Off We Go... series from Avril Webster and Woodbine House

Parent Avril Webster and Woodbine House have created a wonderful series for parents of young children and parents of children with developmental delays and special needs. If you are the parent or teacher of a child on the autism spectrum, you know first-hand the difficulty that the dentist, the grocery store, and the salon or barber shop can bring. New situations can create high anxiety, and allowing your child to watch you first is one way to give them an idea of what will happen during a dental exam or haircut, and picture books and Social Stories® are another. Avril Webster gives us three delightfully simple picture books with minimal, yet carefully chosen and powerful text, illustrated playfully by David Ryley, to help us help our children.

I love these books. I wish I'd had them when Li'l Bit was little. Each book previews for children important pieces of each event/task. Parents of children with special needs will know that the author lives our life, too, when you see what she has spotlighted, things I forgot to prepare my child for. One example is how the barber or hairdresser will cover and rub the child's head with a towel after a shampoo. It helps to preview for children certain events to avoid unpleasant surprises, and Webster clearly 'gets' this.

The series uses some patterns that are so important when working with children with developmental delays. You'll see some sameness in the way the stories happen. The characters are the same in all books, too. The author and illustrator give us a really nice "same but different" experience among the books.

Webster provides info on how to use the books at home, and I thought of another use. I cannot wait for my sister's family to come for a visit now that we are geographically closer to them. Her children are younger than mine; I want Li'l Bit to read these books to my sister's littles. She's ready to share these experiences with someone else, and these books are the perfect activity to do just that, adding another layer to the usefulness of this series.

Individually priced at $9.95, the books are 20% off when purchased as a bundle.

In addition to having the series at home, the Off We Go series would be great additions to special ed early intervention and contained classrooms, to pre-school classrooms or libraries, to OT/PT/speech clinic waiting rooms, in dentists' waiting rooms, in the waiting area at the salon or barber shop.

Click on the pictures to go to the link for each book:

Off We Go To The Grocery Store

Off We Go to the Dentist

Off We Go for a Haircut

The Off We Go web site is here.

Woodbine House sent me review copies of the Off We Go series. I received no financial compensation for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

I apologize to Woodbine House for the delay in posting the review. Our big 600 mile move threw me off schedule much more than I anticipated.