Star chart advice needed

[francesrivis]

Hi, we have been using a star chart for the first time this week for my dd aged 2 yr 5 mths, to encourage her to get dressed in the morning without making a fuss. It has worked really well. I'm just wondering how long to carry it on for? Do you stop as soon as the behaviour has changed, or carry on for a while to reinforce it? TIA

I normally do it for about a week, then they get a little treat at the end of it - can be a small toy or a trip to the park or something. I think any time longer than about a week is a bit hard for youngsters to grasp and they tend to get bored with it. If the behaviour is improved then great, if not repeat the chart after a little while.

I think a week is long enough. Dd is 3.7 and we have different columns on her chart, one for whatever the issue is at the time, night waking, crying when going to nursery etc. Then a column for when she has been really good on a shopping trip, or played really nicely, or just being a good girl in general.
I find it is more effective if it's not just a once a day event.

With ds1 we've used reward charts for as long as he needs. I agree that a week may be long enough for some issues but with others it can take much longer.

For putting toys away we only used it for about a week (or 2 at the most) but for eating dinner or while potty training it took a lot longer. TBH we still use it for dinner times, months down the line. He's a bit of slow and picky eater so if he wants a yoghurt afterwards he has to stop fussing about to get it and if he goes a whole day then he gets the star. Works about 90% of the time.

Once he's reached the end of each line with stars (in our case 7) he gets a treat, and we start again.

Thanks for advice - will give her treat tomorrow and see how we go from there!