorter. This will also be the same for the loaders, each night they successfully load the trailors and a timely and neat manner (lets say 600 or more packages per trailor) neatly built walls and no belt offs, and no misloads, they will be allowed to perform an easier job the next night. If you fail to complete the job successfully... you will stay at your position until your work improves. Back up reinforcers will also be inplace. Top performers of the week will recieve a pay bonus of 50 dollars at the end of the week. There will also be opportunities to recieve merchandise such as UPS gear (shirts, jackets, hoodies, water bottles, lunch boxes) for individuals who make the most improvements week to week.

During regular work hours the upper management will be responsible for keeping track of the numbers and overall improvements of the crew. Supervisors will keep track of individual performance and reinforce individuals as they earn it. A chart will be made and presented by the clock in/out box to show the rest of the crew how much improvements have been made and who the top performers are. Eventually, motivation and efficiency will increase because the crew is seeing tangible reinforcement for the hard work they are performing. The hope is that the hard work will become habitual and we can then lessen the amounts of reinforcement that is handed out.

There are some potential problems however. the elimination of the system of senority will cause some hardship at first, the veterans won't want to perform the hard jobs. This could also work to our advantage, the veterans would then exert more effort in order to go back to their easier jobs. If they don't put forth any effort they will be stuck performing the hard jobs. Top performers will recieve a pay bonus and this may not fly with the upper management, as they wish to spend the least money as possible. Satiation may also become a problem with the pizza parties on Fridays... so maybe we could change it up and get another type of food every other week. The potential benefits of implementing this program will definitly outweigh the potential problems and therefore I think that it is worth a try. Motivation, efficiency, and a overall happier and productive work environment will result!

I chose a college classroom as a setting for my token economy, and the behavior I want to reinforce is doing outside readings about the subject matter.

I will use a points system rather than physical tokens to avoid token laundering or other forms of cheating. The downside of this is that a physical token is probably more reinforcing than an intangible "point", and so it will be harder to get students to buy into the system. I think I can make up for this by allowing frequent exchanges of the points for backup reinforcers, and by setting low prices for the backup reinforcers.

The backup reinforcers can either be negative (excused absences from class, opting for a take-home version of the exam) or positive (extra credit in the class). The rationale for choosing these reinforcers is that if students read journal articles outside of class, then they are learning the material, which is the goal of a class in the first place. If they don't want to come to class, and they're willing to do the work outside of class in order to save up a couple of free days, that's fine by me. The same is true for the take-home exam. Taking away the aversive scenario of exam stress can be good for the student without sacrificing the integrity of the exam, because as I mentioned previously, if the students are doing extra work outside of class, then they are learning the material (and the purpose of an exam is to make sure they're learning the material). This would be a more expensive reinforcer than missing class. The last reinforcer seems to be the most common-sense, at least to me. Extra work should be transferable into extra credit.

The points awarded will be determined by their score on an online quiz I'll develop using Google Forms. The questions will all be short answer, and there will be ten of them. A score below 5 yields no points, a score of 5-10 yields an equivalent amount of points (8/10 is 8 points, 5/10 is 5 points, etc.). 10 points can be redeemed for an excused absence from class, 15 points can be redeemed for 5% extra credit on the next exam, and 30 points can be redeemed for a take-home version of the next exam. There will be a quiz available every week, which means that to earn a take-home exam, students either have to ace three of them or take nearly every one in order to earn the take-home exam. The points will reset after every exam, so students can't horde the points over the course of the semester to earn a take-home final exam with 25% extra credit.

I chose these prices because I want them to be fairly low (the cheapest one can be bought by emitting the target behavior once) so the students will buy into the system. At the same time, I want them to be high enough that the system can't be abused, especially the take-home exam. For the take-home exam to work, the student has to actually be learning the material. I'd have to make sure not to offer enough of these extra reading opportunities that students can take them all, guess at the answers, and end up with enough points to earn a take-home exam (although I'm not too worried about this, since the quizzes are all short answer).

Since my setting is a college classroom, I'm not very worried about keeping bank hours. I would probably either use my office hours as bank hours or give students online banking capabilities (via email). I'll keep track of their points through a Google Doc that is shared with the class (but that only I can edit), using ID numbers instead of names to ensure anonymity.

I'll have to explain my system to the students, and I would explain it by saying that this token economy system is designed to reward them for learning about the subject matter outside of class. Students can exchange doing a little bit of extra reading for obtaining an excused absence, adding extra credit to their exam, or even getting to take the exam home. I'm a firm believer in establishing interest in class material outside of the actual class (especially if this class is in their major field), and this is my way of letting students get credit for showing interest in the subject matter.

Since my setting is a college class, I don't think I'll phase out the tokens. A semester is only about fifteen weeks, which is 15 opportunities for points. The problem with this is that students will undergo extinction after the class is over (they won't keep reading for other classes without reinforcement), but I don't think a semester is enough time to effectively lean out the reinforcement to the point where it's no longer necessary.

The main problem I think I'll have is making sure the students who claim to have done the outside readings really have done them. I could arrange for a time outside of class to discuss the reading with them, or let them complete online questionnaires about the readings using Google Forms. I don't mind if they have access to the form while they're supposed to be doing the readings, looking for the answers in the text is still learning the material. Another cheating possibility is that the students will take the quizzes in groups, so that some of them could be freeloading. Using Google Forms would actually prevent this abuse, since there is a timestamp feature. If three or four students submit a form within thirty seconds (especially if they have a week or two do to the assignment), I'll know to be suspicious.

I'll do the home setting; most behaviors happen at the home. The behavioral class would the chores that a few older children have to do through the week/weekend. The change would be that they would do their chores more often and more diligently; no one likes their chores really. With some reinforcement of time and allowance chores may be more well done. The tokens would be money for their chores, and if they get them done before the weekend, they have the ability to go out with friends rather then stay home and finish them. Considerations when dealing with this that the children are given the same amount for their chores, make the chores even in difficulty/simplicity so it's fair. Some backup for these reinforcers may be to that if the children want something expensive they have to earn the money to get it. The rationale behind this is that children want more things as they get holder and their friends are important by hindering both possibilities behavior may be improved. The token itself has value, as it is a common way to modify behavior; most parents pay their kids to do work around the house after all. Parent's paycheck is the bank unfortunately, but potently teaching the children possible life lessons. This system will be needed to be explained to the children since they are the ones that are being hindered by chores and being given an reinforcement for doing them. With time and repeated behavior, the children will do the chores as well as they can without complaint and do them out of habit. Reinforcement may no longer be necessary as they grow old and get jobs but still do their chores.

Problems would be first the cooperation of the children. Staying firm with the plan if it works is key, if it doesn't work right off the bat, modifying the economy might be best. And punishment via not giving the allowance and time with friends.
anticipate and plan for.

For my token economy my setting is a daycare class of 3 and 4 year olds. The behavior I am going to change is cleaning up after themselves, the target behaviors include putting the toys they played with back in the same place they got them when center time is over and throwing their garbage away and taking their dishes to the counter when they are finished with snack and lunch. The type of token I will use is a sticker for each time they complete these tasks without being reminded. Considerations included the children who aren’t there as much or aren’t there for snack time, how they will earn stickers. These stickers will be on a sticker chart that is on the wall. The backup reinforcers will be once their sticker chart is full, 20 stickers, they get to pick a prize from the prize box. My rationale for these reinforcers is that they are toys that the children enjoy, yet they are affordable that I can have a box full all the time. the stickers will be given at the moment the target behavior is emitted, and the backup reinforcers will be given right after lunch every day when their sticker charts are “filled up” I will explain the bank to the teacher’s helpers, parents, and every time a new child starts at the daycare. I will explain what the tokens are, where they are, what they look like, how long it will take to fill up on average, and what types of prizes (backup reinforcers) they will receive. I will keep this up all the time and there will not be a need for reducing the tokens. The problems will be some children are there all day everyday and can earn a prize every 2 weeks, and others are only there a few days a week and will take closer to a month to earn a prize.