Posts Tagged ‘autism’

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Bernard Rimland and Autism

September 27, 2009

Sometimes I buy used books and resell them at http://www.amazon.com/shops/mikeneedsakidneydotcom.

The other day I bought an interesting book:  “Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implication for a Neural Theory of Behavior,” written by Bernard Rimland and published in 1964.  Someone bought it as soon as I put it on amazon, so I just had a chance to briefly skim through it.

Rimland was one of the first researchers to state that autism was a neurological disorder.  He also founded the Autism Research Institute and the Autism Society of America.  Rimland was one of the first researchers to advocate biomedical treatments that have improved the symptoms of countless children and adults with autism.  He also served as the chief technical advisor on the movie “Rain Man.”

According to Wikipedia, Rimland’s book “is credited by many with changing the prevailing view of autism, in the field of psychiatry, from an emotional illness -widely thought to be caused by refrigerator mothers – to the current recognition that autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder.”

I picked out a few interesting quotes from the book.

“Many writers consider the child’s hostility or indifference to his parents as evidence that the parents are guilty of causing the disease…It would seem more reasonable to regard the child’s actions as ‘symptoms,’ not as symptoms of etiology.  In the case of the adult who insists that he is being persecuted by the Communists, one does not take his statements at face value but only as an indication that he is ill.”

So Rimland was saying that doctors who blamed parents for their children’s autism were wrong, just as those who blamed parents for their children’s mental illnesses were wrong.  Believe it or not, as recently as the 1970s much of the medical establishment believed that autism as well as mental illnesses were the result of the coldness of the mother, which obviously is anything but the case.  But it wasn’t until the late 1970s that this view was debunked, so Rimland, writing in the early 1960s, was ahead of his time.

It makes you wonder what else the medical establishment is wrong about, and it goes to show that you shouldn’t just blindly follow it.   If you’re a parent of a child with autism now, imagine how bad it must have been back then if doctors had told you that your child’s autism was your fault.

Another quote from the book talked about how rare autism was at the time:  “The extreme rarity of the disease is attested to by the fact that Kanner himself who is reported to have seen over 20,000 disturbed children in his more than thirty years of psychiatric practice, had by 1958 seen fewer than 150 cases of early infantile autism.  This includes children brought to him for diagnosis from all parts of the world.”

We know now, 45 years after the publication of this book, that there is an autism epidemic that is attributable to much more than an expansion of the diagnostic criteria.  I myself have met hundreds of children with severe autism in the Washington, DC area, and I’m sure I’ve only met a tiny fraction of all the kids with severe autism in this area.  According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 150 children has an Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Finally, Rimland said, “Most writers regard the children as quite agile and graceful…the children who do use their hands are remarkably dexterous.”  He describes their “fast and graceful movements” and “excellent motor coordination.”  In fact, a majority of children with autism now have very poor motor skills and coordination, so that shows that at least in this respect the disorder has worsened, and some type of trigger has resulted in children with autism having worse motor skills than before.

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Greenspan’s DIR Model for Autism: Part 1

September 20, 2009

For therapists and families to be effective in working with kids with autism, they should be able to do any methodology.

There is an alphabet soup of different methods to teach kids with autism – Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA); the Developmental, Individual Differences, Relationship-Based (DIR) Model; Relationship Development Intervention (RDI); Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication – Handicapped Children (TEACCH), and others.

Regardless of which methodologies are used, programs need to have goals and targets and teach in such a way so that kids can generalize skills to apply what they have learned to a natural environment.  Teaching methods should also integrate academics and cognitive skills; emotional awareness and social skills; exercise, sports, and motor skills; along with spontaneous, imaginative, and creative play.  Skills should be taught in a meaningful way rather than a robotic, rote way.

Children need to develop a relationship with caregivers in order to learn.  The revolving door philosophy of bringing people in and out so that a child has had 100 caregivers by the time he is 10 does not work.  Stanley Greenspan says, “Emotion always come before behavior.  The child needs to enjoy relationships with parents, peers, and teachers in order to learn.”  Emotion is critical to brain development.  It’s more than “cute” when a child is engaged with a caregiver.  The child learns better.

I have been an advocate of Greenspan’s DIR method for the past few years.   The Interdisciplinary Council on Learning Disorders (www.icdl.com) says this about DIR.

DIR is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach that focuses on the emotional development of the child. It takes into account the child’s feelings, relationships with caregivers, developmental level and individual differences in a child’s ability to process and respond to sensory information.  It focuses on the child’s skills in all developmental areas, including social-emotional functioning, communication, thinking and learning, motor skills, body awareness, and attention.

The goal of treatment is to help the child master the healthy emotional milestones that were missed in his early development and that are critical to learning.  Building these foundations helps children overcome their symptoms more effectively than simply trying to change the symptoms alone.

Then it says this about Floortime:

Floortime, a vital element of the DIR/Floortime model, is a treatment method as well as a philosophy for interacting with children (and adults as well). Floortime involves meeting a child at his current developmental level, and building upon his particular set of strengths.  Floortime harnesses the power of a child’s motivation; following his lead, wooing him with warm but persistent attempts to engage his attention and tuning in to his interests and desires in interactions. Through Floortime, parents, child care providers, teachers and therapists help children climb the developmental ladder.  By entering into a child’s world, we can help him or her learn to relate in meaningful, spontaneous, flexible and warm ways.

Floortime is a component of DIR but not the same.  In Floortime, you follow the lead of the child.  In DIR, once kids move past the initial stages of the developmental ladder, you create programs that revolve around the child’s interests, in which he is emotionally engaged, with meaningful two-way interaction, customized toward his individual differences.  The kids don’t tell you what to do; you just do things that are meaningful to them.  Again, Floortime is only a subset of DIR.  In the lower developmental levels of DIR (Floortime), you follow the child’s lead (but even then that means you follow and join what the child is interested in – the child doesn’t tell you what to do), and in the higher levels there are more structured, therapist or parent-led programs.

Two and a half years ago, I wrote on my website at http://www.coachmike.net/autism-faq.php (see #4) a little about DIR and Floortime, as well as a summary of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).

I combine elements of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) as well as the Developmental, Individual-Difference, Relationship (DIR) based method. I believe a combination of ABA and DIR methods is optimal because ABA provides step-by-step instruction while DIR focuses on relationships, emotions and interests. Children need both structure and meaning when they learn.

ABA is used to teach academic, communication, problem solving, behavioral, social, play, and other skills by breaking tasks down into small steps and practicing drills. ABA also uses positive reinforcement and just as much prompting as is necessary. Inappropriate behaviors may be phased out by redirecting to target activities rather than drawing more attention to those behaviors. Antecedents, behaviors, and consequences are tracked to try to determine the reasons behind behaviors and implement appropriate interventions. However, some behaviors may be accommodations children need to manage their body or sensory difficulties. Therefore, I focus on building skills more so than reducing behaviors.

The DIR method focuses on the emotional development of the child. It takes into account the child’s feelings, relationships and individual differences. DIR involves following the child’s lead and enables the child to learn by doing what he or she likes to do in a fun and meaningful way. According to ICDL.org, “DIR focuses on the child’s skills in all developmental areas, including social-emotional functioning, communication, thinking and learning, motor skills, body awareness and attention.” The DIR method can also help a child generalize skills initially learned through drills.

Part of the DIR model includes Floortime, which is based on working with a child at his or her current developmental level, and building upon strengths and interests in a way that is meaningful to the child, rather than just focusing on surface behaviors and drills that don’t always generalize into life skills. Floortime can be especially effective during periods when a child needs more play and less work.

5.     Which is better – ABA or the DIR model?

In my opinion, this question is kind of like asking, “Which is better in football – running the ball or passing the ball?” or “Which is better in basketball – a zone defense or man to man?” They’re both necessary in different situations, and a balance of both may be most effective. For example, you can do repetitive drills broken down into small steps based on the child’s individual differences, interests and relationships, making sure to incorporate social skills and emotions.

In doing so, children can learn valuable skills such as sequencing the steps needed to complete a task. Children with autism benefit from structure, but they will be more engaged if the drill involves something in which they are emotionally invested. The DIR model is harder to quantify than ABA, but DIR is built on relationships, spontaneity and interaction. Children are not robots, and drills can’t be done in a vacuum.

For example, you can teach a child who is obsessed with a particular toy communication and problem solving skills in the following way: Hide the toy in one of your hands and get the child to reach for it and choose which hand it is in. Then you can do the same thing by holding the toy behind your back, or placing it near your face to establish eye contact. Subsequent steps may include getting the child to make sounds or use speech if possible to request the toy. The toy is used as a reward. This example is based on one in Engaging Autism by Dr. Stanley Greenspan.

For the rest of the FAQs on my website, see www.coachmike.net.

Lately, it seems that RDI has taken off as the method of choice.  I can’t really see how RDI is much different than DIR, except maybe that the order of the letters sounds a little bit more catchy.  If anything, RDI seems like an implementation of DIR.  However, this summary from Chicago Floortime Families points out some differences as well as many similarities.

According to about.com (I went there because the RDI website at http://www.rdiconnect.com/ doesn’t do a good job of describing RDI), children can develop the following through RDI:

  • Dramatic improvement in meaningful communication,
  • Desire and skills to share their experiences with others,
  • Genuine curiosity and enthusiasm for other people,
  • Ability to adapt easily and “go with the flow,”
  • Amazing increase in the initiation of joint attention,
  • Powerful improvement in perspective taking and theory of mind,
  • Dramatically increased desire to seek out and interact with peers.

This looks a lot like DIR to me.  In any case, whether it’s DIR, RDI, or you want to create a new acronym such as IRD or IDR, the goals of each system are the same.

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Use Play Dates to Foster Social Skills in Children with Autism

August 22, 2009

The biggest disappointment I’ve had in working with children with autism is the fact that many of their parents are so hypocritical when it comes to play dates.

Play dates are structured play sessions between two or more children.  They are done because kids with autism have a very hard time learning the social skills that come naturally to most children.  Play dates are very beneficial because children learn skills such as taking turns, sharing, communicating both verbally and through body language, and playing sports and board games.  They learn spontaneous play, which in turn improves the ability to learn.  They learn how to think on the fly and practice imaginative play, which helps with kids who only think concretely and not abstractly.  They develop a sense of humor, which does the same thing.  In fact, spontaneous and imaginative play can help kids generalize skills across different people and environments (the inability to generalize is a huge problem in autism.  Kids may be able to learn something at a certain desk with a certain instructor, but may not be able to do the same thing elsewhere with someone else).  Play dates (along with sports, exercise, and other motor skill practice) can help make kids improve their cognitive learning.

Anyway, the problem is that many parents only want to have their children play with kids who are “higher functioning” than their own kids.  Yet they refuse to allow kids who they believe are “lower functioning” to play with their kids for fear that their kids might not learn as much or might pick up bad habits.  In short, the parents are “stuck up” about their kids.

Parents:  you are not making a major commitment for the future by trying out a play date.  Try it, and if you don’t think it’s a good fit you don’t have to continue for a long period of time, but be open-minded.  Sometimes I think you’re more autistic than your children.  You only want to do the same things over and over and refuse to try anything new.   When I see this attitude, it makes me so ready to move onto the next career, whatever that will be.

I’ve heard parents say, “Johnny doesn’t want (or need) friends.  He has his brother.”  Be careful of saying, “Johnny like this but he doesn’t like that.”  So you’ve decided at this young age what he likes and doesn’t like for the rest of his life?  Why don’t you want him to have play dates?  Do you want him all for yourself?  Is it codependency?  Is it that there are so many other more important things, that you want to get those done first?  Is it because you are afraid of failure, and a child should only do something if it is 100% successful, otherwise it’s not worth trying?  Is it because you’re lazy?  Are you afraid the child might cry?  Is it because you just want to hand over big checks to therapists and then let them handle everything so you can be done with it?  Is your child better than other kids?  Whatever it is, it’s not right.

I’ve even known of a case in which a parent didn’t want his child to play with a particular child who was perceived to be lower functioning, even though his child clearly wanted to play with this child and was very distraught about it.  Try explaining that to the child.

The level of hypocrisy is amazing.  I’ve seen parents almost cry because typical children don’t want to play with their kids.  Then when their children take a leap forward, they themselves refuse to have their children play with kids who may be at a slightly lower level than them in certain areas.

Here’s an example of how a child who may have slightly higher skills in certain areas can still benefit from playing with children who may have slightly lower skills.  Child A sees that Child B gets upset easily.  Child A can learn to comfort Child B and say, “I hope you feel better.”  Then Child A can learn empathy.  Child A can also learn leadership skills.  And how about having fun?  You focus on things that both of them can do well, and maybe even more of the activities that the lower functioning child can do well.

I don’t mean to be too negative.  I even once met a parent who was neither a hypocrite about play dates, nor held her kids back from having them.  The reason I write this is that I have facilitated many play dates – over 100 – and the vast majority have worked out great, and the few parts of play dates that haven’t worked out great still help prepare kids for life’s ups and downs.

Be open to trying new things and breaking out of the structure the way things currently are.  Otherwise, you’re just going to get the same results you’ve always gotten.  Reading a social story is nice.  Participating in a social story is even better.

Note – I know the above may sound harsh.  Most of the parents I’ve met do a good job of setting up play dates for their kids, and most of them do want to see their kids have fun. I know of at least one parent for whom all I did for a year for her child was facilitate play dates, and on top of that, she had an additional playgroup.  Very impressive.

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Summary: “Raising the Emotionally Intelligent Child” by John Gottman

August 22, 2009

I think it’s critical to teach kids about emotions early and often, especially kids with autism, who usually have a hard time identifying, understanding, expressing, and handling their emotions.  So here I summarize notes from John Gottman’s book, “Raising the Emotionally Intelligent Child.”

  • Parents need to make the best use of the golden moments they have with their children, taking a purposeful and active role.
  • How parents interact with their kids when emotions run hot is key.
  • It’s good for kids to be able to regulate their emotional states.
  • Parents should offer their children empathy and help them to cope with negative feelings.
  • Good parenting is based on empathy and understanding.
  • Even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and ability determines your success and happiness.  For kids, it means controlling impulses, delaying gratification, motivating themselves, reading other people’s social cues, and coping with ups and downs.
  • You can say, “I think I know how you feel.”
    • Become aware of the child’s emotion
    • Recognize the emotion as an opportunity for intimacy and teaching
    • Listen empathetically, validating the child’s feelings
    • Help the child find words to label the emotion he is having
  • Don’t be harsh, critical, or dismissing of your child’s emotions.
  • See things from the child’s perspective.
  • The emotion coach can tolerate spending time with a sad, angry, or fearful child.
  • Confront your child’s sadness head on.  How do you feel?  Are you kind of sad?
  • Dismissing parents think children shouldn’t be sad.  They focus on the behavior rather than the emotion.
  • Sad children don’t always understand how to comfort and calm themselves.
  • Talk to children about their feelings.
  • Listen to their frustration and tell them it’s natural to feel letdown.  Validate them.

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Eye Contact: Overrated and Misunderstood?

August 6, 2009

There is a huge misconception that if a person doesn’t look someone else in the eyes, it means that that person is not being honest or trustworthy.   There is nothing inherent about looking someone in the eye that indicates honesty.  Different cultures have different norms and social morays.

People from countries such as China and Peru do not normally look people in the eyes as part of their culture.  So for people to assume that when people don’t look them in the eyes, they are telling lies, that is obviously not always the case.

Another case in which this old belief doesn’t hold true is for people with autism.  For a variety of reasons – looking someone in the eyes can be too much stimuli or too overwhelming, listening and looking at the same time may be too hard because of sensory overload, or social skills such as understanding what people do in a particular culture may not come naturally – people with autism often have a hard time looking others in the eyes.  Here’s one explanation of how some people with autism comprehend spoken language: http://www.aspieweb.net/video-why-autistic-people-dont-look-into-eyes.

If you want to find out if someone is telling the truth or not, go to www.lyintamer.com.  Janine Driver is one of the authorities on the subject.  Rather than use eye contact or whether someone touches his or her face as an indicator of truth, establish a norm for the person’s style of speaking and body language,and then see if the person talks or acts differently than they usually do.  That can be a better tipoff on honesty than whether a person is looking you in the eye or not.

In fact, the idea that there is a correlation between eye contact and “truthiness,” as Stephen Colbert would say, has been around so long that those who wish to beat the system have used that as a way to say, “See, I’m telling you the truth.”  One time an ex-boss of mine looked me in the eyes nonstop without any breaks.  Instead of thinking he was telling me the truth because of the nonstop eye contact, I perceived it as him intending for me to perceive that he was telling the truth.  If anything, it is awkward to constantly look someone in the eye without any breaks.

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Sports for Children with Autism

July 23, 2009

There was a good article in the Washington Post yesterday about a boy with autism who swims on a local swim team.  Kids with autism can benefit a lot from playing sports, as can their neurotypical peers from having them on the teams.  Swimming is one of the better sports for kids with autism because it is both individual, without a lot of complex requirements, yet still social in that kids are still part of a team.

Participating in sports can help kids with autism and other disabilities in many ways.  Sports give kids with disabilities confidence, improve socialization, get more oxygen to the brain, improve coordination, help them stay in shape, help them sleep better, improve cognitive function by improving proprioception (the body’s sense of where it is in space), and reduce inappropriate behaviors.  Improvements in fine and gross motor skills often go hand in hand with improvements in academic and cognitive function.  Certain exercises can relax kids and even help align both hemispheres of the brain.  And of course, sports are also a lot of fun.

Kids with autism often like swimming, trampoline, and swinging.  This gives us clues on what kind of sensory input they need.  What is the best sport for children with autism?  I tried to answer the question a couple of years ago at http://www.coachmike.net/autism-faq.php#12.  I think the real answer is, “Whatever they like best.”  In order to find out whatever they like best, we need to get rid of our preconceived notions and expose them to as many athletic opportunities as possible.  I learned this after coaching a child in soccer a few years ago who ultimately ended up playing hockey.  I never would have thought hockey would be a great sport for kids with autism because of the need to skate and handle a stick simultaneously, but it turns out that it can be great, and it just goes to show that we shouldn’t put limitations on anyone.

Sports can be more effective for kids with disabilities when they are mixed in with academics and social skills.  You can do a half hour of sports followed by a half hour of schoolwork, followed by a half hour of social skills.  Each area helps the child generalize and build on the previous one. Sometimes people make the mistake, though well intentioned, of segregating each activity to the point where each one is facilitated by different specialists who, worst-case scenario, don’t coordinate and communicate with each other.  In any case, each activity should transition and relate to the others, and ideally, you can do some academic work while moving at the same time.  One example is to play catch or jump on a trampoline while answering questions.  This helps with sensory integration.  Yoga is also great for balance and relaxation, and deep breathing and meditation exercises can help improve the attention spans of children and reduce unwanted behaviors at the same time.

For a high functioning child, you can have him or her play in a league with typical peers, preferably a couple of years younger than the child who has autism.  The child has a “shadow” who helps integrate him or her with the other children athletically and socially.  I’ve facilitated in this way, and also coached Special Olympics soccer, and both can be great depending on the situation.  See www.soccerideas.net for ideas on drills.  It’s the same concept as in school – sometimes it’s best for kids to be mainstreamed into the typical school environment, and other times it’s best for them to be in a self-contained (special education) classroom, and often the best of both worlds is a combination of both, depending on the situation.

Exercises are great, but it’s best to do ones that are meaningful in the context of sports, so that children can eventually be part of a team, or at least play in impromptu games after school, or even use imagination to make up their own games.  It’s how kids learn best – not just sitting at a desk doing work, but getting along with others, being spontaneous, thinking on the fly.

A lot of people are familiar with the amazing story of Jason McElwain, an autistic teenager who scored 6 three-point baskets for his high school team a few years ago.  This type of success doesn’t happen a lot, but it would never happen if too many limitations are put on children who have autism and other disabilities who want to play sports.

I’d like to add one other thing.  While parents shouldn’t push their kids too hard into sports, they should expose them to sports and in some cases kids may need a nudge.  You wouldn’t tell your child who says, “I don’t want to do math” that it’s ok to avoid homework just because he or she doesn’t want to do it.  Math is necessary and good for kids.  Sports may be good for them as well, so don’t be so quick to say, “He doesn’t want to do it.”  In any case, it’s better to try something new that to do the same things over and over.  Sometimes I think parents are more autistic than the kids themselves – not willing to try anything new, just doing the same old x number of hours of therapy sitting at a desk in a vacuum.  And playing sports is certainly better than sitting inside and watching TV.

Ok, that reminds me, I have one other thing to add.  Today, a lot of kids play video games, and one video game that can be beneficial is the Nintendo Wii, which has simulated sports that can create an interest in real sports (tennis, bowling, baseball), as well as fitness (yoga, exercises, and running).

For people in the Bethesda/Montgomery County, MD/Washington, DC areas, there are several sports-related opportunities for children with autism.

  • Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN, www.keenusa.org) is a free, volunteer-run sports program for kids with disabilities.  There is a waiting list that was up to a year long the last time I checked, but they don’t turn anyone away unless they are over 21.  KEEN has a general sports program, a swim program, a music program, and a Teen Club for higher functioning children to do outings.  KEEN has chapters in Bethesda, Washington, DC, and several more across the country, and even a few in England, where KEEN began.
  • Sports Plus, based in Germantown, MD, has sports leagues for kids with high functioning autism (www.playsportsplus.org).
  • Fitness for Health in Rockville has some excellent equipment and specializes in one on one training sessions.  See http://www.fitnessforhealth.org/.
  • Special Olympics provides sports for not only children but also adults with disabilities: http://www.somdmontgomery.org/.  The Special Olympics national website is http://www.specialolympics.org/.
  • There are a few youth hockey programs in the area such as the Montgomery Cheetahs (www.montgomerycheetahs.org).

Elsewhere, check with your local schools and governments, or search the web to see what is out there.

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The Daily Show: Samantha, Bee Nice

July 15, 2009

I love the Daily Show but a couple of weeks ago Samantha Bee was making a joke about the House of Representatives, saying, “They eat paste and wear a helmet.  It’s the one that likes bright colors and hates loud noises.  I’m saying that they’re dumb.”

I don’t get offended too easily, but this is inappropriate and I would think very insulting to people with disabilities.  Here are a couple of examples:  Some people may need to wear helmets because they are prone to seizures.  And certain children and adults with autism may have very sensitive hearing so they hear things much more loudly than most people do, so it’s not their fault if they are startled by loud noises.

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Coachmike.net and Autism

May 22, 2009

This table shows what types of therapies I do for children with autism compared with some other providers.  I currently have spots available for toddlers and kindergarteners for playdates and other activities during the day.  See www.coachmike.net for more information.

  Area of Instruction or Therapeutic Intervention
  Cognitive Skills and Academics using ABA, VBA, or other techniques Playdate Facilitation Understanding and Handling Emotions Sports, Exercise, Motor Skills, Coordination Trips in the Community
Coach Mike Yes – Great Results Yes Yes Yes Yes
Most Autism Therapy Programs Yes – Good results No No No No

ABA = Applied Behavior Analysis.  VBA = Verbal Behavior Analysis

Mike Frandsen

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Verbal Behavior/Oral Motor Exercises for Children with Autism

May 22, 2009

An important part of any verbal behavior program for children with autism is a commitment to practicing oral-motor exercises. There are many neurological processes that restrict the ability to speak for some children with autism, however, exercising and strengthening muscles around the tongue, lips, and mouth can improve verbal skills to some extent. Here are some exercises that can be helpful. You can use a mirror and do the exercises with your child or student. This can also improve imitation skills, another important area that many children with autism need work on.

Tongue Exercises

  • Lift tongue up to upper lip, then lower lip
  • Lift tongue up behind front teeth to say “la”
  • Open mouth and lick lips with your tongue in a wide circle
  • Click tongue on roof of mouth
  • Whole Tongue Cluck – like a horse’s gallop
  • Stick out tongue as far as you can
  • Stick out tongue and blow out air
  • Push the inside of your cheek out with tongue on the right side, then the left side
  • Mouth circles – put tongue around all teeth
  • De, le, ne, te sounds

Lip Exercises 

  • Pucker lips, make “Cork popping” sound
  • Put finger between lips – make babble sound
  • Lick lips
  • Make an exaggerated sad face 

Other Exercises 

  • Big smile
  • Nose scrunch
  • Open and close your mouth, as wide as you can
  • Show your teeth
  • Puff out cheeks and hold air in, then slowly blow the air out
  • Say “””OOOOOOOOO””” then “””EEEEEEEEEE”””
  • K-k-k-k-k-k-k

Fun activities 

  • Blowing bubbles
  • Blowing pinwheel
  • Blowing dandelions
  • Playing harmonica

Sample words to practice 

  • Yes
  • No
  • Mom
  • Dad
  • Help
  • Play
  • Ball
  • Hungry
  • Juice
  • Bathroom
  • Hi
  • Bye
  • Please
  • Happy
  • Sad
  • Upset
  • Sick

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Books on Emotions for Children with Autism

April 25, 2009

Children with autism are often very poor at identifying, understanding, and regulating emotions.  They are usually especially deficient in empathizing, or understanding that other people have emotions.  It’s an area that doesn’t get enough attention.  I’ve been meaning to post some of these on my website, www.coachmike.net, but for now I’ll list them here in this blog along with my ratings.  I’ve listed the levels as beginner, intermediate, and advanced just for simplicity.  For kids who can’t read you can still read the books to them and break them down into simple terms.  These books are great for neurotypical kids as well, of course. 

These books on emotions are different than ones on social stories or social skills.  There are a lot of great books on learning to share, having good manners, and being safe and careful.  Those are all necessary and great but books on emotions take it a step further.  “When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry,” by Molly Bang is a great example that shows a girl getting mad and then getting over it.  Another great book is “Proud of Our Feelings” by Lindsay Leghorn, which shows each child with a different feeling and asks the reader, “When do you feel _____?” 

For teaching children about emotions, when in doubt, I advocate the philosophy of John Gottman in “Raising the Emotionally Intelligent Child.”  The main idea of the book is that it’s best to validate a child’s emotions by telling him or her, “It’s ok to be upset.  I know you’re upset.  Everybody gets upset sometimes,” then offer a strategy, rather than to just say, “Don’t be upset.”  

Title

Author

Description

Level

How are You Peeling?

Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers

Fruits and vegetables are made to look like facial
expressions

Beginner

The Feelings Book

Todd Parr

Colorful, simple concepts on emotions.

Beginner

When Sophie Gets Angry, Really Really Angry

Molly Bang

Sophie gets angry, then cools down.

Beginner

If You’re Angry and You Know It

Cecily Kaiser

Strategies for what do do when you get angry

Intermediate

On Monday When It Rained

Cherryl Kachenmeister

A boy experiences emotions, the reader guesses which ones.

Intermediate

When Lizzie was Afraid of Trying New Things

Inger Maier

Lizzie is afraid, tries things, then gains confidence

Intermediate

Proud of Our Feelings

Lindsay Leghorn

Each child has a different feeling

Intermediate

Having a Conversation/Feeling Happy, etc.

sandboxlearning.

com

Customized books for kids with autism

Intermediate

When I’m Feeling Scared

Trace Moroney

A rabbit feels scared in different situations

Intermediate

When I’m Feeling Sad

Trace Moroney

A rabbit feels sad in different situations

Intermediate

I’m So Mad!

Robie H. Harris

Girl goes shopping with Mommy, is mad, then happy.

Intermediate

Sometimes Bad Things Happen

Ellen Jackson

Bad things happen, you can do things to feel better

Intermediate

Timothy Tugbottom Says No!

Anne Tyler

He says no, then tries things and likes them

Intermediate

The Boy Who Didn’t Want to Be Sad

Rob Goldblatt

A boy realizes the same things that make him sad also make
him happy.

Intermediate

When I Feel Angry

Cornelia Maude Spelman

Rabbit feels angry and uses strategies to cope

Intermediate

When I Feel Scared

Cornelia Maude Spelman

Bear feels scared and uses strategies

Intermediate

When My Worries Get too Big

Kari Dunn Buron

Strategies for anxiety

Intermediate

What to Do When You Worry Too Much

Dawn Huebner

In-depth explanation of worrying and what to do about it

Advanced

Andy and His Yellow Frisbee

Mary Thompson

A girl has a brother with autism

Advanced

The Bear Who Lost His Sleep

Jessica Lamb-Shapiro

Story about worrying too much

Advanced

The Penguin Who Lost Her Cool

Marla Sobel

Story about controlling anger

Advanced

Stop Picking on Me

Pat Thomas

Explanation of bullying

Advanced

I’m Scared

Elizabeth Crary

Several situations about being afraid and what to do

Advanced

I’m Frustrated

Elizabeth Crary

Several situations about being frustrated and what to do

Advanced

 


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