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Autism & Token System

I remembered reading a couple of posts from Mdg, where she made mention about her son's "Tokens" And how many tokens he had left or how he ran out of "Tokens". It seems to be like a system of some sort and I am interested in knowing how it works. Also, of course also interested in any other system of tokens that works with autistic children.

System Token and Autism

In our home we refer to energy as tokens. For example every morning when you wake up you are allotted a number of tokens for your day.

Each autistic person receives a specific number of tokens a day.

Every task and autistic person does cost a specific number of tokens.. Some tasks take a few tokens while other tasks take a lot of tokens.

When tokens are gone shut down or meltdowns happen. After a meltdown or shut down tokens are really hard to regenerate.

If an autistic person is having many meltdowns a week - The quickest way to remedy this is to scale back on the autistic person's activities until the stablized.

Everything an autistic person does must be viewed as risk versus benefit with respect to tones.

Even the really fun things that an autistic person may partaken can sometimes take a lot of tokens and cause meltdowns.

Here are some examples:

Therapy might cost my son 8 tokens while school might cost him 25 tokens. Hugging and kissing his grandmother costs him 100. He doesn't want to hug or kiss anyone. Wipes him out. Handling trash at least 50 tokens. Putting his hands and dishwater another 50 tokens. Going shopping at Costco all of his tokens.

No tokens equals one big fat meltdown. Which is the result of the crashing of your executive function.

There is something called pervasive developmental disorder. This equals - Total systems energy difference. The energies and capabilities of an autistic person Regarding activities that require interaction with others is not the same as a neurotypical person's ability to function in this manner.

Google: The Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino regarding pervasive disorders.

Many parents will say things like-

- He just sits there.
- I just want him to have friends.
- He needs to learn social skills.
- I feel sorry for him.
- He never plays with the other kids.
- How sad
- I'm worried he's lonely

It's because they don't understand about tokens and energy and that sometimes autistic kids need to be where it's quiet without stimulation so they can regenerate tokens.

At our house we are very cognizant and careful about our kid and his tokens.

I hope this helps.

What other thing I want to talk about is meltdown management. Lots of autistic kids have meltdowns. It's just a fact of life.

When I began to read, research and learn about ASD I learned that it was a pervasive disorder. Basically it's very simple- Autistic people work harder to do a task or job then neuro typical people and that expends more energy for them. This means that they simply run out of gas or completely run out of steam however you want to look at it. When an autistic kid continues to have a lot of meltdowns many parents will say that the trigger of the meltdown was something they saw happening just before the meltdown. The reality is that's not the case. What's really happening is that there are too many demands on the body or the total energy system or tokens and an executive function crash occurrs.

One of the most important things I learned about meltdowns is that they are indeed a health risk. It was one of the most important topics I learned about regarding autism and that was meltdown management. I learned was meltdowns and what they deem prolonged anxiety in general is that this is a true physical health threat. Because the autistic person is in a constant flight or fight mode it can cause all kinds of health issues- Think about it when your cortisol levels are at an all-time high all the time you can't be good for you. What flips me out about all of this is that if you take a look at an autistic kid who has four, five, or six meltdowns or shutdowns a week many other parents caregivers or teachers can only talk about their behavior. This kind of behavior for autistic kids is unfortunately part of who they are. Most teachers and other neurotypical people rush to the whole we must fix this. This places the autistic person under tons of pressure because are having meltdowns that they feel have to be immediately fixed when in truth they don't.

We know that ASD is a whole body disorder. Is just not a disorder of the brain.

Autism & Token System Health & Special Psychology

First of all, thanks for sharing such detailed post.

How is this determined?

How can a parent determine how many tokens each activity involves?

Can the token system work for a very high functioning child and also for a child who can hardly communicate verbally?

My 13 year old is very high functioning, he hates hugs and kisses for instance but if he is forced to do it the worst thing that could happen is that he will go and wash his face but he won't dwell on it, he will continue doing whatever he was doing before however, his challenges are of a different nature.

My middle son who is 7 has a very aggressive side if things are no done in the way and order he wants them to be and get a few meltdowns yet his verbal communication is extremely limited and has a hard time the concept of being taught, he doesn't like to be taught. He wants to do whatever you are trying to do with him on his "Own" Way and gets very angry and aggressive when you are trying to teach him.

System Token and Autism

How is this determined?

Each kid is different. As you know as a mom our kids don't come with an instruction manual *smile* We just know from observing our son what drains him and what doesn't.

So when I say each kid has a specific number of tokens he wakes up with each day -- it's true they do. And so do you and so do I. Mine are different than yours and vice versa.

How can a parent determine how many tokens each activity involves?

Again it's super individual. And yes tokens work for high functioning children and for children who are nonverbal. Again each child is different.

I think you will find those things that wipe your 13 year old out. We found those out with our son. And we limit those activities and prepare ahead of time (Meaning him and us) of that activity and we try to be as proactive as possible so when the time comes that we do *X* that wipes him out we have a plan in place.

It's pretty typical for nonverbal ASD kids to be aggressive. Have you tried the "holding therapy" Or "hug therapy" What we do know about ASK kids is they are smart but they just can't communicate. They can hear us. They can understand us. I have a colleague of mine who's child is violent - stabbed people with pencils, tried to punch and choke her and her husband.

She would hold her child firmly -- sometimes her husband would help and she would just say gently "I love you so muich I can't watch you go so crazy that you are going to hurt yourself again"

The worst thing in the world Pandora is having a condition that there are no specific answers. Yes there are methods, strategies, and of course your mothers gut instinct.

With my son the best thing for him is for him to go into a dimly lit room just alone so he can get it together. Some kids needs to go flip out in a room where they can't hurt themselves. We take all the stimuli away from him - music, TV, sound, etc...so he can regain tokens.