Tips for the Homework & Organization Impaired, Part 4:

  The article i've been discussing, sort of, has been about helping your autistic kid with homework.  It is actually a good article, with points relevant to folks on and off the spectrum, and i'm only discussing it, sort of, in passing.  

  Point 2 in the author's ten point list is Motivation.  She tells us that motivation plays a larger role than many realize in lack of organizational skills, then lists some conventional motivating factors to point out to kids:

       -  Others will see you as more hard-working.

       -  You will get better grades.

       -   You'll feel better about yourself. 

"This is too hard!"

  At this point she wisely points out that spectrum kids will need sooner success than others might.  This is worthwhile to know, but she overlooks something very important.

  

  Suppose the kid's reaction is, "Why should I care what someone else thinks about me?  Grades are stupid!  I'm already awesome - what's to feel better about myself?"

  In other words, the motivations offered are extrovert motivations.  These objections are introvert motivations.

  Autism has been related to  introversion as duck to bird.

  Actually there are simple, logical answers to these objections.  To take them in reverse order, they are:  

  "Of course you're awesome.  Yes, grades are stupid." (Yes, they are.)  "And you care about what someone thinks about you because people who like you are more willing to do what  you want them to and make life less difficult  for you."

  And you'll still need the other Tips and it won't be easy - i'm still struggling with organization, and that makes life harder for Max, since he actually LIKES to have things organized - but it helps to understand something about introvert/extrovert motivation.

  We do think differently.