Warren Buffett's partner, Charlie Munger, once said, "I think I've been in the top 5% of my age cohort all my life in understanding the power of incentives, and all my life I've underestimated it. And never a year passes but I get some surprise that pushes my limit a little farther."

There were many inventions in the past century that have profoundly changed our lives -- the telephone, automobile, Internet, and DVD, to name a few. But in a not-so-small way, one invention for children that has created a profound understanding of child behavior and learning but has been overlooked is the token-economy/point system.

The system is used primarily to increase and maintain incentive to learn and behave. Experience over the years has shown me time and time again how miracles can happen to a child under a point system, be his diagnosis autism, dyslexia, auditory processing problem, ADD, ADHD, oppositional disorder, or emotionally disturbed. But also how the same miracle can disappear when the point system is dropped or changed. The behavior, the learning, and the mood, could be day and night with or without a point system.

Like many inventions, the theory behind the point system, once explained, is surprisingly simple, although its application could be infinitely individualized and complex. It is partly based on the economic principle of creating and balancing earnings and spendings, and partly on the capitalistic principle of tying productivity to privilege.

Properly designed, a point system fosters independent learning, stamina and compliance. The child also learns important facts of life -- that things don't come for free, that we must plan ahead rather than live by the moment, and that we must be responsible to or own actions -- facts that we adults should all have learned.

Indeed, motivation is half the battle in child treatment. A properly designed point system is a great motivational device.

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