The Cognitive Behavior Therapy program Exploring Feelings (originally developed by Asperger's expert Dr. Tony Attwood) was designed to be highly structured,
interesting and successful in encouraging your child to manage his or her emotions. The child or adolescent participating in the program will explore the specific feelings of being happy, relaxed, anxious, or angry. At the end of each session, a project
is explained to the child, which is to be completed before the next session. At the start of the next session, the project is discussed with Dr. Bowers.
There are two Exploring Feelings programs, one is designed to explore and manage anxiety, the other to explore and manage anger. An evaluation study of the Exploring Feelings program
for anxiety was published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry in 2005. The results indicate that this structured and manualized approach to Asperger's is
scientifically proven to address a child's feelings of anxiety and anger. This intervention is suited for children ages nine years through adolescence.
In general, children with Asperger's begin to feel nervous, sad, and angry due to their difficulties with social interactions. This program will not only address the child's emotional world, but will also offer assistance with social functioning. If you are more interested in a purely social intervention, then you are encouraged to learn more about our Everyday Social Skills group offerings.