Motivation..

So how do you motivate an Aspergers kid who has decided to be stubborn? It's like trying to pull a donkey up a hill. T1 has decided that she "hates school and really just is going to skip doing it for now". Which for obvious reasons, isn't happening. I've been trying the polite: Hey, let's just do some math and then here you can do some writing etc.. Method.  I've been letting her work on her math that she find "really super hard" on the computer which somehow makes it *more fun*. I've been letter her earn art supply credits if she does all of her subjects without complaining, throwing fits, whining. But, for the most part, the donkey doesn't want to go up the damned hill. Getting her to do even subjects she "likes" has become difficult. It's actually easier to go take her to get teeth pulled at this point.

Now the even more difficult part, T2 is catching up to her. QUICKLY. He is very motivated. He does double on his books almost everyday, including weekends without being asked. He is passing her in math. He is quickly catching her in reading skills. He is behind still in writing ability, but only by a month or 2, 3 at most at this pace (if she doesn't actually get her butt in gear).  I KNOW part of her DE-motivation is T2's catching her and that he *appears* to have no problems learning like she does. It doesn't help that she gets frustrated and then gets stiff muscled and stops functioning, but dang. If she would just... WORK at it.  Now, she's smart. Brilliant in many areas. She KNOWS T2 is catching her if for no other reason he stands over her and shouts out the answers to her math problems as she pauses. 

But we are also waiting on insurance to do the educational disorder testing that her OT wants us to do (because really - we all know there's an issue there some where we just don't know what kind). She can't get through ANY kind of task with more than 3 steps. She just CAN'T. Which *I* know. I'm ok with it and try really hard to break the bigger things into smaller steps while trying to teach her to figure out how to tackle the bigger pieces too. But she hits her frustration level and freezes. Literally.  Freezes.  Sits completely still and stares. So. This makes things take longer than they should. (Imagine turning into a statue every time you tried to do anything required more than 3 simple steps, that's the issue at hand here.) So, when that happens here I have to break the statue and try to figure out where she froze and get her past it and moving again. It often involves crying. Why? I dunno. It just does. 

So.. Back to the motivating conundrum. I can't just club her like a baby seal nor does it seem truly proper to point out that she really is the idiot savant she really is (absolutely brilliant and yet, so very challenged with some things).