Successful behavior plans require the student become motivated. A teacher must first determine what motivates the student by interviewing the student or talking to parents and other teachers. Parents may also need to be involved on the delivery of rewards. Consider creating a menu of potential reinforcers that you are willing to give, and allowing the student to choose from the menu.

Every teacher wants their students to be intrinsically motivated (reinforcement directly from performing a task). The reality is, that some students are not intrinsically motivated for a variety of reasons. Extrinsic motivators (reinforcement from outside the performance of a task) are often used to motivate a student to engage in a more appropriate behavior. Some people feel that students should not be rewarded for something "they should be doing already." However, extrinsic motivators should be temporary. The goal is to motivate the student extrinsically until they begin to feel success and intrinsic motivation when the behavior is changed. Extrinsic motivators should be phased out slowly to best allow intrinsic reinforcement to provide the motivation.

Here is a good example of extrinsic/intrinsic motivation used correctly: A behavior plan is created for a student who does not do homework. He is initially rewarded with extra free time each night that homework is completed. After a few weeks of success, he receives a weekly reward for weeks that all homework is completed. He completed the homework for the reward initially, but grades came up. Parents were excited and quit nagging, teachers gave praise, and he began to feel proud of himself. He became intrinsically motivated and no longer needed an extrinsic motivator to be successful.