This article about a family using Disney animated movies to reach their son has been shared on facebook a few times and I had not had the chance to read it until yesterday…and boy, was I blown away with this story!

As many of us are well aware, lots of children on the spectrum LOVE Disney movies…and when I say love, I mean LOVE! They want to watch movies over and over, quote the whole movie for memory, and rewind and play special parts again and again. A parent and I were having a discussion recently about movie scripting, as she was concerned about her daughter constantly using scripts to communicate and also just repeating an entire script to herself out loud and quietly to herself. It is not uncommon for kids, young adults, and adults to use phrases and sentences from movies to communicate what they are thinking or feeling. I think movies in general can be a wonderful tool to use to continue getting children focused and engaged in learning and allow them to communicate things that they may not have otherwise found the words to communicate. I think as we learn more about the brain of someone with autism, we will see why this plays such a critical role. As long as we continue finding ways to bridge the gap between the animated Disney world and our world, I think we can teach a variety of skills this way. Recently, when I watched Frozen, I found myself “really” watching it…paying attention to Olaf the snowman and the phrases he used, some were silly and some really got to the bottom of the movie. Now, I plan to use the movie Frozen with a client to discuss social interactions. I see a new set of social classes in Jackson Autism Center’s future…