Step 6: Make a Rewards Plan and put it all together
As you learned in previous modules, rewards are essential to motivate and encourage your child to keep trying during this program. Your child should be rewarded for attempting each step in the mission plan. If they attempt the activity but are unable to complete it, they should still receive the reward (as long as they genuinely attempted the activity). Hopefully by now you have had some practice selecting and providing rewards, but feel free to refer back to the Week 2 in-depth section on how to make rewards effective. As a reminder, rewards should match the activity and effort your child put into it. For example, smaller rewards should be used for the first steps in the mission plan and bigger rewards should be used for the higher steps.
Spend some time determining a large reward your child can earn for completing their entire mission plan. Additionally, discuss the range of rewards that will be earned for tackling each one of the steps along the way and note them next to each step on your mission plan.
Here is an example of a few of the rewards Neil is going to earn from practicing his mission plan steps. Note that the rewards are all given in the morning, as close as possible to when he completed the activities (when falling asleep the night before).
Download a PDF version.
| Step | Anxiety Rating 0-10 OR Easy - Medium - Hard | Reward / Brave Bucks |
|---|---|---|
| Neil is in a dark room with his mom for 2 minutes (during the day). | 1 | 10 extra minutes of screen time |
| Neil is in a dark room with his mom for 2 minutes (at night). | 2 | Choosing breakfast |
| Neil is by himself in a room with his nightlight on for 2-3 minutes (during the day). | 3 | Choosing a board game for family game night |
| Neil is by himself in a room with his nightlight on for 2-3 minutes (at night). | 5 | Choosing a toy to bring in the car on the way to school |
| Neil will stay in bed for 10 minutes with his mom sitting in a chair outside his room that he can see from his bed. If he does not fall asleep in that time, his mom will return to his bedside (like usual). His nightlight is on. | 7 | Screen time on the drive to school |
| Neil will stay in bed for 10 minutes with his mom sitting in a chair outside his room that he cannot see. If he does not fall asleep in that time, his mom will move the chair where it is visible. His nightlight is on. | 8 | Neil can bring his dog on the drive to and from school |
| Neil will stay in bed for 10 minutes with his mom in a different part of the house. If he does not fall asleep in that time, his mom will move closer to his room. His nightlight is on. | 9 | Day trip to NASA and a souvenier |
Download a PDF version.
| Step | Anxiety Rating 0-10 OR Easy - Medium - Hard | Reward / Brave Bucks |
|---|---|---|
| Sally asks her good friend Joana to borrow a pencil | 2 | 1 brave bucks |
| Sally asks her classmate, Rita, who she does not know well, to borrow a pencil | 3 | 2 brave bucks |
| Sally sits next to Rita during lunch | 4 | 3 brave bucks |
| Sally texts Rita a funny meme | 5 | 4 brave bucks |
| Sally makes friendly chat with Rita during breaks | 6 | 6 brave bucks |
| Sally asks Rita if she wants to meet at the mall to hang out | 7 | 7 brave bucks |
| Sally asks Rita if she wants to come over to her house to watch a movie together | 7 | 7 brave bucks |
| Sally invites Rita for a sleepover | 8 | 8 brave bucks |
| Sally joins the rest of Rita's friends during lunch and makes conversation with the group | 10 | 10 brave bucks |
We listed both “Brave Bucks” and direct rewards here for examples of both, but when you are making your rewards system, just use one or the other.
Use this worksheet to fill in your child's mission plan with rewards: Mission Plan Planning Worksheet. Download and save several blank copies of this worksheet onto your computer so that you can go back to it when you want to start a new mission plan later in the program! Or, follow this prompt to create your own.
Write down your mission plan steps, anxiety rating and reward/Brave Bucks.