Storytime Read-Alouds

CLASSROOM DISCUSSION TOPICS

Sharing this story with your class and want to discuss the way autistic traits are touched on in the story? Here are some possible topics.​

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Special Interests

Faun spends his days drawing holiday decorations. 

 

Lots of autistic people have something (or a few things) that they are really, really interested in. They might have a collection of a certain thing, or want to learn everything they can about a certain topic, or spend all their time doing an activity.

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Stimming

Daisy often smiles and wiggles her elbows to get out her feelings.

 

Most people stim. Tapping your foot, biting your nails or twirling your hair are some examples. An autistic person might stim more often or have stims that aren't what people are used to.

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Overwhelm and Anxiety

It is too overwhelming for Faun to go in the haunted house.

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Some autistic people can get overwhelmed by things - sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and their emotions. Autistic-specific anxiety comes from the effort of living in a non-autistic. world. While "face your fears" can work for most people, it can actually make it worse for autistic people.

 https://neurodivergentinsights.com/autistic-anxiety/

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Fun Doesn't Look the Same for Everyone

Faun went back to the haunted house every day to draw decorations. 

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The "typical" way for people to enjoy a haunted house is to go inside, but for autistic people, what is "fun" might be different. Faun never went inside the house, but he got to do the thing he loved the most (drawing holiday decorations), so the story had a very happy ending!

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