The winner of this giveaway is #12: LilyK!

You don't have to be a parent of a Special Needs child, a teacher, or a therapist to enter able2able giveaways but you do have to be a public follower to enter this one. This giveaway is open to the U.S and Canada. New to blog giveaways, and a little nervous? Check out able2able's Blog Giveaway FAQ's.

Note: Don't let a diagnosis turn into a label that holds you back from finding resources for your child! This book was intended for Autistic children, but would be a great gift for any child who has communication delays, poor social or safety awareness, is a visual learner, or has poor fine motor skills regardless of diagnosis (and also fun for Typically Developing preschoolers!)!


Who says Autism Awareness has to end on April 30th at 11:59 pm? Let's keep it going by starting off the month of May with something you might be unaware about when it comes to the rapidly growing area of Autism resources.

My previous book review and giveaway (You and Your Disabled Child, ends 5/12) was selected because it brings awareness to the subject of dual diagnosis. This book review and giveaway brings attention to a question that's probably not asked very often.  In a huge market of books written about children with Autism, where are the books written for children with Autism?

CUNY Media Relations consultant Miriam Smith learned that books for children with ASD aren't out there when she tried to buy one for her grandson, Griffin. So she teamed up with her daughters Afton Fraser and Margo Smithwick to create what Griffin needed. Point to Happy (Workman Publishing, 2011) is the first book written for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and it's a lot of fun!

Toni Giannone, Communication Disorders Specialist CCC/SLP and founder of The Speech Academy, consulted on the project. In the YouTube video below, the four women talk about how the likes, needs, and learning style of Autistic children were considered when they created Point to Happy.


Point to Happy can be an educational or therapy tool. Photographs of real children modeling the emotions and behaviors described are large and beautiful and intended to appeal to the interest in faces shared by many children with ASD. The text is simple and clear without using excessive descriptions or language that might confuse a concrete thinker. The book can be personalized with pictures and is designed to enhance meaningful communication and other skills that are commonly a struggle in ASD.

The pointing wand attached to the book is another of the book's unique and well planned features. The wand is 100% non-toxic and easy to grip with a soft, chunky pointing hand on the tip. It's a teaching tool that helps children connect with the text and images on the page while supporting focus.

Clara-Bear's Occupational Therapist felt the wand made the book work for OT as well as Speech Therapy. I felt that it gives the book potential for independent constructive play as well as creating a way to increase quality interactions with your Autistic child.  Because of the attached wand, the book is recommended for children over the age of two for safety reasons.

Toni's introduction includes tips on how to get the most out of the wand without overwhelming your child. Successfully pointing to something is huge when you think about how this simple skill combined with the right supports can be used to make requests, express thoughts and feelings, and demonstrate understanding. Pointing is one of many skills that might not come naturally to a child with ASD, no matter how bright. Point to Happy iprovides a safe and fun way to practice this important action.

As your child becomes more familiar with the pictures and pointing, Point to Happy makes a great stepping stone for social stories or discussion. Some important concepts included are social skills, daily routines, good and bad noises, safety, and emotions.

My favorite concept has to be safety. The text reads: "Kids stay close," and the child points to pictures of children standing near a parent while out, by the car while groceries are loaded, and staying in their yard. I cheered out loud when I read that page! I LOVE the way the pictures and text reinforce such a crucial concept.

Children with Autism can be too busy trying to regulate an improperly functioning nervous system to learn from their environment. This puts parents, teachers, and therapists into the role of having to teach the same things neuro-typical children naturally absorb.

Trying to break down natural learning and teach it piece by piece doesn't feel natural.  It's not how most of us learned many of the subtle points of interacting with the world around us. This can make it stressful and sometimes overwhelming for both the learner and someone trying to teach them. The authors of Point to Happy understand this stress, and wanted an all-in-one source for fun learning. I think they hit the nail on the head!

Their desire to write a children's book that would appeal directly to the way children with ASD think has led the authors of Point to Happy to create an entertaining book that will stimulate the minds of Autistic children while reducing the stress of learning or teaching complex socio-emotional concepts.  More simply put, it's a fun book for children with ASD and it's about time!

And I can't forget to mention Workman Publishing, the giveaway sponsor who kindly provided me with a complimentary copy of Point to Happy for this review. I was really impressed when I saw that they are the publisher of the Sandra Boynton books that I love as much as the children do, as well as many other creative and fun books for all ages.





Mandatory first entry: Become a public follower of able2able then "Like" Workman Publishing on Facebook.  Leave a comment thanking them for being so cool and stating that you have entered the Point to Happy giveaway on able2able.  IMPORTANT - if I don't have a way to contact the winner then a new winner will be selected!

The mandatory first entry must be completed before you can complete any of the following additional entries. You can choose to do one or all of these additional entries in any order. There are a total of 15 possible entries.

For 1 additional entry:

• Follow Workman Publishing on Twitter.
  
• Follow able2able on Twitter.
  
• Like able2able on Facebook and post a shout out comment on the wall.
  Current Facebook & Twitter followers may post an entry.
• Enter another able2able giveaway, then come back a leave a comment here telling me what giveaway you entered.
  

For an additional 2 entries (post a comment for each entry):

• Subscribe to the Workman Publishing blog. If you are a reader you will love this blog!
  
• Post a link to this giveaway on your Facebook status.
  
• Tweet the link to this giveaway.

For an additional 4 entries (post a comment for each entry):
Blog about this giveaway! Your blog post must include links to this giveaway and mention able2able. Include a link to your blog post in your comments.

It is very important that you post a comment for each entry. Why? Because a random number generator will be used to select the winner. Each comment will be numbered by Blogger, and I will use those numbers for the drawing. So if you combine entries into one post all your entries will not be counted. There will be no do-overs!

I will verify that the winning entry has met the requirements above, so if your comment for a FB status update is the winning comment then I might ask to see that link, etc. If I cannot verify your entry, then all your entries will be removed from the list and the drawing will be repeated.

This giveaway ends at 11:59 pm (CT) on Thursday, May 19th.

The winner's name will be posted on able2able and I will also contact you. The lucky winner will have 72 hours to reply.