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Full Version: How do I teach my AS daughter to understand emotions?
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violet_yoshi Wrote:
I think a good way to help your daughter understand emotions, is through cartoons. I'd suggest Anime, because the characters are developed much more realistically, where American cartoons tend to just be a bunch of non-sensical slapstick.

I'd reccomend Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki, as well as My Neighbor Totoro by him. Although My Neighbor Totoro, deals with the idea of maybe losing a parent, so that might be too upsetting a concept for your daughter. I just remembered, after I shut down the computer. That parental loss is also a theme in Spirited Away, because the parents are turned into pigs from eating the spirit's food. So I don't know if that might be upsetting as well.

Pokemon is very good, it's based on the idea of training Pokemon, which are like pet animals with special abilities, for competition. So it teaches social interaction based on a common interest/hobby. Also, some of the psychic Pokemon, have Aspie traits to them.

Like Psyduck and Wobbuffet. They don't really get the rules, like staying in their Pokeball until called for example, but are still accepted. Even though Misty does tend to get frustrated with her Psyduck at times, but later she feels sorry about it.

Another anime, called Panyo Panyo DiGi Charat would also be good. It really is more along the lines of silly slapstick. These girls, who are from a planet called Digicare, where everyone is like human-cats. They have cat ears and tails, but are mostly human. They go on different adventures, with Gema who's like their guardian. Alot of funny slapstick stuff happens to Gema, as well that his voice itself is pretty funny. It's a really fun cartoon.

I hope this has been help, in helping your daughter to understand emotions. I really think that the Japanese have a more intelligent way of encountering emotions, than other cultures tend to. So it's really good for Aspies, who tend to figure things out more from a logical perspective, rather than an intuitive perspective.

Yes, I find it hard to understand other's emotions unless they are very clear cut and I see a logical reason for them to feel that way eg. they are sad if they have a bereavement or angry if somebody insulted them.

I don't "get" it when they say nothing is wrong when there is something because it's as if they expect me to be a mind reader and I take their comment at face value.

Regarding emotions, and reading/understanding facial expressions, I found a useful game on the cbeebies.co.uk website. It is on the gamesite for the "Something Special" show (a show for/about children with special needs). There's a little animated game, all sorts of different things happen to the character, and the child has to imagine how these events make the character feel, and click on the appropriate face...and are then "rewarded" with a further little animation displaying the emotion. My daughter is 6, she really enjoys this game, and I think it has helped her "read faces" etc.

She is also a very very slow eater, and very easily distracted from eating. I find the best way to move things along is to say "when you have finished your food you can....." and suggest a favourite activity, a game on the computer, painting, DVD etc. This helps to pick up the pace a little.
I am a 23 year old aspie, one thing my mom did a lot of with me was to describe her emotions as she was having them, i.e. say "I am mad!" when she spilled a pot of soup. She did this for years, I did finely get it, as an adult I can usally understand the emotion that goes with the word. Like they were saying above, books and TV can be very useful tools. Although if your 5 year old can understand that other people have emotions, she is already doing very well.

WELCOME!


Dotdot Wrote:
one thing my mom did a lot of with me was to describe her emotions as she was having them, i.e. say "I am mad!" when she spilled a pot of soup.



I was the same way with my kids! I kept up a running commentary about our lives. Smile

Dad used to say "I'm starting to get annoyed" whenever we did something he didn't like. It was helpful because having him annoyed was a situation we certainly didn't want because he might have got out his smacking ruler.
Here's my gut reaction, and I apologize if it bothers anyone. My gut says that your child understands emotions just fine, but she understands emotions her way. The more correct question would be, "How can I teach my AS daughter to understand emotions the way that I do?"

And so. If you went to school to learn a different language, but the instructor did not speak your language at all, how easy would it be to learn?  Same thing. The better you understand emotions the way she understands them, the easier it will be to translate and teach her emotions the way that you understand them. And you will both be enriched.
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