Aspergers Kids & Lack of Motivation

QUESTION

I have a 30-month-old son. We are worried about high functioning Autism and/or Asperger's. He meets some of the criteria for Asperger's but not all. For example he does have some speech delay (i.e., has language but does not link words consistently). He has a large vocabulary, but does not always use it. He knows his alphabet and will point to letters all the time. He is not clumsy and actually has great motor skills. Big thing that makes worries me is a lack of trying to engage in play.

ANSWER

A Token Economy best suits the needs of children with Aspergers. A Token Economy is a system where the Aspergers child earns tokens as a reward for desired behaviors or actions. A predetermined number of tokens are then exchanged or "cashed in" for an item or activity the Aspergers child desires.

A Token Economy is flexible and can be easily tailored to suit the individual needs of a child with Aspergers, and importantly, their individual desires – what motivates them.

Token Economies that use money tokens seem to be the most successful with Aspergers children in increasing their ability to delay gratification, and lessening the risk of satiation (overuse of a reward can result in the child no longer viewing it as a reward). Using money in a Token Economy negates the need for the Aspergers child to decode an abstract concept, as in the ‘real’ world people are paid money for completing tasks by way of employment.

A token economy works well with Aspergers children at school and at home right through Elementary School, and can continue to be used successfully at home throughout High School.

Aspergers children take a long time establish trust, and for this reason a token economy should focus on rewarding desired behaviors and actions. Once the program has been established for a number of years, you may then be able to introduce "fines" or response costs, where the Aspergers child is fined for inappropriate behavior. This correlates the Token Economy program with real-world experiences for Aspergers children – if I drive too fast, I get a speeding fine; if I park where I shouldn’t, I get a parking fine. However, the focus of the program must be on the positives, because children with Aspergers are prone to quickly losing their motivation and trust.

Be creative with the reinforcers offered as motivation for AS children. Offering a ‘menu’ of rewards to choose from seems most successful. Initially for children with Aspergers "cashed in" rewards need to be fairly instant i.e. at the end of each day. Over time this can be stretched to the end of each week. As the AS child matures this delayed gratification may be able to be stretched to a month or term, however small rewards and motivators should be offered consistently along the way.

As with all strategies used with Aspergers children, patience and perseverance are the keys to success when using a Token Economy – but the rewards for both participants and facilitators are immense!

The Parenting Aspergers Resource Guide: A Complete Resource Guide For Parents Who Have Children Diagnosed With Aspergers Syndrome.