Pennies for Peace

What is a penny really worth these days?  Not much, you say?  What if I told you that it could buy peace?

My son has been loudly clearing his throat for quite some time now but lately it had gotten much more pronounced. Most recently, it evolved into a loud snorting sound. 

At first, we thought this action was due to a cold or allergy and there was some type of congestion in his throat. But when Kai continued doing it long after his cold should have cleared, we began to think that perhaps the action might be a bad habit that he had developed.

We worked to get him to stop. Every time he loudly cleared his throat or made the snorting sound, we asked him to stop. When speaking in soft tones had no effect, I tried raising my voice. That didn’t work either.

So we began to think it might be a tic.

It is not unusual for kids with autism to have tics, which are compulsive movements or sounds that have no purpose. Most tics are uncontrollable, or controllable for only short moments.

And because they are uncontrollable, it would be nice if everyone were understanding and tolerated them. But when we are out in public, and Kai is snorting, we can’t help but be embarrassed as people turn and stare. Frankly, I don’t blame them. It is an unusual sound, and it often is disruptive. Even at home it can drive us crazy when he does it persistently. 

A few weeks ago, the snorting got to be so bad that we decided to take Kai to an ear, nose and throat specialist just to rule out the possibility that he had a physical impairment that caused him to snort.

The doctor found no physical reason for the action. He also said that, in his opinion, the action was controllable.

So we set about trying once more to find a way to get our son to stop the snorting.

The power of positive reinforcement

That evening, Kai happened to find a penny and added it to his piggy bank. He was curious to know how many he had and emptied out the piggy to count his collection. Before long, he was organizing them by year. And that is when my wife came up with the idea.

She told Kai that he could earn a penny every time he went 10 minutes without snorting.

Positive reinforcement is actually a vital component of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), a common type of therapy that many kids with autism receive.  

Our own experiences with ABA were dramatic. We started it shortly after Kai was diagnosed.  At that time, he did not respond at all, not even to his name being called. So we were amazed when, in his very first session, he responded to the therapist’s command to “come here” when she held up an attractive new sparkling object. 

We came to see that positive reinforcement would play a key role in helping Kai learn many tasks that we once thought would be impossible for him. It even played a part in his starting to speak.

But could it help with his snorting?

Earning pennies

When we first started the penny incentive, Kai forgot about it and snorted several times. Each time we reminded him that he could earn a penny if he could resist snorting for 10 minutes. We started encouraging him every few minutes that he was getting close to earning a penny. 

And then he earned his first one. By bedtime, he had earned a few more.

The next day, he was really motivated. With Mom’s help, he created a timeline chart and taped all of his pennies to it, with the oldest penny to the left and the pennies dated 2011 to the right. He even allowed room on his chart to go all the way up to the year 2060.

That day, he went virtually the whole day without snorting. In fact, he got so good at controlling it that we hardly had to remind him at all.  Within a couple days, he earned dozens of pennies.

And so, it appears as if his snorting might not be a tic after all. We just needed to find the right motivation for him to stop. 

Who would have thought that the price for peace and quiet in our house would only cost a penny?