Point System

As parents, it took us a long time to figure out how to cope with certain parts of Asperger's, the disabling anxiety and the sloooowwwwnessssss to be exact. We have finally come up with a system that seems to keep Fall motivated to try harder and move faster. Every time she gets something accomplished with out much push from us she gets a point. Well, I should say....every time we remember to award her one. Anyways, once she reaches five points she gets a trip to the beloved book store to get a brand new chapter book, and of course, what trip to the bookstore is complete without a hot chocolate?

This morning was one of those exceptionally amazing mornings that makes the whole world sparkle and shine. I asked Fall to run back upstairs to grab the socks I had laid out for her, and I also asked her to "scan" her room for her boots. We says SCAN because if we use a word like find its ends in meltdown, and when I say meltdown I do NOT mean fit, I mean agonizing frustration and tears from her overwhelming anxiety that is triggered by such lovely, pressure inducing words as "find". It does not matter if the shoes are in the middle of the room without another thing in a two foot radius, she will NOT find the shoes to save her life. So, I say "Go up and scan your room for your shoes, and if they aren't there I will help you look elsewhere". Not only did Fall come down with her socks, and her shoes (YES!!!!), but she also grabbed her glasses without being told. That right there made my day. It doesn't stop there folks. She walked out the door, and straight to the car, and got right into that car. Every day is a new match of wills with doing things immediately. We rush to get out of the house, and yet Fall still thinks stopping and picking leaves and flowers is in our time budget. We have "words" every morning about this.. But not THIS morning. Its a good day people! I gave her two points for all her efforts this morning, which I hope will motivate her to have another good morning tomorrow. A girl can dream, right?

Parenting isn't easy, in fact its down right HARD. Parenting a child on the spectrum is just plain tricky, which is why sometimes we have to come up with our very own tricks.