Reward Chart

[Guest guest]

I just wanted to share with the group, in hopes that it may help

someone else. I took to the therapist on Wens. He gave

a tool box, which now has 2 tools in it that he may use when

he feels he needs. One is to smile, because he told Jona, that when

you smile when you are thinking a bad thought, its hard to keep the

smile on your face. So remember to smile. The other tool was to

tell OCD to SHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!.

My husband took it upon himself to start a reward chart, which Jona

will get stars for behavoirs that he can do. Such as eating a

sandwich with his hand will earn him a blue star, not screaming when

he has to get into bed will earn him a gold star, also a 25min.

shower will earn a gold star and so on. Stars are not taking away

if he can not achieve his goal.

The first night was a little hard, Jona earned a gold for shower and

a couple blues for easier task. But the bedtime was horriable. Last

night Jona never screamed or cried, although it was very rough on

him, and my husband still layed with him, It was a low stress night

for all of us, including my other children because they did not have

to listen to Jona scream. When he woke up this morning he wanted to

know if he could get a gold star for last night. I said of course,

and I am very proud of you, and I can also see he his proud of

himself.

His goal is to earn a lap top computer, which he has always wanted

and of course I could never afford. But let me tell you this, if

JOna can achieve his gold by the summer, or whenever, hes got it.

For all the hard work he is doing, I think he will deserve it.

This is not an easy task, it is very time consuming for all of us,

especially my husband, who has put all of his efforts into helping

. But with constant reminding and work, I feel a 100 percent

better than I did a few weeks ago, and I must thank you all for your

support, and helping me find Dr. Patranko. Who is a blessing in

himself.

I hope the information I have shared can help someone.

Thank You

Pat

[Guest guest]

Hi Pat:

Thanks for sharing Jona's progress. You are so right changing things in

the face of OCD is very time consuming. It took us months and months to

get things more on track.

One thing I notice with the current flare up situation is how much easier

it is to deal with than the first time around. We just worked with Steve

to get his hierarchy out of him. Of course I am sure we only have part of

it but thanks to the generalization that happens with most E & RP we have

about 18 things to consider and about half a dozen are intermediate in SUDS.

Right now Steve is working on his own on what he chose as the most

bothersome of his intermediate SUDS symptoms. This is mumbling the words

as he is reading to himself. He is doing his own exposure by reading Mad

magazine and then he will report to us as to how he did. I am reasonably

sure he will be truthful about this. In the early days I would not have

bothered with something requiring him to be candid as it would not be

possible.

I am glad to hear you are feeling better. I hope your husband is

remembering to take care of himself and working with Dr. Petranko on an

exit plan from helping with sleep at bedtime. We found that the cats have

been invaluable sleep aids for Steve. Last night when they were still in

the kennel (we were away for the easter break) Steve was struggling with

bedtime and got pretty bitchy and tried to involve us in rituals. Tonight

he has already been playing with the cats. He will likely get to bed while

cuddling a cat tonight.

Looking forward to reading more about Jona's progress soon. take care,

aloha, Kathy (H)

kathyh@...

At 07:35 PM 4/21/00 -0000, you wrote:

>I just wanted to share with the group, in hopes that it may help

>someone else. I took to the therapist on Wens. He gave

> a tool box, which now has 2 tools in it that he may use when

>he feels he needs. One is to smile, because he told Jona, that when

>you smile when you are thinking a bad thought, its hard to keep the

>smile on your face. So remember to smile. The other tool was to

>tell OCD to SHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!.

>

>My husband took it upon himself to start a reward chart, which Jona

>will get stars for behavoirs that he can do. Such as eating a

>sandwich with his hand will earn him a blue star, not screaming when

>he has to get into bed will earn him a gold star, also a 25min.

>shower will earn a gold star and so on. Stars are not taking away

>if he can not achieve his goal.

>

> The first night was a little hard, Jona earned a gold for shower and

>a couple blues for easier task. But the bedtime was horriable. Last

>night Jona never screamed or cried, although it was very rough on

>him, and my husband still layed with him, It was a low stress night

>for all of us, including my other children because they did not have

>to listen to Jona scream. When he woke up this morning he wanted to

>know if he could get a gold star for last night. I said of course,

>and I am very proud of you, and I can also see he his proud of

>himself.

>

>His goal is to earn a lap top computer, which he has always wanted

>and of course I could never afford. But let me tell you this, if

>JOna can achieve his gold by the summer, or whenever, hes got it.

>For all the hard work he is doing, I think he will deserve it.

>

>This is not an easy task, it is very time consuming for all of us,

>especially my husband, who has put all of his efforts into helping

>. But with constant reminding and work, I feel a 100 percent

>better than I did a few weeks ago, and I must thank you all for your

>support, and helping me find Dr. Patranko. Who is a blessing in

>himself.

>

>I hope the information I have shared can help someone.

>

>Thank You

>

>Pat