Making the token economy work for my autistic daughter...

He said the most important thing you can do for your daughter is to make her independent.

I remember my daughter's psychiatrist saying "Julie it doesn't matter how smart she is, her IQ can't make a peanut butter sandwich. He was trying to stress the importance of teaching her life skills and how to be independent. It took me a few years to realize the magnitude of what he was saying.

I will be referring to her psychiatrist as Dr.C in this entry. I first heard the phrase token economy a few years ago. Dr. C introduced the concept to me as he reinforcemened the importance of teaching life skills and independent.

I explained that I understood the concept which is things cost money and a person has to earn money in order to have things. Understanding the concept was easy implementing it was not.

Dr.C tried to give me relatable examples but those examples just didn't fit in our way of doing things . My daughter was accustomed to getting what she wanted and getting it quickly (myfault) . She kearned immediately gratification at an early age. She was my only child and I had her at 39. To see her face light up when she got a new toy was addicting. Well as she git older she expected to get what she wanted and get it when she wanted it.

My daughter sees her psychiatrist every three months . We cover her progress, concerns, and medication. After those things are discussed. We talk about her independence as it relates to her age. Then like clockwork he ask if I am still struggling with using a TOKEN ECONOMY to teach my daughter about finances.

He said let me give you a two more examples . Lets see if these make it more relatable.

" Ok El we are going to the mall to get you some new sneakers. I know you want those hot pink and yellow sketches , so mom will give you $50 toward them but you will have to use $25 off your money to pay the remaining balance."

Well I was not comfortable with that scenario. I think it's confusing . She has never had to yse her own money to buy anything really especially not clothes or shoes.

Dr.C proceeded to give me another example.

" Yes El mom is taking you to the movies today. If you want to go to McDonald's afterwards to get a happy meal because you want the toy you will have to buy your happy meal. " Everytime you get a happy meal you take the toy out and throw away the food, so therefore you will need to pay for it.

That example was better , but unfortunately my daughter is a picky eater and would not be interested in a Happy meal. I graciously thanked him and said that I would keep trying.

My Frustrated Peaked

My frustration peaked last December. Reports cards for the 2nd quarter were sent home the day before the Christmas break . When I opened up my daughter's report card I was shocked. Her report card has always be very good . She is very smart . She has sensory issues ( auditory hypersensitive , vestibular and tactile issues ) and that has made things a little more challenging , but her grades were still good and her GPA have never been below a 3.0.

She goes to a small private school. The communication from the staff has always been great . The school's student count has increased and there was learning curve in regards to communication. After my shock I reached out to the head master to set up a meeting . The feedback I received was that my daughter was bored, and not completing her assignments. She was manipulating situations and having meltdowns to get out of class. She had two new teachers that did not want her to disrupt the rest class and did not want to make waves . She picked up on their hesitation and used it to avoid doing her work . She is a sweet adorable young lady, but sometimes lazy.

I asked the headmaster to allow my daughter's neuro therapist to work with her the teacher's and we developed a plan which included a break strategy to deal with true sensory meltdowns. I felt like those steps would definitely help, but the lack of motivation needed to be dealt with.

The speeches about the importancec of getting a good education did not work. The speeches about how fortunate she was to go to a great school did not work, and the speeches about disappointing he mother would not be enough for that daily motivation.

How would I motivate her ??????

Eureka..... I think I might have something 🤔

I decided to use what I call THE HOURS EARNING ECONOMY.

THIS IS HOW IT WORKS 💪 AND YES IT IS WORKING!!!!

THE STEPS .........

First I let my daughter pick an item she wanted.

I pick the time frame to get the item .The simplest time frame for me was a 30 day period.

I took the number of days in the time frame I picked ( so 30 DAYS ) and multipled that number by 24 .

so 30 x 24 =

and the answer is hours goal that my daughter needs to hit to get the item she picked.

AND YES SHE CAN GET IT EARLY .......HERE'S HOW ...

She has the opportunity to get the item she picked early by hitting the goals below.

Once she earns 24 hrs she can get her reward item 1 day early

Once she earns 48 hrs she can get her reward item 2 days early.

Once she earns 72 hours she can get her reward item 3 days early.

If she passes the 72 hours mark she can get her item 5 days early .

NEXT .........

I ask my daughter to put a sticky note on the refrigerator ,and in pencil she writes the hours goal she needs to hit.

Every day she subtracts the number of hours she has earned that day , and writes the new number on the sticky note.

I write the same number (hours goal )down in my planner and keep track of the hpurs she earns . This helps me motivate her .

DAILY HOURS EARNINGS

The number of hours earned sometimes depended on the task I asked her to do. However, I wanted some consistency. So I used school, therapy and her life skills class to show consistent hours earning potential.

AT SCHOOL-

i told her she could earn a guaranteed 3 hrs a day at school by doing the following ...

Participating in class earned her 1 hour

Eating her lunch earned her 1 hour

Participating in PE class earned her 1 hour

AT THERAPY

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

Cooperating with her therapist earn her 2 hours

NEURO THERAPY ( sensory intergration therapy)

Cooperating with her therapist earn her 5 hours .

These sessions are more demanding so that's why the hours earned are higher.

Because her Neuro therapy is demanding , and some days are tougher than others she would earn 2.5 hours if it was a tough session.

AT LIFE SKILLS CLASS

LIFE SKILLS CLASS

Participating in class earn her 2 hours .

MORE WAYS TO EARN....

Additional hours are earned depending on the task or situation.

My daughter has auditory hypesensitivity issues . Certain music is her trigger. Unfortunately the trigger can be song specific depending on the tempo, decibels etc. Her auditory issues have caused extreme anxiety. Getting her out of the house to go places and do things is a challenge.

I decided to try using the HOURS EARNINGS ECONOMY strategy to motivate her try new things ,and some of those things require her to leave home .

AND IT IS WORKING 💪.....

A few weeks ago I suggested we go bowling. She was resistant . She was anxious wondering if there would be music in the bowling alley. I told her she would earn hours just for trying ,even if we stayed for 5 or 10 mins. She agreed. 😊 When we got inside of the bowling alley she realized there waa no music ,and we bowled 2 games . I waa so proud of her AND she was proud of herself too!!!!!

THE IMPORTANCE OF IT....

I can remember seeing my daughter holding her ears when she was 3 yrs old. She was on stage at her first dance recital. I can remember her holding her ears on stage at her preschool Christmas concert , I remember her first meltdown .SHE was 4 yrs old . We were on vacation and were in an arcade .That was the first time she was able to tell me the sound hurt her .

We took her to an ENT, an Audiologist , a Neurologist and had no answers. As a mother you want to protect your child so I sheltered her . I didn't know how to help her with so we avoided places with music.

My daughter started seeing and occupation therapy when she was three . She had vestibular and proprioceptive issues. She was a sensory seeker,

Unfortunately her auditory issue were not recognized.

She was officially diagnosed with autism at 5 yrs old , Her auditory sensitivity was getting worse. She was beginning to elope. We brought her to a psychiatrist who put her on a low dosage of Busiphoire for anxiety

Sensory intergration and sensory processing disorder were not really talked about when my daughter was diagnosed. I didn't know how to help her . I thought I was protecting her by sheltering her. Her fear became my fear .

She is now a teenager and still and I am still sheltering her. I am trying to change that by safety pushing her to work through her fears and tolerate the sounds that bother her.

It upsetting to see her afraid to go places and experience things . It's also gut wrenching to see her so upset when learning to tolerate certain sounds. I have to remind myself that she needs to work through this . As she gets older people will be less accommodating so learning tolerance is crucial.

I am grateful that i found a way to motivate her. She is becoming more responsible, more independent, and more will to try new things.

Making the token economy work for my autistic daughter...