My ASD Child

“I want to implement a Token Economy system with my 12 year old Aspie.  Can you give me detailed instructions on how to do this?” Actually, a token (or economy) system is quite easy to set up. Here’s how: 1. Identify the behaviors for which your child can earn credits. An example of a good behavior would be if he took it upon himself to start and complete his homework without having to be asked twice to do so. Then you would award him a token. 2. Decide the "currency" used. Every time your "Aspie" (i.e., high functioning autistic child) does something positive, then he would earn a token (e.g., a sticker, points, poker chips, monopoly money, etc.). You can even offer bonus points for doing certain chores. 3. Determine the value of the currency (i.e., how many tokens your child should receive for each good behavior – and how many he should lose for each bad behavior). For example, he could earn 5 tokens for every time he takes the trash out without

These kids will tell you why they like having Aspergers:

In 1987, I started doing music therapy with children who had High-Functioning Autism (HFA). Although we didn't call it HFA at that time, we knew that some autistic children were higher functioning than others. I have always said - and continue to believe - that if you have an undiagnosed HFA child WITHOUT any comordid conditions, you have a child who may go his or her entire life without ever being diagnosed with HFA. The child might be viewed as a little weird by peers, but without any comorbid conditions, few - if any - adults (e.g., parents, teachers, etc.) would ever suspect that the child had HFA. This is because HFA has few problematic symptoms in-and-of itself. Most often, it is the conditions associated with HFA that indicate something is not quite right. For example, an alarming number of children who were eventually diagnosed with Asperger's were first diagnosed with ADHD years earlier. Unfortunately, in my 25+ years of experience, I have never met a child