Autistic toddlers often don't socialize because they don't perceive others' minds or see the point of social cooperation. Ming explains that social behavior becomes rewarding when you tie it to things the child already values, so they learn that social actions produce outcomes worth repeating.
Autistic people, they don't really know what we're thinking, don't know what we want. They don't see a point in being social. They don't understand the reason behind that. If you and I have a good relationship, anything is possible. You'll help me on this, I'll help you on that. It's rewarding to have a good community around you when you're down problems that autistic people have. We're talking about toddlers here. No incentive to be social means that your child basically doesn't know why Being social is more fun than running around and doing self stimulatory activities. You need to reward behaviors that you want to happen over and over and over again. Take the things that the child cares about and use it as a reward so that the child knows, oh, this thing is correct. Because the more I do this, the more rewards I get.
