Empathy Dolls - Any Thoughts?

[DaisyMama]

Hello! This was going to be my first official post, but I ended up posting about the Supernanny episode first. So this is #2! I'm glad to find this place and I hope to learn and share a lot!

Has anyone heard of empathy dolls, or does anyone know of someone who has used them? What are your experiences and thoughts on these dolls?

http://www.ascoeducational.co.uk/empathydolls.html

I just saw them in a catalog and I am curious about them. I don't know if there's something unexplainable about them that draws kids in and makes kids bond with them ... or if they're just glorified Cabbage Patch Kids. What I mean is, is there something amazing about these dolls that makes them cost so much?

My daughter loves animals. She loves all her animal toys and all her stuffed animals, but she's not interested in her people toys or dolls. If this is a doll that would capture her and help her to show more interest in people, then I'm all for it. But they're too expensive for me to get without knowing anything more about them.

Any input is appreciated! Thank you!

[NORMLAustimMom]

Following the links provided I downloaded the adobe acrobat information and read it.

The premise of Empathy is what they define as an abstract emotion. A basic breakdown is "do unto others."
I can not tell if it emotion they are trying to teach or the socially correct way to interupt social data about individuals they encounter. Emotional seperation is a hallmark of all these disorders in Autism Spectrum a physical wall they are unable to scale within their own brains.
The dolls are not the issue, it is the teaching program you are buying into.
A very complex world of dolls, and how your child will input that data and react accordingly. I would worry my child was becoming the doll if I were to consider this course personally.

I would like to hear any agreement for this program if anyoone else has looked into it.

KMS

As much as I have learned it never exceeds my capacity for stupidity.

[ruby]

I'm really not sure how this would work for an autistic child. When-and I say [I]when[I] my son did play with normal, conventional toys, instead of plastic coathangers and strings, he did not play with them in the conventional manner. He focused on very specific parts of the toy, like the spinning wheels, or lining the objects up and taking them down, then doing it again for hours. He never rolled a truck across the floor or cuddled with a stuffed animal--you understand, I know. To get an autistic child to "interact" with these dolls seems far-fetched to me. He or she would more likely focus on the lines of the face, rather than the expressions these lines are trying to convey. And that is IF you could get him to look at the doll's face at all. I may be wrong, but I know it wouldn't have worked with my son. But, it might work for some. Every child is different, even if they are alike.:)