Reputation Building

Overall Goal The learner will understand the meaning and importance of their
reputation and make decisions that will better their relationships
with others.

Example Objective The learner will identify five important traits of a positive
reputation with 100% accuracy for five consecutive days.

Social Taxonomy Domain Social Relatedness

Teaching Methodologies The Teaching Interaction Procedure and the Cool versus Not
Cool™ procedure

Data Collection Trial by Trial, Task Analysis, Estimation

Prerequisite Skills Empathy, Expressive Language, Cause and Effect

Phases

Phase 1 Defining • In collaboration with the learner, define reputation (e.g., what other
Reputation people think about you).
and Identifying • Identify common reputation traits (e.g., funny, smart, annoying, bossy)
Traits and be sure to include traits that are present in the learner (i.e.,
positive and negative traits targeted for change).

Phase 2 Identifying • Using the traits list created in Phase 1, have the learner identify
Reputation people in their lives that have those traits (e.g., Mom is nice, Dad is
Traits in Others funny, Sister is bossy)
- You may also use TV shows, movies, books, etc. and watch together
to have the learner identify the reputation traits in the characters
(e.g., Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory is nerdy)
• Make sure that each person has multiple traits (positive and negative)
associated with them.
• It is also important to note that people may have different
reputations with different people.

Phase 3 Identifying • Using the reputation traits of others have the learner identify their
Effect of own reaction to those people (e.g., “I wouldn’t want to play with
Reputation Tommy because he is mean,” “I would tell a secret to Sally because
she is trustworthy.”)
• Describe scenarios where the learner’s reputation affects the behavior
of others (e.g., “Tommy and Sally want you to sit with them for lunch.
Why do you think they asked you to join them?”).
• Alternatively, you can use videos from TV shows, movies, etc. to show
these situations and analyze the motivation behind the characters’
actions in terms of reputation.

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Phase 4 Building • In collaboration with the learner identify meaningful rationales as to
Rationale of why having a good reputation is important.
Having a Good • This is a phase that you should always revisit. In later phases,
Reputation rationales are an important part of the feedback and motivation.

Phase 5 Identifying • Use examples from the learner’s behavior in a variety of situations,
Their Own have them identify the effect of their actions on their reputation.
Reputation: - Remember that the learner may have different reputations with
What different people (e.g., their teacher might think they are nice, but
Builds Their their sister might think they are mean)
Reputation up? • Give situations to the learner from their own behaviors and
What Tears it experiences and have them identify what character trait they were
Down? exhibiting, and what it did to their reputation. Examples may include:
- “When you shared your snack at lunch today, what trait was that?
How did that affect your reputation with Tommy?” Then tie it back
into the rationale. “Next time Tommy has a snack; do you think he
might share it with you?”
- “When you yelled at your Mom, what trait was that? How did that
effect your reputation?” Then tie it back into the rationale. “Next
time you ask Mom for a favor, what do you think she will say?”

Phase 6 Role-Play • Setup role-plays with the learner where they get the opportunity to
Reputation practice building up their reputation.
Building - Example: “Let’s pretend we are at home and your sister takes
Situations your toy, let’s think about what you can do to help build up your
reputation with your sister and your Mom”
• Make sure to practice situations that the learner typically struggles
with and needs help building up their reputation.
• When the learner behaves in ways that build their reputation let them
have the chance to experience the rationale.
- Example: When the learner doesn’t hit their sister, have the person
in the role-play pretending to be the sister share something
different with the learner

Phase 7 Generalization - When situations arise in the learner’s everyday life, point out their
reactions and how it affected their reputation.
- Whenever possible, have the rationale be delivered by the person
who contacted the behavior (positive or negative) from the learner
(e.g., if the learner yelled at Mom, have her make them miss
something later on, and mention their reputation).

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