Kid's Book Recommendations About Emotional Regulation?

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Fitzi
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12 Jul 2016, 9:25 am

Hi! I am wondering if any of you have a suggestion for engaging books a 9 year old (ASD) can read that might help with understanding emotional regulation? I have been poking around the internet, but most of the highly recommended books (like: Anh's Anger) seem to be written for younger kids. He may enjoy the younger kid books, but I was hoping to find something more targeted to older, elementary aged kids.

Thanks!



ASDMommyASDKid
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12 Jul 2016, 7:08 pm

I don't remember which ones we have, but there are emotional regulation guides themed for the movie, Inside Out. They helped us enormously. They make different books at different levels, so you can go to a bookstore or use the Amazon Look Inside and check to see if you think any of them work for you. They are not the same as the fictionalized novel versions of the movie, although those might be helpful too.

Our son would always get frustrated and more upset when school personnel would tell him his feelings were basically invalid. The thing I like about the movie and the companion books is that they do not dismiss or invalidate emotions. They treat emotions as warning systems versus things to repress and shut off. That is much easier for my son to deal with him. I use a lot of metaphors from the movie and he really seems to get it.



sagerchatter
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12 Jul 2016, 8:01 pm

I can vouch for Anh's Anger! My son is five and he liked it. I did an impromptu art project based on it. After a particularly humbling outburst of anger at my son (the apple does not fall far, for sure), I pulled out a bunch of different papers, of all sorts of colors and textures and we made pictures of our "anger" by ripping the paper into different shapes. Actually, he created the room my anger would live in, while I made my anger. After we were through, I told him (again - ugh :roll: :? ) that I hadn't expressed my anger in a constructive way, and I would keep working at it. Anyhow, I thought the book was wonderfully clever, different from books on this topic. The flow of the text is not perfect, but I can be picky about such things.

I had to edit this b/c as I went back and read your post (I have ADHD and can't break my skim-reading ways!!) and realized you were saying you thought the book was too young. That may be true! If you haven't already read it, you might want to check it out still. The artwork is amazing. That's what inspired me to do the ripped paper pieces, similar to the illustrations. At any rate, I hope you find something helpful!


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40-something adult woman childhood diag. ADHD, suspect Asperger’s/ASD in place of or in addition to ADHD


Fitzi
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12 Jul 2016, 9:10 pm

Thank you both!

ASDMommyASDKid, I did not know there were emotional regulation guides for that movie! Awesome! I took him to see that movie last summer, and I was so surprised/ impressed with the understanding about how different people can feel different ways about things he took away from it. I had referred to that movie for awhile afterward when I would talk to him about his emotions/ others perspective. I will look for those.

sagerchatter, I have not read Anh's Anger, so don't know if it's too young for him or not. It is just that my search has really only referenced books recommended for the 3-8 age range, and I did not want to get something "too young." However, I was wondering if I should get that one anyway (and a couple of others) because he does still relate to books geared for younger kids. The other books I found that were for older kids (like middle schoolers/ teenagers) would probably have too sophisticated themes, or assume social understanding that he does not have yet. I will probably go ahead and order Anh's Anger anyway.