Effect of reinforcement on facial responsivity and persistence in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Researchers compared two reward schedules for spelling nonsense words. One group of kids got a point after every correct word. The other group got points only after some correct words.

Twenty-four children took part. Half had ADHD. Half were typical peers. The team watched how long kids kept working and how many words they spelled right.

Kids with ADHD gave up faster on the partial schedule. They showed more frowns and sighs. They also spelled fewer words correctly.

Typical kids did fine on both schedules. The gaps between groups were large and clear.

Cullinan et al. (2001) seems to disagree. They taught ADHD children to wait one whole day for a bigger prize. The kids learned to choose the delayed reward. The key difference is teaching. A et al. slowly stretched the wait time while keeping the prize big. T et al. simply cut rewards without teaching.

Chen et al. (2001) extends the story. They showed that when an ADHD child first reaches a fast, fluent rate of work, the child later keeps working even when rewards thin out. Fluency training may fix the very problem T et al. found.

Rasing et al. (1992) used a token board with quick loss of points for goofing off. Attention jumped for two ADHD students. Their rich, immediate feedback matches T et al.'s advice to stay generous.

If you run thin schedules too soon, ADHD learners may shut down. Start with a checkmark, point, or praise for every single correct response. Once the child hits a speed goal, you can slowly space the rewards. Pair the schedule with self-control training or fluency drills to lock in persistence.