Let’s Make a Contract: A Positive Way To Change Your Child’s Behavior

Dardig (emerita, education, Ohio Dominican Univ.; Involving Parents of Students with Special Needs: 25 Ready-To-Use Strategies) and Heward (emeritus, Coll. of Education and Human Ecology, Ohio State Univ.; Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education) here introduce behavior contracts as a way to communicate cooperatively with children. These contracts are based around a task to be completed and a reward for the behavior. The authors begin by providing nine stories which illustrate the concept of the contract. These are designed to be read aloud to a child and show how four sample families use contracts to reach their goals. Part two is a practical handbook to creating personalized contracts: decide on a reward, select the task, put it in writing, and state how to implement it. The final chapters include information on creating picture contracts for children who are nonreaders, as well as help for situations where children refuse contracting. The book is colorful with pictures peppering the read-aloud stories and sample contracts at the end of each story that make it simple to explain the concept to children. The work concludes with fill-in forms the parents and caregivers can use as a starting point.