Thomas the Tank Engine (no scrapping)

THE BLACK BALLOON is out on DVD.

WATCH IT
WATCH IT
WATCH IT

with your partner. Then decide if you want to show your kids or just talk to them about it. There's a major fight scene between the brothers at the end, and because of this I told my nephew NOT to see it with his mates at the movies, watch it with his family first. He's 13.

Then come here and tell me what you thought of it and ASK ANY QUESTION YOU WANT.

Email me
gi68@optusnet.com.au

and I'll try to answer them as best I can.


Thomas the Tank Engine
The National Autistic Society in the UK recently published findings of study they conducted amongst children with ASD and Aspergers and why Thomas the Tank Engine held such a prominent role in their lives.

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=368&a=2683

I can't say I was that surprised. Many neuro-typical children LOVE Thomas anyway. But ASD kids never seem to outgrow their dependence on these characters. This, at least, was a scientific method of saying what every Mother knows.

I reckon they could do the same for the Thunderbirds, BooBah, Brum, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Bob the Builder and any other show where there is a lot of repetition, slow movement between scenes (so their little brains can process what's happening) and clear signposts for changes, simple dialogue, clear expressions, ability to copy the scene in their own imaginative play scenarios and very little violence (okay, with the exception of Thunderbirds!).

I watched Toasted TV with Mackinley the other morning and was horrified at the "children's" cartoons. There was loads of rapid fire movement between scenes, horribly misleading dialogue and body language (especially the female characters...so glad I don't have girls - sorry!) and was just generally unimpressed that these people were GIVEN money to produce programs for OUR children!

Not being snobby or high brow, just a Mum who understands how fragile a child's mind can be. I taught teenagers for a long time and BOY, does it show!! You just never know how it's going to affect them. Scary, eh?

Mackinley still watches James Bond (supervised), Star Wars (supervised) and Spiderman (supervised) and enjoys them. But we do a lot of debriefing with him and hopefully will continue to do so, especially with a brother like Rainer who is prone to violent outbursts.

THE TRIP
Nearly finished cooking and freezing main meals with Mum's help. Rainer's social story is SO good, I might publish it (haha) and his tip sheet is nearly done.
Just have to finish the boys' schedules for each day and do a laminated checklist for Mackinley's swim bag, send a letter off to his school for new contact numbers, get some currency, pack my bag, double check security/check-in procedures for LAX, sharpen my watercolour pencils BEFORE I leave and I'm done.
Rainer's coping well with Mum collecting him, but won't let her drop him off. It's typical Rainer behaviour. Mumma's-boy!!!
Mum is doing well too. She's great at this.

phew......
brighter and buoyant........