Wings of EPOH Book Review

Wings of EPOH

I have been asked by a lot of people, “What is the best way to explain Autism to young children?” Explaining it in a way that a young child can understand can be difficult. I believe that instead of trying to explain what autism is, you should focus on explaining who this special child is and how he/she experiences life. The book “Wings of EPOH: A journey of hope and resiliency” by Gerda Weissmann Klein is a wonderful children’s book that explains how one boy with autism experiences life.

I really enjoyed this book. It was easy to read and easy for a young child to understand. It is about a young boy who is on the spectrum and his friendship with a butterfly. There is also a DVD that you can show to children. The DVD interpretation is short and sweet, but I thought that it missed some of the beautiful parts found in the book. I suggest having both and reading the book and then show the movie. I also enjoyed the little cartoon “I’m Here” that is on the DVD.

There is an Educator Activity Guide that can be used with children in a classroom or group setting to help them understand the child in the book and how to relate that knowledge to life. The Guide is for both “Wings of EPOH” and “I’m Here.” This collection is put out by SARRC(Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center) as a way to help promote developing friendships for children on the spectrum and is available at http://www.autismcenter.org/. I think getting this set and loaning it to a teacher when your young child goes into a new classroom setting is something that you may want to think about doing. I love this collection and am so happy to be able to introduce it to my readers and to share my thoughts about it. (Did you notice what EPOH means backwards?)