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Wanting information on how to teach Financial Literacy

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  • #17711
    pasfaw
    Moderator

      This is something that often comes up at life planning meetings.
      I knew about the ‘Money Magic’ game on ConnectABILITY, but now realize that there are a lot more resources on the site:

      A tool kit to help individuals learn about money and strategies to manage their personal finances including budgeting, saving, smart spending and personal banking.
      Money Matters

      If anyone else know of any other resources, please share.
      Thanks, Petra

      #18087

      This might not fall into the category of “resources”, but in working with my son, who has ASD and cognitive delays, I found the best way to teach money skills is to allow the person you are teaching to actually have money and make choices around how to spend it. My son has extremely poor math skills on paper, but once we started paying him for doing household chores (instead of an allowance) and for participating in volunteer work/school co-op, it took him very little time to figure out financial matters related to his daily life. The key is motivation – he doesn’t find money interesting, but he finds things that money can buy extremely interesting. For example, he quickly grasped that a bottle of pop cost more than a can of pop, for example. He saves his money for desired objects (particularly DVDs) and suffers the emotional pain of having to not buy something he wants right now in order to be able to buy something later. We discuss his choices, but if he makes a foolish decision with his money (we’re talking relatively small sums here, of course) then he gets to feel the pain. We’re in the habit of counting his money before he leaves the house so he can plan ahead about what he might want to buy on a particular outing (and what he’s allowed to buy – without any rules he’d be swigging a coke for breakfast), and use envelopes for him to store his savings (keeping a visual tally on the outside of the envelope so he knows how close he is to his target). I remember soon after we started this effort, we were walking to a variety store and, unprompted, he decided he had to go home and do more work because he realized he didn’t have enough money for his treat: he wasn’t happy, but I was thrilled. I was also thrilled recently when he rather wistfully commented that “buying a pineapple wasn’t a good idea” (buying certain food items that he won’t eat but likes to have is one of his quirks).

      #18090
      pasfaw
      Moderator

        Thanks SO much for, Laurie. I’ll have to refer parents to at life planning meetings. I love how natural & ‘normal’ it is & your sense of humour is greatly appreciated too! It makes so much sense to make it functional! Thanks again for, on behalf of all of us. Gratefully, Petra

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