Minecraft Incredible 5 Point Scale

We have been using a self regulation tool for awhile now called the Incredible 5 Point Scale by author Kari Dunn Brown at www.5pointscale.com. The cool thing about the 5 point scale is that it is adaptable to any area of interest especially book or movies.  If you think about it, a story always has a variety of characters with different temperaments that can be used.

In an attempt motivate my child I created the Minecraft 5 Point Scale and it works like a charm. It's funny to hear us say I'm about to hit creeper level and I need some space. If you would like to download the scale or find out more information you can check out the post on my other blog at: http://www.jacobsfamblog.com/2014/03/self-regulation-minecraft-5-point-scale.html

 

Top 3 Aspergers / High Functioning Autisim Parent Resources

Being a parent of a child with Aspergers can be very challenging. It's hard to know where to turn for help with your child. Many professionals claim to know much about autistic children, however fail to better understand the idiosyncrasies of high functioning autistic or Aspergers children. In my search for help for my son I came across three essential resources for an Aspergers parent.

1. Dr. Ross Greene - The Explosive Child

So here we go, the top resource that has made such a huge difference in our lives is the book The Explosive Child by Dr. Ross Greene. This book is not only helpful to children with Aspergers but many other neuro diverse kids including children with Sensory Processing Disorder, Dyspraxia, ADHD, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder just to name a few. The title of the book is a bit of a misnomer because it also offers help for children who are inwardly hurting and misunderstood or behaviorally challenging. Dr. Greene says that children do well if they can. Many children have lagging skills and haven't caught up developmentally with children their age. This book teaches a form of parenting called collaborative problem solving.  It helps you better understand your child before jumping to conclusions. Then you collaborate together to come up with an acceptable solution to a problem.

This book is amazing and the methods that Dr. Greene teaches will make a huge difference in your families lives. I grew up in a strict authoritative family so when it came time to discipline my son that's all I knew and it failed miserably. I'm so glad I found this book because it helped me realize how horribly I was misunderstanding my son. So at first for me, the methods were a little hard to implement, but once you get the hang of it they will stick with you for a lifetime.  I also recommend checking out his website at www.livesinthebalance.org. On his website he has a plethora of resources including podcasts, videos and worksheets explaining his methods. The podcasts definitely helped me understand how to implement collaborative problem solving in various situations.

My most important bit of advise is truly learn to understand your child from their perspective. Misunderstandings run rampant in an Asperger's childs life. The people that will make a huge difference in your children's lives are people that take the time to get to know and honestly understand your child - they make all the difference in the world.

2. Michelle Garcia Winner - Social Thinking

Another good resource for Aspergers parents is Michelle Garcia Winner's "Social Thinking". Ms. Garcia Winner has a huge selection of books and research on Social Thinking and Self Regulation for a wide variety of ages. A majority of this information can be found on her website at www.socialthinking.com. Ms. Garcia Winner's books really hit home for us with her use of "Expected and Unexpected" social thinking and her fun use of comic book characters from "The Incredible Flexible You." Expected /Unexpected is such a great way to talk to kids about social situations and has helped our son learn acceptable coping mechanisms to navigate everyday social situations.

3. Autism Discussion Page - Facebook

Finally the last resource that has helped us tremendously is the Facebook group called the "Autism Discussion Page" at www.facebook.com/autismdiscussionpage. This page is such a great resource for understanding the key concepts of autism. It has helped me feel a sense of community and allows me to intelligently discuss Autism with teachers and other professionals that are involved in my sons life.

Extra Credit - The Incredible 5 Point Scale

Just a side note that I didn't want to leave out is The Incredible 5 Point Scale by Keri Dunn. This has been such a useful tool in our sons life. We use it on a daily basis to talk about our feelings and have even created a customized scale using Minecraft characters - If your interested check it out at one of my previous posts - The Minecraft Incredible5 Point Scale.

Note: This is not professional advice - I'm just a Mom trying to help her son make it in this world. I wanted to put this information out there in hopes that other parents will not have to struggle as much to help their children.