When you're dealing with problem behavior and autism, you sometimes have to get creative in coming up with rewards for good behavior. When Nathan was little, pretty much anything would make him happy and act as a reward- a jelly bean, a light up toy, a "fidget". Now that he's 10, he's not as easily impressed.
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| Nathan's flag hat, his stroller and popcorn are some of Nathan's favorite things, but not very motivating anymore! |
The things he likes are not easily accessible or cheap. He would love to travel around the world to every country- starting with Afghanistan because it's the first alphabetically. He would love to own every video game ever created. He would love to build an ultimate tree house that is bigger than our own house. So, one of his therapists suggested we actually build a "starter treehouse" or fort in the backyard.
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| This is what our finished fort should look like- eventually! |
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| My mom and dad picked up the kit from Home Depot |
My parents picked it up from Home Depot and my dad brought it to our house. We worked all day on Saturday, and still have a very long way to go.
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| Just getting started |
Nathan and Drew didn't help.. at all! But Nathan is excited about it. And his behavior has been amazing. Since we decided to build the fort (or as Nathan calls it- the NBT for Nathan's Boring Treehouse) Nathan's behavior has improved significantly. He has been compliant at school and at home. His teacher remind him to make good choices and we have promised to work on it every weekend until it's done- as long as he has good behavior at school.
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| Hours later, this is how far we got- we still have a long way to go |
It is a lot of work, and it wasn't cheap, but if this good behavior continues it will be more than worth it. We'll let you know how it goes!
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