Dollars and sense: Mr. Shankle’s motivational methods changing lives of special needs kids

SAN BENITO COUNTY school teacher Logan Shankle has unintentionally raised a small group of aspiring counterfeiters in his class for students with mild to moderate learning disabilities. The system he has created for his K-8 students, which rewards them with play money based on achieving set daily goals, is so popular that they have taken to making their own versions of the bills, with one even attempting to pass off a fake Bitcoin.

Shankle proudly displays these creations on the side of a plastic bin that holds the prizes: snacks, stickers, juice boxes and tickets redeemable for items such as a few minutes with an iPad, a round at the basketball hoops, or, in one student’s case, the chance to help vacuum the classroom.