Selena:  "Hi, welcome to Ask the Expert.  I'm Selena Layden, the Assistant Director for Training and 
today I have with me Dr. Carol Schall, who is the director for Technical Assistance here at VCU-ACE.  
Today, we're talking about motivation.  Carol, can you tell us a little bit about what we mean about 
motivation?"
Carol:  "Motivation really is anytime we're trying to engage the learner in a way that they are with us 
and a part of the interaction.  So motivation can be as simple as ensuring that you have materials that 
interest the learner to as complex as planning out a specific reinforcement plan that will increase the 
learner's willingness to participate in a learning task."  
Selena:  "So why is it important for us to consider motivation, especially with our students with autism?"
Carol:  "Well, motivation, there's this myth in teaching that motivation is the responsibility of the 
students when in fact that's not true.  For learners with autism, we frequently have to pre-plan to 
ensure that we have their motivation.  And by pre-planning, we have to think about what they like to do, 
what their interests are, and we have to embed those activities and interests into the learning 
environment.  So for example, if I'm teaching a youngster how to count, I might choose something that I 
like.  If it were me, I'd have them counting Hershey kisses.  But if the student is not interested in Hershey 
Kisses and would rather be counting dinosaurs, the task is counting and the way we count or the 
materials that we use to count are not as important as helping the student engage in a learning task by 
capturing their interest."
Selena:  "Great!  So, if I'm a teacher and I'm in a classroom, what are some tips that you could give me 
so that I could incorporate more motivation for my students?"
Carol:  "First, I would encourage you to assess and know your student's interests.  This is sometimes 
hard to do with students with ASD who present with particular challenges with communication.  If I 
were teaching a preschooler who didn't have autism, I would ask them, 'What are you interested in and 
what do you like to do?'  Our youth with autism are not so adept at answering that question so the first 
thing is to assess and know what they like.  The best way to do this is to present them with a number of 
options.  So for example, I might present an individual with autism two or three different things that I 
think they might be interested in.  That would be one way to find out what that they like.  So I might 
present a book and I might present some kind of game that they might be interested in or some kind of 
food item or other little toy or trinket to assess what are they interested in.  Once I understand their 
interests, I want to make sure I embed those interests both in the learning environment so that might be 
actually the material that we work with or I want to embed the opportunity to have access to those 
things after they have completed a learning task that might not include those things."
Selena:  "Great!  Thank you so much for joining us today!  If you want more information please visit out 
website www.vcuautismcenter.org.  Thank you!"