Casino

Years ago, Alex became fascinated with slot machines. Even though his mathematical mind understands that the odds of actually winning the jackpot on slot machines are relatively rare, he still remains enamored with them. While some kids want to go to Disney World, Alex wants to go to Las Vegas. Several years ago, a friend of mine who knew how much Alex liked slot machines brought him back a souvenir from a trip to Las Vegas that he still treasures to this day: plastic cups from the casinos used to hold change to play the slot machines. I even made him a slot machine cake one year for his birthday because that was his primary interest at the time. Of course, thinking of Alex in a casino always brings to mind scenes from the movie Rain Man where the Babbitt brothers make a fortune in Las Vegas because Raymond's savant memory allows him to "count cards" and help Charlie win big at the blackjack tables. However, Alex's memory would not be of any use when it comes to the pure luck required for slot machines.

Knowing that he couldn't actually go to the casinos because he wasn't old enough, Alex found good substitutes in home versions of the game, including small slot machine replicas and computer games. One computer game, Casino Empire, allowed him to design his own casino layout and then run the business. Any customers of Alex's casino would need to share his love of slot machines because that's all his casino offered, lots of slot machines. Unfortunately, Alex would spend so much of his allotted money of slot machines that he didn't have enough money to pay the staff, resulting in customer dissatisfaction because apparently the bathrooms were not being cleaned. Alex didn't care; he thought the ultimate casino just needed lots of slots.

As Alex neared the ages of twenty-one, the required age to enter casinos, the more he told us that he wanted to go to a casino and play slots. With the unpredictable behavior he showed last year at the age of twenty, we had doubts that Alex's wish would become a reality anytime soon. However, as he has made improvements, we began to think that he might be able to handle a trip to the casino, especially after he turned twenty-one in December. Knowing how much this trip would mean to him, we decided to offer it as a big reward for good behavior.

At the beginning of last month, we told Alex that if he could behave himself the entire month of February, we would take him to a casino to play slots. He was delighted with this idea, and we discovered that the promise of the trip had benefits for us, as well. Any time Alex started doing something he shouldn't, all we would have to say was, "CASINO!" to make him stop immediately in his tracks. This was a good test for us to see which behaviors he could control. Interestingly, we discovered that Alex could, indeed, control his behavior most of the time when a reminder of the ultimate reward was given. Although he had a few minor slips, for the most part, he behaved very well for the entire month, and we decided that he had earned his reward.

Last Thursday, we had an appointment with the psychiatric nurse practitioner who oversees Alex's medications. Alex didn't realize that her office is only a few minutes from a casino, and we had planned to take him there after the appointment, provided he seemed to be doing well. As we pulled up to the casino that he had only seen in commercials and on the Internet, a huge smile crossed his face, knowing that his wish had finally come true.  Filled with hundreds of slot machines, the Blue Chip Casino lived up to Alex's expectations. Although we were concerned that he might experience sensory overload from the crowds, the flashing lights and sound effects of the slot machines, and the cigarette smoke in the air, Alex seemed oblivious to anything that might bother him. Instead, he focused upon only the excitement of getting to play the slot machines.

During the hour that we spent there, he happily played penny and two-cent slots on three different machines. He played a video slot machine that had icons of money and another based upon his beloved television game show, Wheel of Fortune, but his favorite was an old-fashioned slot machine with reels that actually spun and had the traditional symbols of fruit and bars. In all, he won about a dollar and only wound up spending $3.50, which was cheap entertainment, especially since it made him so happy. In fact, he told us he had wanted to go to a casino "for twenty-one years." How pleased we were that his lifelong dream had finally come true! In the end, he decided that he'd like to come back to the casino another time. Of course, we were willing to make the same deal with him; that is, if he behaves for another month, we'll bring him back to the casino as a reward. We just hope that the buzzword "CASINO" works as well this month as it did last month.

"Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you can receive your full reward." 2 John 1:8

Using Rewards

Although Alex has generally been obedient, at times we have needed to discipline him to make him compliant to rules, usually those involving safety, such as staying out of the street or not touching hot appliances. One of the methods we used when he was younger was Thomas Phelan’s 1-2-3 Magic, which is based on giving two warnings for misbehavior before giving a time out. Because Alex has always liked numbers, he enjoyed the counting aspect of the system. However, like most kids, he would often test the limits by earning both of the warnings, but he was usually smart enough to stop before he reached the third and final count, which meant a time out.

When Alex was in his early teens, we had to re-evaluate disciplinary methods because threats and punishment created anxiety, which led to meltdowns. Since he lacks some social skills, the typical teen punishments of grounding from being with friends and losing phone privileges meant nothing to him. Instead, we would tell him that he might not be able to go places he enjoyed, such as the post office, Walmart, or restaurants. In addition, we would threaten to take away his favorite electronic gadgets, such as his graphing calculator, or take away his computer privileges. While this worked for a while because we always followed through on our threats, Alex became more agitated over time at the thought of not being able to do what he wanted and became aggressive, throwing things, screaming, and hitting us. These fits were not to gain attention or to get his way; he was genuinely panicked about having his routine changed. Moreover, time outs in his room became impossible because he would hurl things at the walls, and we were afraid he’d knock holes in the walls or break windows. His punishments required constant supervision, yet he was likely to turn on us and physically attack us. Therefore, we needed to rethink our methods to get him to comply with what we wanted him to do, yet prevent him from developing destructive anxiety over following rules.

During the adolescent years, we switched to a reward-based, rather than punishment-based, disciplinary routine with Alex. Because we didn’t want to reward him for every single thing he did, we started a weekly reward plan we called Saturday surprises. If his behavior strayed from what we expected of him, one of us simply needed to say “Saturday surprise” to remind him to behave, and he would usually comply. Since Alex has always been interested in calendars, he knew how many days he had before he would get the Saturday surprise reward. The only problem with this system was that it worked so well, we had trouble coming up with different ideas for rewards after he’d earned so many. The Saturday surprises were inexpensive items we knew he would like, such as paperback books, bargain software for his computer we’d find for less than five dollars at the home improvement store Menard's, magazines, Matchbox toy cars, etc. Basically they were stocking stuffer types of items—small, inexpensive, and entertaining. After seeing how well the Saturday surprise system worked, we kept a secret stash of rewards on hand at all times, especially whenever we’d see small items we thought he would like, so that we were always prepared to give him his weekly reward on Saturday mornings. When the novelty started wearing off of the Saturday surprises after many months, we decided to take the pressure off ourselves to seek rewards and decided to put him on an allowance system instead. Like the Saturday surprises, Alex had to earn his allowance through good behavior and cooperation, but it was much easier to hand him cash, and by that point, he was happier to receive cash than a token gift. Moreover, the allowance system taught him the value of saving money because he learned to put money aside for several weeks so that he could buy rewards of his own choosing. Of course, Ed and I reaped the ultimate reward through this system: Alex’s good behavior was worth every penny we spent on Saturday surprises and allowance, and we were thankful that he made the effort to be good. Over time, we were able to phase out the rewards, and he maintains good behavior without any external rewards, which is yet another improvement in him we feel blessed to enjoy.

“Day by day the Lord takes care of the innocent, and they will receive a reward that lasts forever.” Psalm 37:18