Contingency Management - Token Economies

Token Economies

One form of contingency management is the token economy system. Token systems can be used in an individual or group format. Token systems have been shown to be successful with a diverse array of populations including those suffering from addiction, those with retardation, and delinquents. However, recent research questions the use of token systems with very young children. The exception to the last would be the treatment of stuttering. The goal of such systems is to gradually thin out and to help the person begin to access the natural community of reinforcement (the reinforcement typically received in the world for performing the behavior).

Walker (1990) presents an overview of token systems and combining such procedures with other interventions in the classroom. He relates the comprehensiveness of token systems to the child's level of difficulty.

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Famous quotes containing the word token:

    The token woman carries a bouquet of hothouse celery
    and a stenographer’s pad; she will take
    the minutes, perk the coffee, smile
    like a plastic daisy and put out
    the black cat of her sensuous anger
    to howl on the fence all night.
    Marge Piercy (b. 1936)