[(Mind Reading: The Interactive Guide to Emotions)] [Author: Simon Baron-Cohen] published on (March, 2004) Unknown Binding

My daughter has high functioning autism. Her therapist recommended this program. She emphasized that it was about "theory of mind", but had not yet previewed the program. It isn't. It is all about reading emotions. The emotions displayed are so numerous that nuance becomes necessary. But we did not always agree that the face matched the expressed emotion. And, given the intricate nuances that ultimately became necessary as the levels progressed, it would perhaps be better to be dealing with American actors for American kids, given both the slight language and cultural differences.My daughter's passion is computers, so I thought she would take to this program. We fooled around with it for about half an hour. Then she announced that she already knew all the material (she did) and that the program was boring (it was). An hour later, she said, "Mommy, can you do something to get that horrible program out of my head?"This program is what my computer programmer ex-husband calls "shovelware". It is intensely dull. This subject matter could have been made so interesting! I mean, come on... Emotions are everywhere! Instead, we are subjected to five-second clips of really bad actors (plus the Harry Potter kid) acting out, for example, anger. No context. And with all the overacting, it isn't true to life.This program would only be useful for a child who truly has no understanding of emotions whatsoever. Even then, I think you would have a hard time getting him or her to work through the program, based on the sheer mind-numbing boredom.My daughter gets emotion. What she doesn't always get (here comes theory of mind) is why YOU don't "get" something, when SHE does. The program didn't help with that at all.Oh, and did I mention that it was BORING?

While it is a great software for teaching children about emotions, it was not compatible with my Mac. I've used it in the past on a PC and so I purchased a new set for my Mac. But it wouldn't let me install the program and I had to return the item.

We have not been able to get this to load properly. I'm not sure if it's related to our OS (Windows 7 and Windows 8) or the software itself, but we have not been successful in getting it to load and the support website has not been helpful.

I have been using the Mind Reading software program for about 2 months with several students. This is a great way to teach students with high-functioning autism or Asperger's syndrome recognition of emotions. The amazon description has this product listed as a book, but it is actually an interactive software program that features actors that act out various emotions (over 400! emotions). The program helps the student to focus on the movement of the faces as the actors act out an emotion as well as voice tone and messages to match the emotion. The program helps students learn about emotions without the stress of the human component. I have already started to see positive results with students starting to question the emotions of those around them and in their lives.As a social skills facilitator for students with high-functioning autism and Asperger's Syndrome I highly recommend!

This software - old but not outdated - was a blessing for our child. We knew he had issues with reading expressions but it gradually became very clear that could assign absolutely no meaning to facial expressions. For the two years that we home schooled him he worked with the mind reading program for 30 minutes three times a week. It worked wonders. Does it teach them theory of mind? No, but I would love to hear of a program that does. What this one does and does very well is teach the child to interpret what a particular expression might mean. It also increases in difficulty and helps the child learn to dissect the nuances of separate but similar expressions.Did I see instant results? Not at all. But this is not a magic pill. After working at it solidly for a few months it became obvious that he was able to read more and more expressions. Our child was also face blind - he was totally incapable of recognizing people. At a crowded play date he would be confused as to which mother was his! He wasn't able to recognize his teachers or his friends of many years. I don't know how the program helped him to figure this out but, rather quickly, he was able to learn how to memorize faces so that four years down the road people don't believe that he couldn't recognize his own mother's face from that of other dark haired moms!I don't know if this program will work for everyone but I could kiss the people who made this and the therapist who insisted we try it at least for a few weeks before giving up. It has changed my son's life completely and has made the outer world a little less scary for him.