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Handbook of Behavior Therapy in Education pp 469–487Cite as

The Token Economy

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Overview

The essential parts of a token economy include only a few basic components (Kazdin, 1977) that are found in most behavioral interventions in the schools. Token systems include (a) tokens themselves, (b) determination of target behaviors, (c) specification of rules for how tokens are earned or lost, (d) specification of back-up consequences and their cost, and (e) method for exchanging tokens for back-up consequences (Kazdin, 1977; McLaughlin, 1975; K. D. O’Leary & Drabman, 1971).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Special Education, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, 99258, USA

    T. F. McLaughlin & Randy Lee Williams

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  1. T. F. McLaughlin
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  2. Randy Lee Williams
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

    Joseph C. Witt  & Frank M. Gresham  & 

  2. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Stephen N. Elliot

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© 1988 Plenum Press, New York

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McLaughlin, T.F., Williams, R.L. (1988). The Token Economy. In: Witt, J.C., Elliot, S.N., Gresham, F.M. (eds) Handbook of Behavior Therapy in Education. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0905-5_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0905-5_18

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