Rewards and Motivators are how we roll in autism land.  If you want Bucky to do his math work, you gotta give him something in return.  That’s just how it works.  Whether it’s a break, a walk, a starburst, a handful of goldfish… whatever works, baby.

Fast forward to an adult on the spectrum trying to find meaningful employment, whatever that looks like.  Hopefully it is something s/he is interested in, but if not, how does it work?  Bucky wouldn’t do his math without a starburst, so will his employer ply him with starburst to get him to work as an adult?

My kiddo doesn’t understand money, and more than just the concept that it doesn’t grow on trees.  He has a hard time counting change, and instead has been taught that if he is at the store and needs to pay $4.88, he should give the cashier a five dollar bill.  He doesn’t really grasp that $150 to fix an iPad screen is a hell of a lot of money. And even though he understands that you need money to buy things, he doesn’t understand needs versus wants, and if left to his own devices, might very well decide to purchase another 3DS game rather than pay a phone bill.

He will need some assistance, and that is obvious.  But he will also need some motivation to do his job.  Therefore, as we look forward to transitioning (I know we have several years, but it’s good to be aware of where we are and where we’ll need to be), we will have to work on making sure the things we use to motivate him are growing like he is.  And we will have to work on the delay in gratification, because one does not receive a paycheck every minute, hour, or day.

This is the type of thing that isn’t intuitive for me, and that I will have to train myself to work on with him.  Everything is a process with autism.  Everything.  And nothing goes in a straight line.  A convoluted process, I guess.  We learn everyday, we fail everyday, and we try everyday.  Now to develop a plan…