@Books for young Neurotypical kids on autism?

[FastHands]

Does anyone have any good books for K-age that talk about and/or explain autism? Even in a general sense is fine. I learned that the "kid who makes bad choices" in ds's class does have autism. I suspected from ds's descriptions that there was something beyond a behavior issue, but the parents sent a note home yesterday telling us more about their kiddo. DS and I had talked about how making the "right" choices can be harder for some ppl for all kinds of reasons that we might not be able to see or understand, but I'd love to reinforce more specifically with some books "randomly" sprinkled in that happen to have kids with autism or other similar things. I know there must be good books out there that are accessible.

[joenali]

The Girl Who Thought in Pictures is about Temple Grandin who is an amazing scientist and speaker and also on the autism spectrum.

[scribellesam]

“We’re All Amazing” is I think the name of it, it’s a picture book about Elmo and Julia (the autistic Muppet on Sesame Street). I think it provides a nice simple explanation of (some types) of autism and might be a good jumping off point. It also gives some nice simple tips of how to befriend and interact with autistic kids, which I appreciated.

I haven’t read this one, but it looks like “A Friend Like Simon” is specifically about an autistic child in a mainstream classroom and the challenges they face. That might be perfect for what you’re looking to explain.

[katebeckett]

We got "My Brother Charlie" by Holly Robinson Peete and Ryan Elizabeth Peete from the library. My then-4 year old DD wanted to read it a lot. It's about a set of twins where one of the kids is autistic.

[nicanmatt]

Neat that the parents sent info home. Did you find that helpful? My daughter has Down syndrome and I wonder sometimes if I should do something similar. She’s in K this year and I’m not sure the kids understand why she is a little different.

[Patsy Baloney]

Seeing the suggestion for Elmo and Julia from Sesame Street jogged my memory - if you’re looking for a video to kind of bolster books, check out Sesame Street’s introduction of Julia. Julia’s puppeteer has a child with autism, so she incorporated some of her kiddo’s typical behaviors into Julia’s motions and words. I also think it’s neat how they introduced her because Elmo and Abby are Julia’s good friends, so Julia is comfortable with them, but Big Bird isn’t, and so it takes him a while to understand how best to relate to Julia and why she may seem shy, or have different behaviors, etc.

Quite honestly, it brought tears to my eyes to see her introduction. Sesame Street has an amazing way of addressing real life.

[jr009j]

Sept 21, 2019 9:54:46 GMT -5 nicanmatt said:

Neat that the parents sent info home. Did you find that helpful? My daughter has Down syndrome and I wonder sometimes if I should do something similar. She’s in K this year and I’m not sure the kids understand why she is a little different.

I was going to ask for similar books about Down Syndrome as my daughter keeps making similar comments about a child in class who has it. His parents never do drop off or pick up, so I can’t setup a play date or ask if they have a preference on how we talk about it with our child. I think that is helpful information to provide as a lot of parents don’t meet classmates and are relying just on what their kid says about a child.

[nicanmatt]

Sept 21, 2019 10:02:50 GMT -5 jr009j said:

Sept 21, 2019 9:54:46 GMT -5 nicanmatt said:

Neat that the parents sent info home. Did you find that helpful? My daughter has Down syndrome and I wonder sometimes if I should do something similar. She’s in K this year and I’m not sure the kids understand why she is a little different.

I was going to ask for similar books about Down Syndrome as my daughter keeps making similar comments about a child in class who has it. His parents never do drop off or pick up, so I can’t setup a play date or ask if they have a preference on how we talk about it with our child. I think that is helpful information to provide as a lot of parents don’t meet classmates and are relying just on what their kid says about a child.

How old is your child? I have some books I can recommend but there are ones from young child on up. Feel free to PM me if you want. 😊

[isabel]

Ditto the suggestion for watching the Sesame Street episodes with Julia.

[macmars45]

Be Quiet Mariana is a book about a girl with Downs Syndrome being friends with a girl with Cerebral Palsy. It's about two real girls who were preschoolers in the early 2000s.
I have CP and it really helped me explain things to my DS (now almost 3.5). How things are harder to do or having to find different ways to do things. But I still feel and do all the things he does and so will other kids he comes across who might have a disability. So treat them kindly.

[FastHands]

Sept 21, 2019 9:54:46 GMT -5 nicanmatt said:

Neat that the parents sent info home. Did you find that helpful? My daughter has Down syndrome and I wonder sometimes if I should do something similar. She’s in K this year and I’m not sure the kids understand why she is a little different.

I thought the note was a wonderful idea. It provided some helpful suggestions for steering kids toward empathetic reactions, which we try to to do anyway, but I liked hearing the actual phrases that this family has found helpful too.

Thank you all for the suggestions. I'll definitely be looking into some of these books and sesame street too! I wasn't familiar with that character.

[stephm0188]

A Boy Called Bat by Elena K Arnold. The main character is a boy on the spectrum, and the book does a great job explaining his feelings without making the story all about the fact that he has autism.

[kdubs923]

Benny Doesn't Like to be Hugged
www.adl.org/education/educator-resources/childrens-literature/benny-doesnt-like-to-be-hugged
And
All About My Brother
www.adl.org/education/educator-resources/childrens-literature/all-about-my-brother

[chickadee77]

Sept 21, 2019 9:54:46 GMT -5 nicanmatt said:

Neat that the parents sent info home. Did you find that helpful? My daughter has Down syndrome and I wonder sometimes if I should do something similar. She’s in K this year and I’m not sure the kids understand why she is a little different.

My daughter had a boy in her class last year (VPK; she's in K this year) with Down syndrome, and his mom and dad came in and talked to the kids about it; they also sent home a sheet of information. I thought it was very helpful, and they were really open about answering questions (from kids and parents). It was also a great way to get to know them - it turned into a group of us having pretty frequent playdates together, which his dad recently told me was really nice because some of the kids in our group ended up being at the same school for K, so he had a ready-made group of friends.