Tulare SELPA - Autism Resources

Developing Communication

Teaching Children with ASD about Emotions

Many children with autism spectrum disorder have difficulty identifying, understanding and regulating their emotions. These capacities are often challenging for children with social learning disabilities, social-emotional vulnerabilities, and children with regulatory challenges. Sometimes, when working with these children, a primary focus is placed on eliminating the behaviors that occur during a time when a child has become emotionally dysregulated, with little or no time spent helping the child learn to identify, understand and regulate their emotions. Furthermore, if a child has a limited understanding of his or her emotions and a limited capacity for joint attention; which is very common for children with ASD, it becomes very difficult for these children to determine or predict the emotional state of others.

Emily Rubin, MS, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist specializing in autism and related developmental disabilities who has provided some insight into the development of learning supports and accommodations for children and adolescents with social learning disabilities. Her work in this area was greatly influenced by her colleagues, Dr. Barry Prizant, Dr. Amy Wetherby, Amy Laurent, and Dr. Rydell as well as the work of Dr. Tony Attwood and Carol Gray. Apart from helping the Tulare County Office of Education develop an Emotion Ring that can be personalized and used as a first step in introducing emotional identification, understanding and regulation, she has also developed a more comprehensive system called the Feelings Book.

The Feelings Book was designed to provide an easy-to-use format for fostering the "Three "E's," otherwise referred to as:

Emotional identification
Emotional understanding
Emotional regulation

In contemporary literature on child development, a child's mastery of the "Three 'E's" is highlighted as being essential for his or her ability to actively participate and adapt to the demands of different social partners and different social settings. These capacities are often challenging for children with social learning disabilities, social-emotional vulnerabilities, and children with regulatory challenges. With the Feelings Book, children are provided with a simple visual tool for: (a) selecting and expressing one's emotional state, (b) considering the intensity of that emotion, and (c) comparing the emotional event to other events that evoked a similar reaction. Additionally, children are provided with an easy reference guide for (d) selecting appropriate coping strategies that coincide with their ever changing emotional states. In clinical therapy sessions, social skills groups, and natural contexts, these visual supports have been implemented with great success, as each tool can be individualized to the child's unique needs as well as a family's preferences in regards to coping strategies that match the expectations of their household and culture.

To learn more about the Emotion Ring and Feelings Book, please visit the following sites:

Emotion Ring	Examples, FREE Software & Graphics
Feelings Book	http://commxroads.com/

To learn more about the individuals who have provided some insight into the development of learning supports and accommodations, please visit the following sites:

Emily Rubin	http://commxroads.com/
Dr. Tony Atwood	http://www.tonyattwood.com.au/
Carol Gray	http://www.thegraycenter.org/

Website hosting courtesy of
Tulare County Office of Education
Jim Vidak, County Superintendent of Schools