It's likely that many of you have seen Disney Pixar's Inside Out by now – or if you haven't, you've come across a minimum of 18 ads for the movie, at least. It's wildly successful and nearly unanimously positively reviewed.
The movie follows Riley and the five emotions that play a big role in her life: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust. Each emotion is animated and personified, making the abstract idea of ‘feelings' become real and engaging for all children, from the very youngest to the most concrete thinking'ist (aka – often our children with autism).
How Inside Out Relates to Autism
In the autism community, we've long known that making learning visual and concrete is one of the best ways to help our children learn. To see Disney do this with the concept of emotions, one of the most crucial, yet abstract concepts for our children to learn, is a huge win – and one that I hope keeps on happening.
Perhaps Disney knew Inside Out would be a win in the box office, but I wonder if they also knew just how meaningful it would be for the autism community.
Want to hear more about one family's experience with Inside Out? Check out the blog post below to see what the movie meant to Lisa Smith and her son, Tate, a thirteen-year-old with autism: