Paint Sample keychains

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I was just wondering if anyone could tell me a bit about paint sample keychains and what they're used for in regards to the autism spectrum. I read about them in an autism/Asperger workbook for teens and young adults once, and I've also seen stuff about them on Pinterest for teachers working with students to identify emotions/energy/monitor behavior using different hues of color.

I was at a Home Depot yesterday and went over to the paint sample section and just picked out some colors I liked or thought corresponded to the moods I sometimes have:



I think my favorite one is probably the "Blue Note" color sample (the third from the bottom left) because it's the same color as a certain little blue coupe I love.... Anyway, I just picked out the colors I thought were nice and soothing, or descriptive of my moods, such as red for angry, purple for feelings of pride, brown for despair, feeling sick or just "yucky," light-light purple for "meh," pink for when I'm happy to be myself, etc.

So, what are paint sample keychains usually used for? Are they for showing and telling people around you how you feel when you can't really put it into words, or are they just a collection of colors that relax and soothe you to look at? For me, they're kind of the latter, at least for right now. I cut them all into little discs, punched holes into them, and hooked them to a keyring.

I like the cordovan and PINK and purple a lot

Probably used for commutation how ones feeling in a state of being non-verbal. Red usually equals anger or frustration I think. I like the purple one.

My book is titledKnowing Yourself, Knowing Others: A Workbook for Children with Asperger's Disorder, Nonverbal Learning Disorder, and Other Social Skill Problems by Barbara Cooper and Nancy Widdows. I got it for me and my daughter (who has some similar difficulties) a few weeks ago because it has a lot of pretty good stuff in it for conversations about how different things make us feel and about different levels of emotions and changing plans, etc.

I am not sure how my daughter will use them herself (haven't made them yet but I did get the paint chips already though probably need another set) but our book says to use them to help yourself identify your own emotions. The book says to carry them around in your pocket and to take them out when you feel something and use them to help identify your emotion at the moment and to take note of the way that emotion feels in your body and what your body is doing at the time. It also reminds that you can have more than one feeling at a time. There is also a note that says the parent should use one as well to relay to the child how the parent feels so that the kid can look at the parent's body and face to see how they look when they are feeling that feeling. It doesn't recommend any color-to-emotion matches, like red is for frustration or anything like that. It leaves you to decide what color means what feeling to you and to write it on the back. For myself, I plan to make a chart with each feeling and write down what caused that feeling and also there is an earlier page in the book with body outlines for coloring in where you feel emotions in your body. I am doing this because I need to get my negative emotions in check and cope with them instead of being so controlled by them. I want to try to be more aware of myself. And I need to be more considerate of my daughter and she needs a way to relay her feelings to me. I believe this will help us communicate better.

I know I will be playing with them. I can already imagine flipping through them like I do with book pages and the snapping sound they will make. My OCD acted up too over getting them. I ended up talking to an older lady at church about it and she said not to worry about what I was worried about.

Well, purple's my favorite color----I know, surprising, right (LOL)----so, I would have that color ("eggplant purple", specifically) for when I'm hap, hap, HAPPY!! !!