The Red Beast: Controlling Anger in Children with Asperger's Syndrome

by Kay al-Ghani, Kay al-Ghani

Deep inside everyone, a red beast lies sleeping. When it is asleep, the red beast is quite small, but when it wakes up, it begins to grow and grow. This is the story of a red beast that was awakened. Rufus is in the school playground when his friend John kicks a ball that hit him in the stomach, and wakes up the sleeping red beast: `I hate you - I'm gonna get you!'. The red beast doesn't hear the teacher asking if he's okay. It doesn't see that John is sorry - how can Rufus tame the red beast? This vibrant fully illustrated children's storybook is written for children aged 5-9, and is an accessible, fun way to talk about anger, with useful tips about how to 'tame the red beast' and guidance for parents on how anger affects children with Asperger's Syndrome.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Nonfiction, Mental Health, Aspergers

48 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2008

Reviews

[Neko · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is meant to be aimed at children who are on the ASD but seriously you could read this book to any child no matter if they had ASD or not! While this story isn't anything very new and it didn't really teach me anything as such..Most of it was common sense or things I already do but I could see it benefiting people who might feel lost when dealing with a child's anger. There are other books out there that I've read that have just been stories dealing with anger and in some ways I've thought they were more fun to look at and read than this one.

I actually read 3 of these books back to back...And my one gripe with all of them is everything seem a little too 'rosey' and things just automatically worked when in reality that can be the furthest thing from the truth ESPECIALLY with children on the ASD.

It's always interesting reading books by people who are in the field but then I also wonder if they're still practising what they preach in their books because sometimes things that are said/suggested are so unrealistic when it comes to the classroom.

[Mary Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this book’s primary aim is to help children with ASD cope with, and process, anger, this can be read to any child or class to help them acknowledge and deal with a perfectly natural emotion: an emotion which, as the book emphasises, we all experience because ‘deep inside all of us the red beast lies’. Therefore, despite its potentially hurtful impact on others, there is no shame around the beast’s existence, perfectly harmless when tamed and sleeping. Furthermore, the book advises on how children should deal with their anger. While specific techniques may range from child to child, the beast is generally tamed by spending time alone and giving it time to calm down. Once Rufus has been able to do this, his positive behaviour is the focus of the class teacher and his peers as opposed to the temporarily negative behaviour as a result of the beast; he is praised and rewarded on his return to the classroom, and his friend John understands that the hurtful words he used in that moment were the beast taking over and not a judgement of his friend. This emphasises the key moral that we should deem the behaviour as negative rather than the child themselves, which can be felt because of focusing solely on the angry moment. When read in class, the year 5s were all able to identify with the red beast and offer contributions of their own techniques to calm down: being alone, screaming into pillows, or doing something they enjoy. It is really pleasing to see children develop their emotional intelligence and resilience in primary schools.

[Eve Costarelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Red Beast: Controlling Anger in Children with Asperger's Syndrome by K.I. Al-Ghani; Illustrations by Haitham Al-Ghani

Through clear text and captivating illustrations, this book shows you what it is like to blow your top and then how to notice the anger and how to shrink it. The text melds beautifully with the illustrations and you get pulled right into the full expression of rage. The illustrations are great! I love the colored pencil/crayon scratch effect and the red that is chosen is a deep, satisfying hue, which give a perfect visual representation of anger. A take away from this book is definitely the overall feeling of compassion and acceptance.

I highly recommend this book. We all get angry sometime and this is a book is a great one to have in your toolkit for anger management strategist. At the back of the book, there are listed even more useful strategies.

[Mikaela Hagstrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book! I bought this for my son shortly after we had been told he was on the spectrum. He loved the book and said the boy in the book was just like him and that his Red Beast is exactly like the one in the book! This book is also the book that his teacher used to explain to the rest of the class about my son's AS and why he can react the way he does. The whole class then had a discussion about "their" Red Beasts! I highly recommend this book, it certainly helped my son to understand this angry feeling he gets sometimes and helped him get it under control and it also helped his friends understand how they can help in getting the "beast" to fall back asleep again!

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read this book with my 9 year old son who has trouble controlling his anger due to adhd and asperger's. The book helped him to see anger isn't him and it can be put away so to speak. He enjoyed the book very much and asked if we could read it together everyday, so we will be reading it everyday and hopefully it will help him control his red beast. he also wanted to know if there were other books like that so we ordered 2 other books by the author

[Kim-Berly Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for supporting students with Aspergers. So many people can relate regardless of a particular diagnosis, and it gives children the opportunity to address an emotional, and help them to understand that mistakes are made, and big emotions can take over. We all have a red beast inside.

[Clare Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise introduction and light-hearted visualisation technique to support children with ASD

[Cat]

Bedtime reading

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought this was a strong way to frame anger-outbursts for children and present a positive mindset on dealing with anger.

[Gina Venugopal · Rating 5 out of 5]

An innovative way to talk about anger, specifically targeted at age 5 upwards and for children with Asperger's syndrome. The book explains about the red beast who is small is size when he is asleep, but when he is woken up he turns into a big beast, growing bigger and bigger.When the character in the book Rufus is kicked with a ball by his friend, it awakens his 'red beast.'The book questions how does Rufus keep the red beast away? His teacher asks him if he is ok, and his friend apologises, but these dont stop the beast. This book provides a fun and easily accessible way to understand the power of controlling emotions, as well as a parents guide to aid understanding of anger in children with Aspergers syndrome.

[The Twins · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic book not just for children with Aspergers. I have 6 year old twins and one has Aspergers and the other doesn't. Both could relate and identify themselves with the book and it was great to be able to externalize the "anger" and make it something tangible for children. We all have red beasts inside us and yes in some it is harder to wake up than in others - I'm donating this book to my sons school to make his classmates aware of what is going on in an Aspergers child in meltdown mode.
He is not a naughty child...

[Nurhidayah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story book for children with Asperger's Syndrome about how to control anger in them. For an instance: using stress ball, using eye mask, give them physical jobs like shredding paper, ripping up old material & popping the bubbles on bubble wrap, feed them, play soothing music, massage them, confront the AS child using minimal language (do not ask question or insist on an apology). The most important thing, parents to conduct ABC (antecedent, behaviour, consequence) to determine any flash points, so the anger in AS child it can be avoided.