CD Review: "My Healthy Smile" - Social Stories and Tips for Oral Health

If you are a parent, therapist, teacher - or dentist - who is interested in preparing a child with autism for tooth care or a visit to the dentist, this is a super product to have available. It covers a wide range of oral health issues, offers clean, clear visuals, and uses a positive style of social story telling. Be aware, though, that if your experience does NOT fit the pictures, there are no customization options.

Fraser Child and Family Center is a Minnesota non-profit serving special needs children, adults and families. "My Healthy Smile" is their first CD, and it's a very solid effort.

Included on the CD are a set of "home" and "at the dentist's office" slide show/social stories covering a wide range of oral health topics. Users can prepare children for everything from tooth brushing to getting braces. The disc includes various "levels" of social stories - but in fact the higher levels simply include more steps than the lower levels.

In addition to the slide show/social stories, the disc includes PDF tip sheets for parents and dental professionals (the latter is a great idea, and it's a wonderful way to connect in a positive way with your dentist!). Parents can also print out pictures and words to use when away from the computer.

The only serious down-side to this CD is that it doesn't appear to be customizable. That means that it's only really meaningful if your dentist's office and routine is similar to that in the slide show. Of course, you can create your own set of images - but that defeats the purpose of the pre-made package. Navigation is also a bit tough: At the end of each social story, users must return to the main menu and click back into the area of interest to choose a different level or related topic.