Press Reviews

• Midwest Book Review | show/hide snippet

  Developed by parents and experts in speech and music therapy especially for children on the autism spectrum, Kibbles Rockin' Clubhouse Volume 1: Expressing Yourself is a DVD for young people ages 2 to 7 about learning to properly handle and speak one's feelings. Handy Sam plays the song "Guess that Feeling"; the clubhouse crew sings about how to tell if someone is happy, sad or frustrated; and Miss Angela teaches ways to calm down when in a bad temper, such as counting to ten or doing something fun to improve one's mood. Parent teaching tools and karaoke songs round out this enjoyable, educational, and musical DVD. Highly recommended. 40 minutes, color.

• Mom to the Screaming Masses | show/hide snippet

  Highly, highly recommended.

  We've had trouble with eye contact. It's probably the hardest thing that my daughter struggles with, and I really appreciated that the appropriate method of using eye contact and addressing people was stressed. I've noticed a big difference in the odds of her actually doing these things, and I can lay that directly to this dvd and to the refrain of one of the songs, "When you see someone for the first time, smile at them and say, "Hi!" She sang along with the movie, she sang it in the van, she sang it in the bathtub and on the playground. When she struggles with this, I repeat the refrain, and it triggers her to respond correctly. In my book, I had to go no further to call this dvd successful and effective.

  I liked the fact that they use an activity schedule - a kind of chart on the wall. My daughter loves to know what's going on and thrives on a schedule, and it was gratifying to see that others find that important.

  The section on reading body cues and faces was a bit over her head. She really didn't understand what an angry face was - although she could correctly show me one, she had difficulty picking one out. She's four, so this might be a section more suited to an older child.

  Probably the most useful part for us was the section on controlling your temper and not acting out. Although the children in the movie were too calm - "I can't have the chocolate cookie? Ok, I don't mind having a fruit cup!" - that would never go over in my house. But it's a goal worth striving for. We repeated the song for that section as well - "I can use my mouth" - over and over.

  The interview with the speech pathologist gave me a good background as to the reason that the video was created in a certain way. Using visuals, such as an activity schedule, typical peer modeling, and repetition were all used to create a movie that is both pleasing, stimulating and calming to a child with an ASD. I really liked the reassurances that a typical ASD kid can't always reason and sometimes can have an adverse reaction; for example, fit throwing. I know those things in my head, but in my heart, sometimes it's difficult to remember.