Katie Flanagan

I’ve enjoyed and continue to enjoy working with children for many years as a class teacher , support worker SENDCo and tutor. During my time as a primary school, class based teacher I discovered how much children wanted to be able to fully articulate how they felt, and how much it helped them to be able to do so by using the right vocabulary. I would take the daily register by asking them to use a word to describe how they were feeling and we expanded their vocabulary this way and from me defining words in ways the children could easily understand. This is how my idea for these books started. I’m so grateful I took the journey to help create a resource that might help some children understand and find the words they need to share and make sense of how they are feeling. During my research it was reinforced to me just how important it is for children to develop a breadth of vocabulary to articulate their feelings. The more words we can use to describe how we are feeling actually reduces the impact on the brain. We can help children so much by supporting them to learn the vocabulary of emotions and helping them feel safe to explore and share with us. Books have such a beautiful way of facilitating this process.