Product Description: Arnie and His School Tools: Simple Sensory Solutions to Build Success is an illustrated children's book about an exuberant little boy who had difficulty paying attention in class and doing his school work until he was equipped with the tools to accommodate his sensory needs. Written from Arnie's point of view, the book uses simple language to describe some of the sensory tools and strategies he uses at school and home to help him achieve a more optimal level of alertness and performance. Arnie and His School Tools creates an environment that is accepting of students with sensory modulation difficulties, including many on the autism spectrum. Occupational therapists, teachers and parents will find this book an engaging way to introduce elementary students to basic sensory tools used to help children focus in classroom settings, such as fidgets, chewy pencil toppers, and weighted vests. Additional resources are provided at the end of the book, including definitions of sensory processing and sensory modulation disorder, suggested discussion questions, and lists of related books and websites.
Powerful and normalizing This is exactly the book my family needed. Reading "Arnie and his School Tools" to my children made them feel "normal". Giving it to the teachers to read to the class was the perfect start to improved classroom behavior. The teachers suddenly "got it", and the students who saw behaviors in themselves wanted Arnie's tools, too. The children who didn't understand why the Arnies in class needed to move suddenly became more empathetic.
A very powerful experience. A book I intend to give to each of my children's teachers at the beginning of every school year.
Enthusiastically recommended picturebook, especially for public and elementary school libraries. Written and illustrated by school-based occupational therapist Jennifer Veenendall, Arnie and His School Tools: Simple Sensory Solutions That Build Success is a children's picturebook about Arnie, a young boy with sensory modulation difficulties - that is, he's a "mover". His body needs to move, and his hands need to be busy, which makes it hard to sit still in school and pay attention to his teachers! What is a naturally restless boy to do? Fortunately, his parents and teachers instruct him in simple helpful strategies, including fidgets, chewy pencil toppers, earplugs, headphones, ball cushions, weighted vests, and more, as well as the use of natural physical movement to help keep his body calm and enable his mind to focus. Arnie and His School Tools is no ordinary picturebook; it's also a useful teaching aid for occupational therapists, teachers, and parents helping elementary children understand helpful basic sensory tools. "Sometimes I jump on our mini-trampoline, and at other times I jump and crash into our couch pillows. All these things help calm my body and my mind so I can get my homework done." Suggested discussion questions, a list of resources for children and parents, and helpful websites round out this enthusiastically recommended picturebook, especially for public and elementary school libraries.
Lovely Hard Cover Book with Beautiful Lessons Inside Jennifer Veenendall has done an amazing job at creating a wonderful hard covered cleverly illustrated book. I would highly recommend this for teachers who have students with autism integrated into their classroom. The book would educate typical peers on autism and the tools kids with autism find useful. The wonderful illustration would catch the eye of any young reader while teaching them valuable lessons about their peers with autism. Also, parents can share this with their childdren who have autism or sensory processing disorders to provide them a character whom they will understand and enjoy.
This would be a terrific gift for any lower elementary school teacher.
Joanna Keating-Velasco, Author and Instructional Aide, A Is for Autism F Is for Friend: A Kid's Book for Making Friends with a Child Who Has Autism
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