Goally is a fantastic device that works wonders for so many families. It can help your child gain independence, reduce fights between you and your kiddo, and make your day to day life more manageable and enjoyable. With that being said, if your child no interest in picking up and using their Goally, it is incredibly unlikely that Goally will be able to anything positive much live up to its potential as a life-changing device. Getting your child to enjoy using Goally is an absolutely vital step that can not be overlooked or taken for granted. Knowing this, we at Goally, created a 3 part series “Ensuring Success” that talks about strategies to make sure your child loves using Goally. Our first blog post focused on how to customize and decorate your Goally. The topic for today’s blog post is “Effectively Setting up Activities and Rewards” where we’ll talk about setup tactics you can use to get your child to feel a personal connection to their Goally.
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Our first recommendation is to set up rewards WITH your child. When you first get Goally it is a great idea to brainstorm a couple of rewards with you child. Including them in on this process will mean that the rewards that you set are things that your child is excited to work towards. We at Goally recommend setting 3 different types of rewards for your child to work for, (Small – Medium – Large). A smaller reward should be attainable for your child within a day of saving up their points. If your kiddo has a sweet tooth this could be something like an ice cream sundae or if your child loves cartoons maybe this small reward is something like an episode of their favorite show. The second reward you should set up with your child is a medium reward that you child should be able to cash in after around five days. For animal lovers this could mean a trip to the zoo or the aquarium. The last kind of reward you want to offer is the BIG reward. This reward should take your child a week or two to save up to and should be something that you child absolutely loves. If your kiddo is really into video games this reward could be the newest game on the market. If your child loves building with legos this reward could be a new massive Lego set. Creating multiple rewards with your child gives them many different options on how to spend their points keeping them engaged and excited to use Goally.
The next thing we recommend when setting up your Goally is to start with FUN! When you first get your Goally it may be enticing to start setting up chores or daily routines, after all, that is why you purchased your Goally. However, for most families staring your child out with chore routines may not be the best long-term path forward. What we suggest at Goally is to use the device for only fun activities in the first week or so. Try creating a playtime routine, this could be something like a coloring book routine or playing on the playground. Introducing your child to Goally with a fun routine will start to build a positive image of Goally with your child and get you started out on the right foot. You should also use this as a time to introduce the token economy (points & rewards system). Your child will be more than excited to complete the fun routines that you lay out for them so getting them to collect and spend points should be no problem. After a week or so of these fun routines, your child will start to enjoy using their Goally it is then that you can start to implement other activities such as a morning or night routine. It is critically important that when setting these routines up you are including your child in the process. When creating new routines you should explain each task and walk through it a couple of times with your child to ensure the best chance of success. If you find a section that your child is consistently tripping up on tinker and adjust it. If a routine is too difficult to complete try breaking it down into smaller steps and pieces. When your first get your Goally you may find yourself struggling and constantly changing your routines, that’s perfect alright. The more time you take setting up and introducing Goally the higher the likelihood that you will achieve live-changing results!
In this blog post, we looked at implementation and talked about how critical introducing Goally in the proper way was. In our upcoming blog post, we’ll shift our attention away from how to create a positive relationship between your kiddo and their Goally and talk about how to sustain that positive relationship.
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Editor’s note: This information is not meant to diagnose or treat and should not take the place of personal consultation, as needed, with a qualified healthcare provider and/or BCBA.
Hennah is an experienced writer and researcher, helping children with autism, ADHD, and other neurodivergent conditions. As a blog contributor for Goally, she combines her deep understanding of neurodiversity with practical advice, offering valuable insights to parents and educators.
