ABSTRACT
Within our community of special children, there is a wide range of levels of ability relating to the use of money. Some children with profound difficulties never handle their own. Even for the many with SLD who can participate in shopping experiences, the exact use of money is problematic since it requires levels of counting and mental arithmetic they may not have mastered. Through social action, we can introduce children to experiences of reward or receiving payment. For rewards, we can use direct pleasures that give immediate gratification or tokens that can be objects, stickers, etc., to be collected or exchanged for things children value. When children appreciate the dynamics of exchange and value, they will be better able to appreciate the dynamics of shopping. However, dealing with the values of coinage and calculation still presents considerable difficulties that often stand in the way of independence for them.
