Tips for Teaching Money Management to Teens with Autism

by Sara | Sep 15, 2019 | Autism, Life skills

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Why are Teaching Money Management Skills so Important for Teens with Autism?

Personally, I think money management skills are vital to learn if you want to help your teen become more independent as they grow up. I do want to say though, that there is no magic timeline as to when your teen or an adult with autism may learn all of these money management skills. It will come over time and each person is unique to when they may learn various skills. I just want to make sure to point out the importance of learning these skills to help increase their independence. I am not an expert on money management skills, but I am doing the best I can to learn more about these skills in order to help my brother increase his independence. I have put together resources and tips that I have learned while reseraching this topic.

A recent study, “Financial Capabilities Among Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” was conducted through the University of Missouri and was intended to shed light on exactly this issue. “When teenagers and young adults with autism enter adulthood and age out of many of the services designed to help them, they often are anxious about how to handle new adult responsibilities such as paying bills and filing taxes. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating financial management into early education to empower young adults with autism.” (Cheak-Zamora, et al., 2017).

How to Help Teens with Autism with Money Management Skills

So now that we know that these skills are important to learn, how do we help them learn money management skills? First of all, let’s figure out what skills are needed to learn in order to have a better understanding of money management skills. There are a ton of skills encompassing money management as a whole.

There is a lot to learn when it comes to money management skills. I have created a list of skills that your teen will need to learn to become more independent with money management skills.

Tips for Teaching Money Management to Teens with Autism

MONEY MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Manage spending
Create a budget
How to manage a checking account
How to manage a savings account
How to use an ATM
How to write a check
How to pay with dollar bills
How to pay with debit/credit card
Understanding how credit works
How to save money
How to pay bills
Understand how taxes work
Borrowing money-credit
Using a credit card
Controlling Debt
Earning Money through a paycheck
Investing Money
Financial Services
Understanding Insurance
How to use Banking Services
Taking out a loan
Managing money in Employment
Understanding Benefits
Making Smart Money Decisions
Shopping Wisely
How to use coupons when shopping to save money
Understanding how to live on your own and take care of money
Understanding Cars and Loans
How to protect your money
Understanding rent payments or taking out a mortgage loan

Grab our FREE download below to have easy access to all of these money management skills in one place!

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FREE TRAINING AND RESOURCES

While searching and learning more about money management skills, I came across some free training and resources that I wanted to share with you. Feel free to check out these free online trainings to see if they can help you teach some of the money management skills listed above!

The National Autistic Society has created a Free Online Training Module! The module was created to assist learners to recognize their strengths as well as the challenges they may experience with managing their money. It shares real-life experiences of autistic people about the sorts of difficulties they encounter, and how they successfully manage their money.
Practical Money Skills has tons of free resources and lesson plans for all ages and for special needs. Check out the FREE Lesson Plans here!
NEFE’s High School Financial Planning Program® (HSFPP) is a turnkey financial literacy program specifically focused on basic personal finance skills that are relevant to the lives of teens.
Hands on Banking offers Free Online Course for Elementary, Middle school, and high school grades. You can check out the free courses here.
FamilyEducation.com has some short and easy to read articles on a range of money management topics for teens. You can check them out here.
If your teen is having a hard time with understanding the cost of things or how to spend their money you could try using Jump Start Reality Check. This is an online quiz they can take to help them understand a ballpartk relationship between their expenses and the income they will need to support their lifestyle.

Tips for Success with Money Management

These are tips I have learned through personal experiences with my family or with clients and then additional strategies I have found through researching money management skills.

Tips to help with money management through daily activities:

Have them pay for items at the store
Give them an allowance and save up for items to buy at the store
Have them go to the bank with you and discuss how the bank works
Help them open up a savings or a checking account
Use workbooks to help teach about money skills
Try using apps and online resources like the ones listed above to help teach money skills.
Have them list out their wants and needs
Look up the prices of their wants and needs to figure out if they have enough money or what they will need to earn.
Talk about money habits such as helping them set up a budget.
When you make a grocery list of items you need, have them go to the store with you to help you find them in the aisles and then show them the different prices of the same item. Help them learn which items are the best deals or bring along coupons and have them find the items they need to use the coupons.
If they have a job where they are earning income talk to them about their paycheck. Help them understand their benefits and taxes.
If you are working on understanding and paying bills, go through some common monthly bills such as housing, food, utilities so they can get an understanding of how much those items cost. Talk to them about ways you can pay those bills either online or by check in the mail.
Help them organize their monthly income and expenses either on paper or on the computer.
Practice paying with cash
Save your receipts and practice reviewing the purchases. Practice adding up the totals of your receipts, especially if you pay with cash so that you can keep track of your spending.
Use newspaper ads and grocery ads to work on finding coupons and finding specials on products that you need to purchase.

I hope you find some of these tips and strategies helpful along your journey to teaching money managmenet skills. Please feel free to add some additional tips or strategies you have found helpful in the comments below.

Are you looking for additional help and strategies to help teach life skills to individuals with autism?

Check out our new online course Learning Life Skills for a Purpose! We will teach you the step by step process of how to use task analysis and visual supports to help teach life skills to children, teens, and adults with autism. Plus we give you step by step resources to help get you started with specific skills!

You can learn more about the course here!

Check out the amazing resources you get when you enroll in the course!

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Check out Learning Life Skills for a Purpose Online Course Here!

Final Thoughts on Teaching Money Management Skills

There are a lot of little skills to learn when teaching money management skills as a whole. It can feel overwhelming when thinking of the big picture, but my advice would be to start with one small skill and build from there. Try to go with your teens’ interests and try to build on the skills from there. For example, if they have a big interest in a specific item such as a video game or some candy they really enjoy eating start by working on having them save up money to purchase those items. Find some simple chores around the house that they could help you with to start to earn some money and see if they can help pay for those items at the store. If they are further along with their skills, have them go to the bank with you so they can try to learn and experience what you need to do at the bank.

Each individual is unique and is at different learning stages when it comes to money management skills. Take a look at our list of skills to learn and try to figure out what specific skill you can try to teach.

I also wanted to share another resource that I came across when teaching life skills. Autism Speaks has designed a Community-Based Skills Assessment. This assessment was developed for Autism Speaks through a contract with Virginia Commonwealth University’s Rehabilitation Research and Training Center.

The Community-Based Skills Assessment helps parents and professionals assess the current skill levels and abilities of students with autism beginning at age 12. The results will help you develop a unique and comprehensive plan.

The tool is divided into three levels based on age. Eight areas of functional life skills will be assessed:

Career path and employment
Self-determination/advocacy
Health and safety
Peer relationships, socialization and social communication
Community participation and personal finance
Transportation
Leisure/recreation
Home living skills

The assessment uses both observation and interviews to measure the individual’s knowledge, skills and behaviors.

You can learn more about the Community-Based Skills Assessment Here.

Additional Money Management Resources

The Autism Awareness Centre has an excellent blog post with some more tips on how to teach money management for independent living with autism.

Here is the link to the research article mentioned above called Financial Capabilities Among Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder if you would like to look into it further.

Friendship Circle has an article with 5 ways to Teach Money Management to Older Children with Special Needs you could check out.

Evidence-Based Practices for Individuals with Autism

by Sara | Sep 7, 2019 | Autism, Research

Evidence-Based Practices for Individuals with Autism

Today I wanted to share with you evidence-based practices for individuals with autism. As an occupational therapist, it is important for me to stay up to date about what strategies are effective when working with children, teens, and adults with autism. Below I will share what I have learned when researching about evidence-based practice strategies for individuals with autism.

What is Evidence-Based Practice?

Evidence-Based Practices are intervention and instructional practices or programs that have scientific evidence that shows that they are effective.

Through my research, I found out that the National Standards Project and the National Professional Development Center on ASD (NPDC), conducted systematic reviews and identified focused intervention practices that are evidence-based. These reviews provide a basis for teachers and clinicians to make decisions about intervention and service practices based on science.

It is important to note that having the information about which practices are evidence-based is a starting place for treatment or instruction, but as practitioners and professionals we must also use our professional expertise in selecting the practices based on the individual characteristics, family priorities, and context.

There are 27 Evidence-Based Practices for Individuals with Autism

An amazing resource was created by the NPDC called AFIRM. This is an online training module that they designed to help educate professionals and practitioners that provides information about the 27 Evidence-Based Practices that the NPDC has identified.

What are the 27 Evidence-Based Practices for Individuals with Autism?

Antecedent-based Intervention
Cognitive Behavioral Intervention
Differential Reinforcement
Discrete Trial Training
Exercise
Extinction
Functional Behavior Assessment
Functional Communication Training
Modeling
Naturalistic Intervention
Parent Implemented Interventions
Peer-Mediated Instruction and Intervention
Picture Exchange Communication System
Pivotal Response Training
Prompting
Reinforcement
Response Interruption and Redirection
Scripting
Self-Management
Social Narratives
Social Skills Training
Structured Play Groups
Task Analysis
Technology-aided Instruction and Intervention
Video Modeling
Visual Supports

Check out the FREE Training Modules with AFIRM HERE!

These modules will provide you with information about each teaching strategy and how you can use these in your practice.

What Evidence-Based Strategy do you find the most helpful in your practice?

I would love to know in the comments below if you have heard of this online training and if there is a specific evidence-based strategy you like to use in your practice? What one do you want to learn more about?

As an occupational therapist, I have loved using Task Analysis and Visual Supports when helping to teach life skills!

Are you looking for additional help and strategies to help teach life skills to individuals with autism?

You can learn more about the course here!

Check out the amazing resources you get when you enroll in the course!

Life Skills Ideas Course Display Image

Check out Learning Life Skills for a Purpose Online Course Here!

References:

Odom, S. L. & Hume, K. A. (2017, November 28). Use of Evidence-Based Practices. Retrieved from https://researchautism.org/use-of-evidence-based-practices/

Additional Resources:

Use of Evidence-based Practices

How to Help Teens with Autism with Organization Skills

by Sara | Sep 7, 2019 | Autism, Life skills

*Affiliate Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using this link.

How to Help Teens with Autism Become More Organized

This is a question I hear from my readers and on the internet a lot. Do you have any tips on how I can help my teen become more organized? He is constantly losing his homework and his room is so messy. He doesn’t know how to find things in his bedroom and always needs my help. Is there any way that I can help him become more organized to find things on his own??

I decided I wanted to look more into these questions and see what information I could find as it relates to organizational strategies and autism. I am not an expert in this area, but I wanted to share with you resources and information I found while looking up information about organization and executive function skills. I know these skills have a huge impact on their everyday life skills. I did my best to find helpful tips and strategies as well as include tips and advice from autistic adults.

Why Organization can be Difficult to Learn for Teens with Autism

Some individuals with autism may have difficulty with cognitive function skills. They may have difficulty with processing information, problem-solving, coming up with solutions, and predicting consequences of an action. They can have difficulty thinking ahead to the future, so if you tell them a date or time to remember in the future, they may have difficulty remembering it. They may also have difficulty understanding the concept of time. If your teen is struggling with any of these areas, they may also have difficulty with organizational skills.

It is important to note, that not all individuals with autism will struggle with executive function and organizational skills.

What is Executive Function?

Executive Functions are a set of cognitive processes that help all of us to:

Plan and organize daily tasks
Be flexible between focusing on a task and then shifting our attention to performing another task
Multitasking
Manage time-constrained activities
Remember things in our mind for a short duration (working memory)
Control our impulses
Prioritize what is important in our day
Monitor ourselves with self-awareness
Initiate a plan (knowing when to start an activity)

This information was obtained from https://researchautism.org/understanding-executive-functions/

Teens with autism mature at a slower pace in executive skills

“Teens with autism mature at a slower pace in executive skills. They may have particular trouble with flexibility, organization, initiating activities and working memory. In kids with an autism spectrum disorder, cognitive flexibility is the standout problem for them and seems to remain a problem as they get older,” (Rosenthal, et.al 2013).

So how can we help them improve with their executive function skills and organization skills?

Tips for Success with Organization

Now that we know what executive function skills are, what strategies can we use to help them with these skills? These are tips I have learned through personal experiences with my family or with clients and then additional strategies I have found through research.

Figure out if these skills are important to them: Figure out if them being unorganized is a priority for them. If losing their homework or having a dirty room is not a priority to them, then they will most likely not want to work with you to improve in this area. If this is the case, then you may need to wait until they are ready to work on this skill or figure out a way to talk to them about why these skills are important.
Get an understanding of their needs and work with them together: Before starting any plan of how to help, you need to have a clear picture of what their needs are in order to help them. What specific thing are they having a hard time figuring out?
Make a plan: Start with one specific task and make a plan. Write out the plan on paper or on your phone to keep track of what you did and how it worked. That way you have a way to reflect on what is working well and not so well.
Make Lists: Find a visual way to help remember things: You could use written lists or checklists, or use sticky notes to place on mirrors or outside of doors to help give reminders.
Find ways to use reminders that work for your teen: this could be alarm reminders set on their phone or iPad or a clock. You could use a watch that goes off at specific times for reminders. Or you could also use a planner or calendar.
Visual Supports: We kind of already talked about this above, but setting up visual supports can really help. These can include a to-do list, calendars, planners, real objects, step by step instructions, or labels to help organize.
Set up the environment for success: If there is a specific area of the home or a specific area at school you are wanting to help them organize think about how you can set up that space to make things as simple and easy for them to organize or put things away. Work with the teen in this process though, because you need to use a system that works for them. Everyone is different and has different ideas on what works for them. When we organized the laundry room area for my brother to allow him more independence to help put towels and certain clothes away, we used baskets where he could see into them so he could easily sort and figure out what goes where.
Social Stories: Social stories can be used to help talk about different social situations when it comes to being organized. Such as remembering your homework, cleaning your room, keeping a clean desk and locker at school.
Start Thinking in Questions: I learned this technique from myaspergerschild.com after learning her strategies for organization. This technique makes sense to me because I personally do this myself. I am always asking myself questions throughout the day so that I don’t forget things. This is something that you may need to teach to others as this may not come easy to them. She suggested you start by practicing by saying the questions out loud as they come up and you think about them.
Be clear about expectations: This one is huge for me personally, when we are trying to learn something new and doing something that is hard for us we need to really be clear about our expectations. Don’t try to do too much at once. Think about one specific change that you can make to help with organization. The more you change the more you can start to feel overwhelmed and then you will be more likely to go back to your old habits or feel bad about yourself. You may get upset that you didn’t figure out a good technique to work on organization and executive function skills.

Some helpful Tips and Resources from Autistic Adults on Organizational Strategies.

I have always wanted to have a better understanding of what it is like to have autism in order to better help my brother and the clients I was serving. As professionals and as parents we have a lot to learn about autism and now with the internet, there are so many more ways to learn and hear about autism through autistic adults. I am going to do my best to help provide you with opportunities to learn from autistic adults.

Below you will find either blog posts or videos from autistic adults with information about organization strategies.

Autistic Mama has a blog post with 3 super helpful tips for executive function tips for autistic adults. She also has a free download with10 additional free tips! Check out her post Doable Executive Functioning Tips for Autistic Adults here!

The Aspie World has a YouTube Channel where he explains a lot of topics about his life with Aspergers. He has a great video about Time Management. You can check out the YouTube Video Here.

He has another video with 7 Time Management Tips you can check that out here!

Autistic Not Weird has a great post about Growing Up Autistic. It is not specifically geared towards organization skills, but it has great advice for teenagers with autism. Check it out here!

Some Helpful Products to Teach Executive Functioning and Organization Skills

Your Therapy Source has created an Executive Functioning Resource that is a digital workbook that is a step by step guide to help boost your student’s working memory, impulse control, focus, emotional control, organization, planning, and self-monitoring!

Smart but Scattered Teens: The Executive Skills Program for Helping Teens Reach Their Potential by Richard Guare, Peg Dawson, and Colin Guare created an awesome resource! This positive guide provides a science-based program for promoting teens’ independence by building their executive skills–the fundamental brain-based abilities needed to get organized, stay focused, and control impulses and emotions.

Final Thoughts on Organization tips

Organization skills are a higher level skill and it will take time to learn these skills and find a process that works for the teen you are working with. Have patience and understanding as they are trying to find a strategy that works for them. Things will hopefully go better when you can stay calm when working with them to find strategies that work for them.

One final thought, there is no specific timeline for teens to learn specific skills and understand that it is a process and everyone learns different skills at different rates and times. Autistic Mama has a great article explaining how no one knows your autistic child’s future.

Additional Resources for Organizational Strategies and Tips for Teens with Autism

Information from the National Autistic Society about Organization, Sequencing and prioritizing.

Helping your Child with Autism Get Organized video on YouTube by Autism Grown Up

Autism in the Teen Years: What to expect, how to help by Marina Sarris at the Interactive Autism Network

Here is an amazing list of Actually Autistic blogs that you can check out if you would like to learn more about autism through their point of view. https://anautismobserver.wordpress.com

Teaching Organizational Skills by Diane Adreon M.A. and Heather Willis PsyD. from the Autism Support Network

Getting Your Life Organized from Autism-Help.org

Organization Skills for Children with Aspergers and High-Functioning Autism by myaspergerschild.com

Let me know in the comments below what tips and resources you find helpful or if there is anything else I should add to the list!

References:

Rosenthal, M., Wallace, G.L., Lawson, R., Wills, M.C., Dixon, E., Yerys, B.E. & Kenworthy, L. (2013) Impairments in real-world executive function increase from childhood to adolescence in autism spectrum disorders. Neuropsychology. 2013 Jan;27(1):13-8. View abstract

Free Resources for Teaching Personal Hygiene Cares

by Sara | Sep 1, 2019 | Autism, Life skills

Free Resources for Teaching Personal Hygiene Cares

I get so many questions about how to help with personal hygiene cares and I wanted to put together a list of FREE resources available for you to look at and use. Below you will find a list of FREE Resources and Videos available for you to help teach these skills for individuals with autism.

Free Sensory Strategies Personal Hygiene Cares Toolkit

Before you check out the other free resources below you should check out our FREE Sensory Strategies for Personal Hygiene Cares Toolkit!

Free Personal Hygiene Resources!

Free Washing My Hands Visual Sequencing Cards by Learning for a Purpose at Teachers Pay Teachers

Personal Hygiene and Teenagers with Auitsm Spectrum Disorder by raisingchildren.net.au

Personal Hygiene Teaching Resources for Special Needs Students by galleonsupplies.co.uk

A Free Social Story about Taking Care of Myself by Katie Peterson at Teachers Pay Teachers

Free Social Stories for supporting Personal Hygiene and Self-Care Skills at tes.com

A Free Social Story about Boogers by Occupational Therapy Resources by Allison at Teachers Pay Teachers

Washing My Hands Adapted Book by Chalkboard Superhero at Teachers Pay Teachers

Teaching Personal Hygiene to Children with Auitsm-Free visual story by Autism Spectrum Teacher

Are you looking for additional help and strategies to help teach life skills to individuals with autism? Check out our new online course Learning Life Skills for a Purpose! We will teach you the step by step process of how to use task analysis and visual supports to help teach life skills to children, teens, and adults with autism. Plus we give you step by step resources to help get you started with specific skills!

You can learn more about the course here!

Check out the amazing resources you get when you enroll in the course!

Check out Learning Life Skills for a Purpose Online Course Here!

Below is a list of Free videos you can find on YouTube about Personal Hygiene Cares

Ending the Hygiene Struggle by Asperger Experts on YouTube

Video Explaining Hygiene Help for Autism Spectrum Children and Teens by Barbara Lester on YouTube

Tips for Personal Hygiene-Real Life Tips for Kids with Autism by Children’s Specialized Hospital on YouTube

Teens and Hygiene From Autism Spectrum Therapies on YouTube

Teaching Personal Hygiene-Life Skills by Jacob Vlogs on YouTube

Let me know in the comments below if these were helpful for you, or if there are some other resources I should add.

The Best Functional Life Skills Resources for Individuals with Autism

by Sara | Sep 1, 2019 | Autism, Life skills

Functional Life Skills for Individuals with Autism

Functional life skills are essential for all individuals to learn and develop as they get older to learn to be more independent with their everyday life. It can feel overwhelming when you think about all the different areas of life skills you can teach and that someone has to try to learn.

We are working on a lot of these skills with my teenage brother right now to help him as he transitions into adulthood. I wanted to put together a more comprehensive post about various life skills and strategies you can use to help teach those life skills.

Below you will find a large list of life skills you can help teach and some helpful links to resources on how to help teach those skills.

*This post contains affiliate links. When you use this link to make a purchase we get a portion of the fee, at no cost to you. Please see our disclosure statement for further details.