Question about the Marble system | ADHD Information
I'm fairly new to this, and I plan on "adopting" the marble system at home.
My son is 5.5 years old, and has been Dx'd ADHD. We tried a "sticker" chart but that doesn't seem to work at all - it gets old too quick. Not to mention, there are times that I forget to put stickers on the chart for when he does something. His class at school, started a smiley face ball (yellow ping pong ball) in a tube - they can get up to 2 balls a day based on the point sheet (15 minute interval point sheet 0-5 - (5 being the best 0 being BAD)). If they get anything under a 3 at any time during the morning OR afternoon, no matter if they got 5's for most of the morning/afternoon they loose the ability to get the ball for that morning/afternoon - however once lunch is over - the afternoon starts fresh and they can earn a ball...eh. It sounds confusing on here, but it's quite simple.
I'm just wondering HOW many marbles are used for each chore/activity/responsibilty? Also, what type of "plastic" container should I use? Milk jug? Water bottle (the big ones from the water coolers)? I'm at a complete loss..... I am not sure how to make it work for my 5.5 year old. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. I'm seriously looking to try new things, and I'm hoping this marble thing works...
Thanks so much in advance!
Michelle
Jon's Mommy
We use 10 oz plastic cups- it hold 100 "decorative stones" pertfectly. The marbles kept rolling away while he was counting them and he would get mad.
We have a written list of the things he gets marbles for and how many, otherwise my ADD brain would never remember how many to give him- I have a hard enough time remembering to tell him to do the chores to earn the marbles.
Some of ours include:
Manners at the dinner table 3 ; Hitting -5
Brushing teeth 2 ; ; ;Throwing in anger -5
Washing dishes 2 ; ; Backtalk -3
Clean room weekly 3 ;
Keeping room clean daily 1 (he still can't wrap his mind around the fact that if he kept his room clean daily he'd get 7 instead of the 3 for cleaning it weekly)
We also give lots of bonus marble- if I catch him being kind to some one, if he remembers to do chores/homework on his own, A's and B's on tests, that kind of stuff.
In the marble system thread, orgam posted some suggestions for getting started, I not sure which page, but its in there. I use ours as after he gets 100 marbles he gets a treat, spending the night with grandma, going to the movies, or .00, etc. Right now he is tryin to earn enough money for some Heelies. If he does everything on the list every day he can earn 100 marbles in about 3 days, although he has not figured this out yet. This is our list:
Make bed 2 get dressed ; 2
eat breakfast 2 put up toys 3
brush teeth 2 put up dirty clothes 2
be nice to sister 4 used manners 4
eat dinner 5 read a book 4
argued with adults - 4 slammed doors -5
complaning ( about anything) -3 showing temper -5
throwing something -5
These are just some ideas that we use.
Also, like ogram has said, it is important to give them the opportunity to earn marbles easily. Start off giving marbles for anything postive. The main thing that has helped me, is this system keeps ME consistant! Good Luck!
southernbelle39023.5433680556I just have 2 plastic drink cups on teh kitchen counter, one I wrote IN and the OUT on. I put a piece of paper and pencil near it and put a line down teh middle on one side in IN the other OUT. He writes down how many he puts in and out (usually none out) I never made a list for him to read. He would do something and ask how many marbles for that and I would say and he would run and put them in. We kind of make up the amount as we go along. Yes I agree the decorative glass beads are the way to go, they still get away from us, tho. Ya I have a chart on the back of a clip board with the columns printed on it. Points earned, total, points lost. This why he can't "sneak" marbles in the jar when I am not in the room. The earned and lost columns a just big enough to write why he earned or lost the point. This way I can see what we are struggling with and adjust as we go. [QUOTE=vickie]
I use small round marbles for 1s and larger marbles for 10s. That way we do not need hundreds of marbles around.
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I think thats a neat idea...I'll look for small and big marbles. 
[QUOTE=vickie]
She can buy things like an extra 1/2 hour later bed for 5 marbles, or extra tv or game time for 3 marbles.
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Wow, so that's how that works...hmmmm....maybe I can figure this out....
I use small round marbles for 1s and larger marbles for 10s. That way we do not need hundreds of marbles around.
We also have for one of the kids:
brush teeth =1
Wash hair =3
Keep room clean (each day) =1
Feed dog =1
Read (1/2 hour) =3
Go to bed on time = 1
Stay in bed =1
(we do not need the last 2 any more so have removed them from the list)
She can buy things like an extra 1/2 hour later bed for 5 marbles, or extra tv or game time for 3 marbles.
Wow, this is such a great idea!! I just started this today with my 7 yo daughter except for we have no marbles so we are using little wooden beads for now. My daughter seems so excited by this. She put away her toys, ate all of her dinner (usually a big fight there), brushed her teeth & pretty much did everything I asked her to do......the 1st time!!!! She was so happy & was all smiles to gather her beads & put them in her IN cup. Man, I hope this continues to work!
Well, in this thread You ha given me some new ideas about this system. I started long ago but I didn't work for my son. He didn't seem interested in the marbles. Let's see what happens if I exchange them for money and take him to get something at the toy store after all the effort.
Thanks!!
jonathansmom
If there is a Walmart near you, I found packs of 100 marbles with 98 small and 2 large for 88 cents I think. In the toy department, and I had to ask a worker...but they have them
jonathansmom
If there is a Walmart near you, I found packs of 100 marbles with 98 small and 2 large for 88 cents I think. In the toy department, and I had to ask a worker...but they have them
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Awesome, I'll check it out!! :-) Thanks!!!