How to Set Up a Behavioral Management Plan For Your ADHD Child

Children that have been diagnosed with ADHD are at a much higher risk of developing non-compliant or negative behavior management than a child that does not have ADHD. The very nature of ADHD implies that the child will have difficulty with self-control, paying attention, listening to instructions at home and school, and following directions. Some children seem to be predisposed to develop behavior problems by their temperament, however the symptoms of ADHD only seem to exacerbate these negative behaviors. Managing these negative behaviors often become a full-time job for their parents.

Treatment for the ADHD child will usually require a multi-faceted or multi-modal approach that is to say that the approach is comprehensive in nature. This approach includes school support, medications if needed, parent/child education of what ADHD is and its treatment, and lastly behavioral management techniques. Managing the negative behaviors of a child with ADHD often seems like an overwhelming and daunting task, however managing these behaviors by setting up a good behavior management plan is not insurmountable and can be quite effective if done correctly.

Behavior Modification, is a system of rewarding positive behaviors with the goal of increasing the frequency of their occurrence and on the opposite side is decreasing the occurrence of negative behaviors with the goal of decreasing their frequency. Most children with ADHD will benefit from a behavior plan that is clear and concise with measurable goals.

How to set up a behavior management plan:

1.) Choose a negative behavior that you want to change and a positive behavior that you would like to see start or continue. I suggest that you start by choosing a behavior that your child will be able to change and one they can start to do. It is not very motivating for a child to fail in their initial attempts. Your child will want to give up right away. (be specific in choosing the behaviors you want to see started or changed, how often you want to see it occur, and how often it will be rewarded.)

Examples of behaviors you want to see started are: your child makes the bed each day, unloading the dishwasher, comes to dinner on time, or getting an A in math. Pick a behavior that can be easily achieved at first.

Examples of behaviors you want stopped are: refuses to get out of bed in the morning, interrupts when others are speaking, refuses to complete homework, or talks back. As parents, you know the behaviors you want to see started and stopped in your child.

2.) Secondly, set up a Home Token Economy to implement your behavior management plan. Let's start by defining what a token economy is. A token economy is simply a contract between the child and their parents that states that if a child acts or behaves in a certain way, the parents will agree to trade in tokens for a particular reward or privilege.

In setting, up a token economy, focus on only a few goals at a time. Your behavior plan can be as short or as long as you want, however I have found that the more complicated the behavior plan with more target behaviors the less likely the plan will succeed. Start out small and keep it simple. Pick behaviors that you would like to see changed that are most affecting you and your child and also goals that you would like for your child to start. Allow your child to be involved in setting up the behavior plan but don't let them manipulate you. Make sure you are firm with the behaviors you want to see started and stopped. When a child becomes part of the plan and is able to pick the rewards and the consequences they will usually work harder to achieve it.

Assign a token value to each behavior you want to see started and stopped. Be careful to not to try and change too many behavior management at once. Choose a value between 1 and 25 tokens. For the plan to work, the value of the token needs to be high enough to really want your child to change the particular behavior.The behaviors that you really want to see changed are those that have a higher token value and also those that are more difficult to change.