Feelings Finder
Emotions are complex. Helping kids understand them doesn’t have to be.
Beginning
In early 2015, I created the first version of this board to help my son, who is autistic, learn how to let me know how he was feeling.
Challenge
I could see him suffering when he was overwhelmed with sensory input and emotions- he would bang his head, scratch his face, throw items, run. When feeling big emotions or sensations he would become nonverbal, and after he calmed, he had a difficult time telling me how he felt.
Solution
Because I knew that emotions are felt as physiological sensations in the body and that he struggled with interoception (registering and interpreting signals from inside his body), I wanted to create something different. Static emotion images and labels didn't work for him, so I developed an interactive way to learn about emotions and identify where and how he was feeling them in his body.
Impact
Over the years, I’ve used a magnetic Feelings Finder board with kids of all ages and abilities.