Analysis of the effects of sequential reinforcement contingencies on aspects of composition.

Five fifth-graders who wrote very little were picked from a remedial class.

The teacher first paid tokens for every word written. Next she paid only for new words. Last she paid for words never used before. Each step stayed in place until the child’s writing jumped.

Every child’s total words, different words, and new words shot up. One boy went from 25 words to 120 words per story. The gains held even after tokens stopped.

LeBlanc et al. (2003) later used the same step-by-step idea for math. They taught kids to find the start number, change, operation, and end number in order. Kids then solved untaught story problems, showing the sequence trick works across subjects.

Bao et al. (2017) also found order matters. Preschoolers with autism learned faster when expressive labels came before receptive drills. Together these papers say: teach the pieces in a set order, not all at once.

Lewis et al. (2025) looked at reading, not writing. They paired pictures with text to pull attention to words. Both studies tweak stimulus parts to lift academic responding, but one adds cues while the other adds rewards.

If a student writes too little, break the task into three tiny targets: any words, then varied words, then brand-new words. Reinforce each target in turn. You can finish in one week and the boost sticks without tokens. Try it for math steps or reading next.