My son is always very upset at the end of each school day when he has been moved down a balloon. My son has DAMP, a combination of ADHD and Dyspraxia, and although the school make allowances for this his behaviour often means that he will have warnings and be moved down. On a Monday he will be delighted at the end of the day if he has been moved only 1 balloon (rare) but by Friday he has very little, if any, golden time remaining. On a Friday he will not want to go to school if he realises that is the day for golden time. To me it seems like a double punishment, the punishment of moving down a balloon at the time and then the punishment of losing the golden time at the end of the week. Evidence shows that praise is more successful in shaping behaviour rather than punishing it. As a third "punishment", my son is not allowed on the golden trip at the end of the year as he has been moved down balloons during the year. Obviously children that bahave well (or slip under the radar as the teacher is more concerned with teaching or discipling the worst behaved children) should be rewarded, but the children with behavioural problems should not be the benchmark and the example of how not to behave.
Is there a fairer way of disciplining/rewarding children with behavioural problems at school. At home I manage his behaviour well and the school are aware of how this is affecting his self esteem, but I feel powerless to help him other than giving him lots of praise at home.
The discussion forum has been out of action for a little while so apologies for the very late reply to your enquiry. Golden Time is a great and effective celebration for most children for keeping the Golden Rules all week but you are right in that some pupils are not yet quite ready to access this system. It is very sad that your son's self-esteem is affected by the way that Golden Time is working in his school. I am sure that the staff at the school are working very hard with behaviour management. However, Jenny Mosley's model also accommodates children for whom Golden Time is not an effective incentive by offering Tiny Achievable Tickable Targets as an alternative. With this, children are asked to keep a Golden Rule for just a short time (like a few mintes or a lesson) and then receive some praise (or sticker on a target sheet etc). This can work very well alongside Golden Time but needs to be understood well by those working with the children.
If you would like more information about this that you could take to your son's school, do please email me at: zaran@jennymosley.co.uk