Customer Reviews

The Way to A: Empowering Children with Autism Spectrum and Other Neurological Disorders to Monitor and Replace Aggression and Tantrum Behavior

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I'm all about providing support and tools for children to understand themselves. Our kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other neurological issues often have difficulty not only perceiving the emotions in others, but in themselves. Flooded with feelings of anger or frustration it's difficult at that moment to make good choices in regards to behavior. As I have three children with Asperger Syndrome myself, I have often faced the issue of explaining to them that they can make positive choices when overwhelmed with feelings. (To quote my son, "Nuh uh!") It is not the time to reason with a child when he is in the middle of a meltdown, which is why it is so important to empower him with ideas and skills over a period of time, and to have a plan as to how to implement a plan BEFORE she or he is melting down. That is where this very simply written book comes in. Having this basic plan for making positive choices when upset, can prevent meltdowns.

The Way to A provides children with a concrete tool for understanding how they feel and behave during certain emotions, and then with an adult helping the child problem solve, they can decide on different options for what may calm or soothe themselves. This book is ingenious in that it is covered with wipeable pages you can use a dry eraser marker on to use over and over. Ideally each child would have his own book, but because it is reuseable, it can be used for every child in a pre-school, daycare, or elementary school.

Parents would be well served to work through this little colorful book with their child in order to not only provide their child with the tools to learn self-management, but to problem solve themselves and to gain a greater understanding of what sets their child off, and what calms him. While most parents of children such as ours already know these things (parents are the experts on their child), to see it written down makes it more concrete and reminds us that we DO have strategies. This is empowering for both child AND parent.

I think this is a lovely book, and also quite cute. I can't wrestle it away from my 6 year old at the moment, but it would also be helpful for my 11 year old, and the strategies themselves, are excellent for my 14 year old. The saying goes, "First, know thyself." This is a step in the right direction for creating a lifetime of self-management.

Kristi Sakai, mother of three children with Asperger Syndrome and Author of
Finding Our Way: Practical Solutions for Creating a Supportive Home and Community for the Asperger Syndrome Family

I purchased this book for my sister whose daughter is very high functioning austic. We were at our wits end in dealing with her tantrums and insistence on having things her way. She caught onto this method very quickly and it has helped us in managing her tantrums. While we don't always succeed, sometimes she comes right out and says "I AM NOT CHOOSING A!!", most of the time she really wants to "do the right thing" and does select A.

This is a great book you can use over and over again.
We carry the red and green cards everywhere! All that
has to be asked now is if (whatever the issue is) is an
"A" choice or a "B" choice. It's a great tool to have.

Product is easy to follow, straight to the point, allows for interaction with the child. Well received by my High Functioning Autistic son. Now we just say are you going to choose A or B and he chooses the appropriate answer most of the time. Our fits and screaming have decreased with the use of this book. Sometimes he just chooses B anyway. :-)

After trying just about everyother behavior program, this one was the most successful! Our county will be adopting it for behavior RTI. Trainings on it is helpful. We created individualized behavior charts for each student at home and at school as well. It is important to focus on no more than two or three behaviors at a time and to continually increase the time between the rewards or incentives the child selects in this book. Then, once the target behavior is achieved, randomly reward it while working at the beginning with another behavior.

I have used this as a school counselor with students age kindergarten all the way to fourth grade. They do not have to be on the spectrum to still have this book be successful. I like the simple language and spots for writing.

This is a well-thought-out piece of work. Very well done. It is so basic I wish I'd thought of it myself! I got it for a very good price but I wouldn't have paid full price. It's a good program for children on the Autism Spectrum who have behaviour problems. I recommend it.

This book has been great to use with elementary age students. I love how it maps out choosing either "A" or "B". The book provides great visuals and has space for kids to add their own information on what upsets them, how they respond to the situation, and what they miss out on when they do not make a good choice. I would recommend this book to anyone who works with elementary age students.