Regulating Emotions using Picture Books!

I am fascinated in the value of introducing picture books for children with special needs to help regulate their emotions. After reading “Educating Children with Exceptionalities,” article 7 I learned a vast amount of content centered solely on this topic. It is important to note that though this approach is strongly encouraged for children with special needs, it can also be used for children not labeled with special needs. When emotions are not regulated extreme behaviors can develop. It was important for me to learn that emotional regulation is the most challenging aspect of development, and that many children do not understand emotions or easily develop emotional regulation. With this information presented, I understand how crucial it is to ensure that a child learns how to understand and properly express their emotions. This learning process is an area where we, as Special Education Teachers, play a huge role! When we introduce captivating picture books to a classroom of children we are giving them the tools they need to help mimic what they feel inside. As children discover their favorite characters in movies or storybooks, this is a wonderful way to incorporate books with learning! Children focus their attention and admiration towards these characters and are eager to follow their lead. In addition, if a student identifies with a specific character they can relate the characters feelings to their own. This influences the child to talk more openly about their feelings and discuss their feelings in a constructive way. Stories help children develop skills and learn important concepts in a natural, non-threatening way. The Annual Edition, article 7, also points out many other reasons and ways that stories and picture books are valuable to a child with special needs. Overall, I am profoundly impressed with how creative we can be with picture books while working with children, especially those who are labeled with special needs. Visual literacy is an exciting, inspiring, and original approach to use with children of all ages.