Interview Benjamin Kellogg – Social and Life Skills Series of Children’s Books
Are you the parents of young children? Do you work with kids in a day care or school? This post introduces you to the author of a delightful series of books for children aged 2 – 5 and grades P-1 that teach social and life skills like friendships, sharing, cleaning up, concepts of colors, time, and schedules. The Noah and Logan children’s series by Benjamin K.M. Kellogg now has two books, Noah and Logan Learn to Clean and Noah and Logan Learn to Share, with hopefully more books to come. These books can be enjoyed by not only children with autism but by all children because developing social and life skills early in life is so important.
In a guest post introducing his book, Benjamin K. M. Kellogg wrote,
“I wrote Noah and Logan Learn to Clean to help children with autism to learn the important life skill of cleaning up. This is a skill that I worked on mastering for many years myself, and I want to help other children learn it as well. In addition, colors are emphasized throughout the story to encourage color recognition; for example, the toys are described by name and color, such as “green top,” “orange and purple ball,” and “yellow truck.”
In Noah and Logan Learn to Clean, the skill of cleaning efficiently is demonstrated as Noah and Logan clean their playroom before naptime. They pick their toys up off their playroom floor and put them in their proper places. The concepts of colors, time, and schedules are also emphasized: certain toys and storage areas are named by color, a wall-mounted clock moves steadily forward throughout the story as the boys clean the room, and a schedule next to the clock outlines the day’s activities.
The team behind this lovely series of e-books is the author Benjamin K.M. Kellogg and the illustrator Theresa L. Kellogg. They are a mother and son team who complement each other’s skills. The folks at Special Needs Book Review thank Benjamin and Theresa Kellogg for their guest post introducing their books and now for this interview.
Lorna: You were diagnosed with autism when you were a small child and in another interview on patienttalk.org/ you explained you struggled with developing social and life skills. Tell us a few things you remember being difficult during your first years in school in regards to social and life skills.
<<Benjamin K.M. Kellogg: There were so many things I had to work on during that time both socially and regarding life skills, but the one social difficulty that I am certain gave me the most trouble on a regular basis was maintaining my full attention with a conversational partner. I was easily distracted by visually striking parts of the room or the scenery outside the window making focusing my attention on what the other person was speaking about very difficult. Also, making and maintaining eye contact with another person took tremendous effort on my part. I relied on visual and verbal cues from my parents and teachers as they helped me learn where to look, the appropriate ways to act, and what to say during a conversation. It took me many years to develop this skill. However, with all of their help, I found conversations to be much more enjoyable and enriching once it became a more natural part of my life.
Life skills gave me problems almost every minute of the school day. Poor muscle tone and underdeveloped fine and gross motor skills were a primary cause of my difficulties in this area. I could give you many examples of my daily problems, but here are a few that I remember most vividly. Getting dressed for school was a real challenge; I struggled with buttons, snaps, and zippers for a long time. Holding my pencil correctly in class made writing and doing homework much harder than it would have been otherwise. Merely walking down the hall or even just standing still without losing my balance could be a major obstacle for me on some days. Someone always had to accompany me to the playground during recess because there was always a risk of me falling off the swings, the slide, and other playground equipment due to my low muscle tone. I would succumb to fatigue quickly and simply lose my grip and fall. I also had to have help during gym.
I still work on life skills today, but through constant practice with my parents, I now can make my own breakfast and lunch, make my bed, clean my room, do laundry, do the dishes, clean the bathroom, take care of the trash, shave myself, and do many other life skills.>>
Lorna: Now you are a 2012 graduate (Summa Cum Laude) of Cayuga Community College with an Associate in Arts in Humanities and Social Science degree with a Writing Concentration and you have two published books! Congratulations on all you have accomplished already! What helped you most to learn the social skills needed to finish high school and go on to a Community College?
<<Benjamin: Thank you for your kind words. Let me start by saying that I did not attend high school in a traditional manner as I was homeschooled from fourth grade through high school. I did, however, have Speech Therapy at my local high school and Physical and Occupational Therapies at my local BOCES. That said, my parents greatly encouraged me to open up socially at all times. Again, with visual and verbal cues, they helped me to maintain conversations, develop and keep friendships, and interact with the world.
I also believe a few more people played instrumental roles in my social development. One was my one-to-one teacher’s assistant during elementary school. She helped me to keep focused on my schoolwork and to make friends with my classmates. During the school day, she was the one who kept me on the straight-and-narrow.
There were also two very special speech therapists who helped me immensely. With their help, I practiced meaningful social interactions with my classmates and peers as well as people from inside and outside the school environment. They helped me to break away from my own self-interest and be part of my community. With everyone’s help, I am now able to take part in all social activities. I’ve made close friends, take part in Special Olympics, play Challenger League baseball, and I attend family parties, concerts, plays, and other live events.
Again, I did not attend college in the traditional manner. I completed my college degree entirely online. Having online classes did mean that I had to learn how to interact with my classmates in an online environment along with communicating with my professors in a clear and concise way. I also went to the physical campus to use the college library and other facilities when needed. With the social skills that I have developed, I was able to effectively communicate in these venues.>>
Lorna: How did the idea of writing a children’s series of books come about? I read you are also working on a novel! Is your novel advanced enough to tell us about it or do you want to wait and write to us about it when it is published?
<<Benjamin: I have always enjoyed children’s books. My favorite author is without question Dr. Seuss. His books have been a cherished part of my life and a constant presence on my bookshelf, so it was natural for me to want to write children’s books myself. The idea for the Noah and Logan series developed from a desire to help other children with autism to learn the social and life skills I struggled to master when I was a child. I felt the best way to do this was through a series of stories in which young readers could see kids their own age demonstrating these skills in a fun, interesting manner.
My novel is about professional wrestling and it chronicles the “in-ring” and “real-life” activities of the members of a fantasy pro wrestling league. I plan on making it a twenty-chapter novel; just long enough to tell an engaging story without overstaying its welcome.>>
Lorna: What have you been doing to market your books? Have you done readings or book fairs, etc.? Do you have other books planned for the Noah and Logan children’s series?
<<Benjamin: In addition to giving interviews like this one, I have been visiting libraries, schools, and other venues around my local area promoting my books and reading my stories for children and adults. In doing so, many times I also speak about my life with autism. I have also participated in local literacy fairs and a county fair as part of a panel of authors from my area. My mother has also utilized social media to promote my books with much positive feedback.
My mother and I are working on a third book in the Noah and Logan series about tying sneakers which I hope to have published soon and have others planned for the future.>>
Lorna: You maintain a blog at kellogthoughts.com. What is your target audience and what topics do you write about on this blog?
<<Benjamin: In regards to Kellog Thoughts, I did not have a particular audience in mind; I welcome any and all readers. I see it as a place to write about my interests, which are many. I have discussed movies, television shows, books, what is happening in my life, or ideas I want to share.
In the past, I have written what I call “Random Top Five” lists based on pop culture topics, collections of haikus for characters in movies and television shows (the Marvel’s Agents of Shield haiku collection is one of my favorite entries in the blog’s history), reviews of iPad apps, and updates on important events in my life.
In recent months, I have featured my experiences during the past summer’s local promotional tour for the Noah and Logan series.>>
Lorna: Many of our readers are parents raising young children with autism. They often say how terrible it is for their autistic children at school because they are being bullied. Were you bullied? What advice do you have for tweens and teens who are victims of bullying? What are things parents can do to help their bullied child in Junior or High school?
<<Benjamin: As I have said, I did not attend traditional middle or high school as I was homeschooled. In elementary school, I had a one-on-one teacher’s assistant who explained my difficulties to my classmates, so I have never had any first-hand experience with bullying. I had very kind and understanding friends.
I did, however, as an adult, participate in an anti-bullying six-week workshop sponsored by the special needs agency that I work with. I learned to recognize bullying tactics and situations and how to deal with them. I feel it is important to be able to recognize when bullying occurs and to have a plan of action when faced with it. We did exercises that helped us learn what to do and say if we found ourselves in this type of situation. I found it to be very helpful and informative.
If I could offer any advice, it would be that parents seek out anti-bullying programs that could help their children learn the signs of bullying and give them the tools and resources to deal with it. My parents felt it was very important for me to attend the course that was offered, and I am glad that I participated in it.>>
Lorna: Parents with teens who have autism worry a lot about their child’s future. What are courses/events/activities that high schools could offer that would better prepare autistic high school graduates to go on to higher education courses or to find a job?
<<Benjamin: I cannot identify specific courses, but I feel that it is important that children with autism learn social skills, self-care skills, organization, time management, cooperation, money management, and the ability to follow directions. If high schools offer programs or courses that teach and reinforce these skills (among many others), I feel that, along with their academic ability, many teenagers have a very good chance of succeeding in college and then later in life.
To be successful at this, I feel that each child on the spectrum needs the support of many in school as well as their family’s support at home. I also think that therapies such as Occupational and Physical Therapy along with Speech Therapy are a must and must be carried over to the home for an autistic person to fully blossom. Social groups are also a very important element in a good support program.
Of course, every child is different and recommending a “one size fits all” plan would be impractical and impossible.>>
Lorna: Thank you very much for making time to take part in our Author Interview Series. The best to you and good luck with your novel and hopefully more books in the Noah and Logan children’s series.
<<Benjamin: Thank you. I appreciate your interest. I hope your readers enjoy the interview. >>
Follow Benjamin K.M. Kellogg:
More information about the author and the Noah and Logan series can be found on Benjamin’s web site: benjaminkmkellogg.com.
Benjamin has two Facebook pages: “Benjamin Kellogg, Author” and “Noah and Logan Children’s Book Series.”
Buy Books by Benjamin K.M. Kellogg:
Noah and Logan Learn to Clean (Aug. 2014) Amazon.com Amazon.ca
Noah and Logan Learn to Share (Nov. 2014) Amazon.com Amazon.ca
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