A Powerful Tool "The Positive Reinforcer"

It is one of the strongest tools the teacher can use to succeed in his/her classroom. It is the reinforcer. The reinforcer in general is a stimulus that increases the likelihood of a particular behavior reoccurs. Whereas the term positive indicates the addition of this stimuli to the student's environment after the desirable behavior. In other words, it rewards that behavior so it is more likely to be repeated. Examples of positive reinforcers are verbal praise or compliment, toy, edible thing, break, having a trip, game, extra grades, tokens, or anything valuable for the student. In this context, we should be careful not to use destructive reinforcers which reinforces the target behavior, but it has other side effects as well. The other important point is that we should not confuse positive reinforcers with bribery. An example of bribery is when we offer the student a reward for behaving later. Such behavior consequences will never work with the student. The Last point that I want to mention is that it would be ideal if we provide the student with unexpected reinforcers.