Baby Doll Brain

Rose is in first grade, and she's struggling to stay regulated in the classroom. In this story, the audience learns that early childhood trauma before the age of one can have a detrimental effect on a child's brain development. Rose helps the reader learn some coping strategies she's mastered through her therapies. In the book, her therapies are referred to as her magic powers to make them more relatable to children. Rose's magic is based on play therapy. While playing and through imagination, Rose becomes an adult caring for a real baby. She reenacts safe-care-taking for an infant because her neglectful past lacked these elements. By recreating her past through imagination and play, she can build and rewire her brain's neurons in a healthy way to heal the previous trauma areas. This book is a powerful tool for other children who struggle with regulation in the classroom or at home, for peers who witness tantrums, and for teachers and other adults who manage them. This story also touches on foster care and adoption, although not explicitly stated. The reader sees through the pictures that Rose and her mom are of different races. There is a section of the author's notes that explains diagnoses in more detail to help adults understand what children with early childhood trauma are facing. Play therapy, PTSD, ADHD, ASD, and early childhood trauma are focused on in this text. Although the story is fictionalized with magic, the context is real and gives research-based facts to support each dilemma in which Rose finds herself.

Pages: 36, Hardcover, Allison Romens