Help children understand the unique preferences that some children with autism experience with Stewie BOOM! and Princess Penelope.
I was really excited to talk about autism today. One because my cute nephew was just diagnosed this past year with autism. And I also work with many children who have autism. I love that every child with autism has unique preferences and I love seeing them overcome hard things in their life like a noisy assembly or a fire alarm that throws off their schedule.
This is my nephew a few weeks ago. Isn't he cute? He's five and my daughter has asked some questions about why he is a year younger than him and still doesn't talk or play with her.
The picture above is during that moment that we watched him and were saying, "oh look how cute he is!!" And the ONE phrase that you should NEVER say, "Oh, look how GOOD he is being with the horses!" The moment lasted about 2.21 seconds until he was INSIDE the horse pen. What you don't see in the picture is my sister and my girl and my boyfriends girl with a bag of carrots to the right of him trying to get the horses attention t feed them.
When he decided to hop into the horse pen it looked a little like this:
That boy hauled through the field. The girls were trying to volunteer to go in after him. My boyfriend ran in after him while I took and led the girls and horses by carrot to another part of the field. I think my sister stood there in shock. It was like an orchestrated, organized chaotic moment but my nephew was obliviously enjoying a romp through the horse field. But it was a reminder that my nephew has unique preferences and I see how my sister as a single mom is his advocate.
For my nephew, noise and chaos don't really to seem to bother him. But for others with autism (like the kids I work with) something a little more chaotic like an assembly can be an incredibly stressful situation.
If you are looking for a book to help young ones learn about the unique preferences that children with autism have, we really enjoyed Stewie Boom and Penelope Cruz: Handprints, Snowflakes and Playdates. The book talks about things like using quiet voices, listening with your eyes, and being flexible when Penelope has a playdate with Stewie Boom, a boy with autism. The book seemed to help my daughter understand her cousin more.
I also love using this book in my line of work to help students understand those with autism. It's a great resource to have around.
QUESTION: What resources do you use to help your children or those who associate with your children understand autism?
I was given a copy Stewie Booma and Penelope Cruz: Handprints, Snowflakes and Playdates to review. The review of the book is my honest opinion.
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