“Superstar” Reinforcement for Social Skills

Choose a social behavior such as asking children to “invite the child to play with them”. Teach children what it means to “invite a child to play with them”. At play time, reward children with a superstar (“star” pin or necklace) to wear after they display the targeted social skill concept. Children who receive superstars could wear the star until the end of the day. At group time, a child with a star shares with the group how they attained the star. A reinforcer, such as a sticker or stamp can be given to the “superstars” at the end of the day. Provide children with lots of reminders and encouragement to practice the targeted skill.

Superstars is a strategy that uses a visual cue and reinforcer to teach and reinforce specific social skill concepts.

• Child's Age: 3-5, 6-10
• Planning Effort: Moderate
• Difficulty Level: Easy

Ability to pair a skill with a reinforcer

1. Decide on the behavior you want to teach and reinforce (i.e., sharing, cleaning up together, helping each other).

2. Define, review and model the behavior at group time.

3. During play, recess, free choice time, reinforce each child who displays the targeted behavior with a pre-made superstar.

4. Later in the day, give children the opportunity to tell each other how they earned the superstar and have the group reinforce by clapping. Follow up by providing each “superstar” with a tangible reinforcer such as a sticker.