Cognitive-behavioral therapy and children with high functioning autism

I have posted an extensive amount of free cognitive behavioral therapy materials on the website. The following post is to summarize them in one place and provide more convenient links to each of them.

Many are available in screen-based / teletherapy versions. Some are available in translations.

To be connected with each free resource, click on the IMAGE.

CBT videos for children

If you are just beginning to explain the basics of CBT, I really recommend you watch the first video in this series. It is short, very visual, and clear. The subsequent videos focus on specific categories of automatic negative thoughts, which I refer to as Poison Thoughts.

Here is a concise guide to using the CBT Videos which you should find helpful.

CBT Cards to use with the 8 CBT Videos

Download and cut these out. They are very handy to use while viewing the 8 CBT Videos. The download includes suggestions on different ways to use them.

Picture shows two of the 48 pre-written CBT Thought Bubbles.

CBT Thought Bubbles, printable and screen-based / teletherapy versions

These have many uses. You can print them and leave them lying around during sessions. You can put them on the wall. The screen-based version is very useful for groups or for teletherapy.

Picture shows two of the Seven Simple CBT Worksheets.

CBT Worksheets for children

I created these years ago because all the CBT worksheets I could find lacked visual elements and required children to write too small. The teletherapy versions of these are very useful, especially the Boom Cards version.

The CBT Worksheets are available in several translations.

Picture shows the Mint New Thoughts activity, a hands-on CBT activity for children.

Mint New Thoughts CBT Activity

This is a CBT extension activity. You explain to children how they can create new thoughts to replace flawed ones, just like they do when printing currency. The Boom Cards version of this is particularly good and very useful in teletherapy.

Picture shows two CBT Problem & Solution Cards

DIY CBT Problem & Solution Cards

In PowerPoint, using my prepared template, text boxes and drag-and-drop images, you quickly create these cards. It’s easy enough to do with the child present and it works well in teletherapy, too.

Filter the Upsetting Thoughts Activity

In this hands-on project, you print out dozens of pre-written paper strips showing a wide variety of thoughts that a person might have when they are feeling upset. The child sorts these into categories based on whether they are useful statements or unfiltered thoughts turned into words that may make things worse.

The teletherapy version works the same way, except you drag the statements around a PowerPoint screen to sort them.

Worry Cards

These problem-solving cards describe ten young people, each experiencing anxiety in a different way.

Rigidity Flexibility Cards

These problem exploration cards explore multiple manifestations of rigidity in a number of hypothetical children.

Emotion Thermometers

These large format emotion thermometers include blanks for children to customize them with words and drawings.

CBT Paper Fortune Tellers

These three paper fortune tellers explore anxiety and black and white thinking.

This illustrated tutorial explores how to take the individual child’s abilities, preferences and temperament into account when planning CBT interventions with children. This includes clickable links to resources, including the one shown in the picture above.

Joel Shaul, LCSW