My Friend with Autism. A Coloring Book for Peers and Siblings

Customer Reviews

Must have.

2006-05-09
I purchased this book after reading the reviews. Our seven year old son is on the Autism Spectrum and his daycare friends had lots of questions about his behaviors and his limited language skills. I brought this book in for the teacher to read. The comment from the teacher was "They got it."

The Best book for Kids to Understand

2006-03-20
I bought this book for my sons K-1 class. The book explains what autism is on a level for young children to understand and the kids loved the coloring aspect of it. His teacher loved the adult explainations of each page. My 8 year old borrowed the book to read to his 2nd grade class so that they could understand his brother! I read this book to my Introdution to Early Childhood class and my teacher agreed, this book should be purchased. I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone whose child is going into a different learning environment.

My Friend with Autism

2005-11-07
I have been working with children on the spectrum as both a teacher and behavioral counselor for 7 years. I have also served on the Board of Directors for our local ASA Chapter group. This book does an incredible job of explaining ASD to ANYONE. I feel great frustration when people say "Oh you mean you work with kids like Rain Man right?" It is at times very difficult to explain the little things involved in ASD. Simply pull this book out and read it to an adult! It does a great job of breaking things down to express the most important details of Autism. Most importantly it sheds a positive light on the characteristics that are viewed so negatively by the public. PLEASE PLEASE BUY THIS BOOK!! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!!

Great book for peers

2005-09-17
Its a great book that can help other kids undertand why one of their peers acts as he does when affected by Autism.

A rare tool to use in the classroom

2005-07-09
This is one of those rare tools that can be used to show typical peers and young siblings the salient features of kids on the autism spectrum, hopefully generating some understanding, support, and friendship for our kids. The book is primarily a picture book, in black and white drawings that can be used as a coloring book. The text is very well written, with particularly good points about ASD kids: lack of understanding of social cues and emotions, hypersensitivity to sound and light, poor ability in talking, and the need and desire for friendship nonetheless.

I highly recommend this book for elementary grade teachers to read to and with the class. Starting from first grade, a teacher should read this book with the class slowly, pointing to each illustrated page and explaining things as he/she goes along. This can be repeated as the year goes on. I don't even think the ASD child needs to leave the classroom while this book is read. The teacher can just read it to the class without naming names, or with the parents' consent, present the book and child. Adults have so much power - they can make or break the classroom experience for our kids. The ramifications are tremendous. It's very important for parents to work closely with teachers so that the latter will create an environment of acceptance, support and friendship in the classroom.

The only drawback with this book, in my opinion, is that the ASD child is constantly featured with a smile on his face, and sometimes with good eye contact and body position. As you all know, it is a rare ASD child who smiles that often and who makes good eye contact.

Reading this book made me sad that there wasn't something like this when my son was in elementary school. We need more books like this for upper grade kids too, so that they will develop more of an understanding of their ASD peers. At the higher elementary and middle school levels, "Blue Bottle Mystery" (by Kathy Hoopman) is a good one to start off, and at the high school level, the fabulous book "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" (by Mark Haddon) is great. Of course, getting the teachers to assign these books is another matter.

Perfect!

2008-06-06
It was as if this book was written just about my son. It was the perfect book for his teachers to read to the class, and help them understand.

The book needs an update though. The statistics it provides for the incidence of autism is about a decade old!

We've been looking for something like this.

2008-01-28
Our son, who has autism, went off to kindergarden this year. This book is great for helping small children understand what is going on. I would recommend it to anyone that is putting their child in a new situation. It's great for the parents to read and understand too.

A Friendly Introduction to Autism for Young Children!

2007-10-22
What a fantastic introduction to autism this book provides. The coloring book format makes it a wonderful tool for kids to learn about autism while having fun. I like how the author created this as a tool to utilize with typical peers in the classroom or to send home with typical classmates to enable families to discuss at home. Providing autism awareness opportunities makes it so much easier for kids to interact and better understand each other. If we provide the information and the tools, the mysteries of autism can go away and open up opportunities for unique friendships. I highly recommend this book for young children...especially those who have children with autism on their campus. GREAT JOB! Check out the following book for upper elementary kids.A Is for Autism F Is for Friend: A Kid's Book for Making Friends with a Child Who Has Autism Author, Joanna Keating-Velasco

Helps young children understand their peers with autism.

2006-11-09
I gave this book to my sons first grade teacher. He is the only child with autism in his class. She read the book to the class and it really helped them understand what my son deals with throughout his day. They are so helpful. After hearing the story and watching the behavior therapists with my son, they have all become little future ABA therapists - very cute. Children at this age seem to want to understand autism and learn how they can help. This book explains what it feels like to have autism in a very child-friendly format.

Great book for kids!

2006-06-28
This is a fabulous book on autism acceptance. This is great for teachers or parents that want their kids to better understand someone that is "different" than the others. It is well written and really presents a creative way of introducing Autism and other spectrum disorders to kids.