Token Board and Sticker Chart: First-Then Rewards Kids Can See

About the technique

A token board is a visual support that shows a child how many tries of a task stand between them and a reward they chose. Each time the child does the task, a token goes on the board; when every space is full, the child gets the reward right away. A sticker chart works the same way over a week, with a sticker for each day a goal is met.

Token boards are the everyday form of the token economy, a behavioral method first set up by Teodoro Ayllon and Nathan Azrin in the 1960s and reviewed by Alan Kazdin (Kazdin, 1982). The method rests on positive reinforcement: a token given right after a behavior, and exchanged for something the child values, makes that behavior more likely to happen again. Pairing the board with a first-then card (“First clean up, then the playground”) makes the deal concrete for young children, including many autistic children and children with ADHD, and for parents running the plan at home.

The evidence is moderate. Decades of studies in homes, classrooms and clinics report less problem behavior and more on-task behavior, but most are small single-case studies, and a systematic review of classroom studies found the research too uneven to call token economies an established practice by strict standards (Maggin et al., 2011). Keep the board short at first, give tokens immediately, and fade them over time. Tokens are earned, not taken away, unless a clinician has planned a response-cost system, and basic needs such as food, sleep and affection are never rewards to be earned. With children, any activity can lead to a disclosure of abuse or neglect: know your mandated-reporting duty before you start.