Effects of Daily and Reduced Frequency Implementation of the Good Behavior Game in Kindergarten Classrooms.
You can thin the Good Behavior Game to occasional use after daily start-up without losing classwide gains.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Dadakhodjaeva et al. (2020) tested the Good Behavior Game in kindergarten.
They ran it every day first. Then they cut back to fewer days.
The team watched if kids stayed on task and kept quiet.
What they found
Daily play cut disruption and boosted work time.
When teachers switched to only two or three days a week, the good results stayed.
Kids did not slide back after the schedule shrank.
How this fits with other research
Wiskow et al. (2019) also saw calm preschool rooms with the Game, but they showed talking out loud during play works better than silent points.
Hansen et al. (1989) stretched the Game to angry teens in special-ed and proved you can tailor rules for each student—an older group but same core tool.
Bushell et al. (1968) warned that when group token rewards stop, study behavior crashes. Kamila’s thinning plan keeps rewards alive, just thinner, so the crash never comes.
Why it matters
You can start the Good Behavior Game every day for quick control, then drop to twice a week and still keep the peace. That saves class time and teacher energy. Try it Monday: run the Game daily for two weeks, then move to Tuesdays and Thursdays only while you watch your room stay calm.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →After two steady weeks of daily Game play, cut to Tuesday-Thursday only and track disruptions for one week.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
An effective group contingency, the Good Behavior Game (GBG), has been implemented successfully with a wide range of age groups. However, improvements in student behavior are often not observed when the GBG is abruptly terminated, and research has yet to evaluate the effects of the GBG when the frequency of implementation is reduced. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effect of the GBG, implemented daily initially then on a less frequent schedule. The study utilized a multiple baseline design across three kindergarten classrooms to evaluate the effectiveness and maintenance of the GBG at reducing classwide and target student disruptive behavior (DB) and increasing classwide and target student academic engagement. Reduced Frequency data were collected while withholding implementation of the GBG. The results indicate that the GBG was highly effective in improving classwide behavior, which was maintained throughout the final Reduced Frequency phase in which the GBG was reduced in frequency, and moderately effective in improving target student behavior during both phases.
Behavior modification, 2020 · doi:10.1177/0145445519826528