Product Review: My Book Full of Feelings (Autism Asperger Publishing Co.)
How to Control and React to the Size of your Emotions
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) affect so many people, including lots of children, in the United States and My Book Full of Feelings is a great tool for kids including those with ASD. Before you stop reading because you may not, like me, have a child with ASD, please remember that the promotion and awareness of disorders like ASD support acceptance for parents, families, peers, educators and kids whose lives are directly affected. This spiral bound 60 page workbook is great for all children, not just ASD kids, who need to get a handle on their big emotions.
This workbook of six common feelings was created in collaboration by a licensed social worker who deals with children with special needs and a mother of a child with Asperger Syndrome. It discusses and visualizes three different types of each six feelings; little, Medium and BIG through color coding, cartoon facial expression and an emotional pyramid. For example, in the ‘Happy’ section of the book, it asks, ‘I feel Happy, what should I do?’ and then it demonstrates what you do if you are feeling a little happy (example: smile) or a BIG happy (example: Jump up and down). The book emphasizes that our reactions should align with these feelings. A dry-eraser marker will make this workbook useful over and over again. The How to Use This Book section offers tips and techniques for adults to review so that they can help kids identify their feelings and learn how to appropriately control them. The back of the book has a collaboration worksheet to go over feelings reviewed and for the day for reinforcement.
My friend, Amy G., was the person who told me about this book. She has a son with ASD and recommended this feelings product for my review blog. I am including her input of this workbook so that you can get the direct recommendation from a mom who has a lot of personal experience with ASD:
What makes this book great (especially for ASD)?
Emotions are easily the most complex, situational, non-concrete thing that any person must address. People with ASD often prefer information in very concrete and binary (true/false or on/off) because there is a specific answer that can be memorized. This book is a simple visual approach to take out some of the complexity and present emotions in a more finite and understandable way.
Most emotion books are written in story form and focus on one emotion at a time. It can be hard for children to pick out the right elements to truly grasp the learning objective. Some children, especially those with ASD, need to be told directly using pictures, limited words, in a very matter of fact way. Then, you can follow up with story books to situational and emotional context.
About AAPC: AAPC, which stands for Autism Asperger Publishing Co., specializes in books and multi-media regarding ASD. Their website offers products for educators, professionals, parents and individuals who work with someone or have ASD. The site offers a Book of the Week that is usually offered at a discount price.
About Co-Author, Amy V. Jaffee: Amy is a clinical social worker with 13 years of working as a special needs specialist in Connecticut and over 30 years of on the staff of a child guidance clinic. Amy used her experience when working with Carol Gray’s Social Stories tools with a young girl with behavioral issues and experiment with her own workbook of feelings.
About Co-Author, Luci Gardner: Luci is a graphic designer who is also a mom of a child with Asperger Syndrome. She was able to take Amy’s ideas to illustration to create an interactive tool for children in conjunction with parents and teachers. Amy heads Gardner Group Graphic Design, LLC, a graphic design firm that likes to do work for non-profit clients and has done special work on products for children.
http://www.aapcpublishing.net/
List Price: $29.95 (Currently $19.77 through Amazon.com)
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