Did you know that the average person can describe or distinguish up to 27 distinct emotions? For neurodivergent teens and young adults, navigating that emotional landscape can feel like trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces. Enter the feelings chart: a simple yet powerful tool designed to make recognizing and expressing emotions more accessible. Feelings charts are one of the best tools for teachers, parents, and coaches to support learning about emotions and communication in neurodivergent individuals.
Feelings charts play a crucial role in supporting mental health for neurodivergent teens by enhancing emotional self-awareness and improving communication about feelings.
In today’s post, we go back to the basics to discuss the components of a feelings chart, how to customize them for your learner, and 5 strategies to bring those into your classroom or home to help your teen or young adult thrive.
What is a Feelings Chart?
Definition and Purpose of a Feelings Chart
A feelings chart is a tool created to help people identify and express their emotions. It’s usually a visual aid, like a poster or a printed page, with a range of emotions displayed as words, pictures, or both. The primary purpose is to make emotions more tangible and accessible, especially for individuals who may struggle to articulate how they feel.
Typical Components of a Feelings Chart
Feelings charts often include visual cues such as emojis, illustrated faces, or symbols paired with descriptive words. Emotions might be grouped into categories, like basic feelings (“happy,” “sad,” “angry,” “disgust”) or more nuanced states (“frustrated,” “proud,” “overwhelmed”). The combination of visuals and words helps users connect the emotion to a name and an image, making the process intuitive some neurodivergent individuals.
Variations for Different Users
Feelings charts can range from simple to complex depending on the user’s age and needs. Younger children might use charts with bright colors and basic emotions, while teens and adults may prefer more sophisticated versions with detailed categories and subtler designs. Some charts even include scales to indicate intensity, like “a little upset” versus “very upset.” Feelings charts are especially important for kids, particularly those on the Autism Spectrum, as they help children recognize and express emotions, enhancing their emotional intelligence and social skills.
Benefits for Neurodivergent Individuals
For neurodivergent teens and young adults—including those with autism, ADHD, or sensory processing differences—feelings charts can offer significant benefits. Understanding emotional cues is crucial for developing empathy and appropriate social responses, especially for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While clinical research on specific uses of the charts is more limited, the National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence Based Practice suggests that feelings charts may be helpful when used:
- As a visual support (VS) – Visual supports are concrete cues that provide information about an activity, the environment, or a routine. There’s a strong body of evidence that supports neurodivergent individuals respond well to visual supports in a variety of settings.
- As an antecedent support. Antecedent interventions are those that are used before a learner encounters challenges. Research shows that individuals with autism and other forms of neurodivergence benefit from tools that help prime or prepare them before an event occurs.
- As part of Cognitive Behavioral/Instructional Strategies (CBIS) – With CBIS, learners are taught to examine their own thoughts and emotions and then use step-by-step strategies to change their thinking, behavior, and self-awareness.
- As a self-management technique. Using a feelings chart can help a learner better distinguish between subtle emotions and their physiological responses–and then choose a most appropriate behavior. While an individual may need help at first, with practice, many individuals can learn to independently use a feelings charge to self-manage.
Understanding the Role of Emotion Wheels in Identifying Feelings
The emotion wheel plays a significant role in helping individuals identify and express their emotions. It provides a framework for understanding the complex range of emotions and how they are related to one another. The emotion wheel is a visual representation of various emotions organized in a circular format. By recognizing and labeling emotions, individuals can develop better self-awareness and improve their ability to communicate their feelings effectively. The emotion wheel is a useful tool for individuals, therapists, and educators to explore emotions and develop strategies for emotional growth.
Why Use a Feelings Chart?
Feelings charts are a tool that can be used to help support emotional literacy–an set of skills many neurodivergent learners find abstract or difficult. They can help learners provide a concrete way to build a vocabulary for feelings and emotions, bridging the gap between internal experiences and external communications.
By using feelings charts, individuals can develop effective strategies to cope with stress and anxiety, ultimately improving their overall well-being and interpersonal relationships.
As a consequence of having better ways to describe emotions, feelings charts can promote better self-awareness and self-regulation. We know for many of our learners, improvements in these types of executive functioning skills can also support better outcomes in academic, social, and home settings (see Executive Functioning Ripple Effect).
Understanding Emotion Behavior
Emotion and behavior are closely linked, and understanding this connection is crucial for developing emotional literacy. The emotion behavior wheel is a visual representation of how emotions and behaviors are linked, providing a tool for individuals to explore and understand their emotions and behaviors. By recognizing the underlying emotion that drives a particular behavior, individuals can develop more effective strategies for managing their emotions and behaviors.
Improving Communication
Effective communication is essential for building strong relationships and achieving emotional well-being. The emotion wheel can help individuals improve their communication skills by providing a common language for discussing emotions. Emotion wheels are helpful for teaching emotional intelligence and boosting social skills among young learners. By using the emotion wheel, individuals can develop a better understanding of their emotions and how to express them in a healthy and constructive way. This can lead to improved relationships, reduced conflict, and increased emotional intelligence.
5 Strategies to Use A Feelings Chart With Your Neurodivergent Learner
Now that we’ve covered some of the benefits of using visuals like feelings charts, let’s review 5 different ways you can use a feelings chart with your neurodivergent learner:
Daily Check-Ins
Start or end the day by having your learner check their emotional state and select emotions from the chart that best describe how they’re feeling. They can also rate the intensity of each emotion to build awareness of emotional gradients. Reflect back on different parts of the day when they may have experienced different emotions on the chart and how they did or did not successfully navigate through them.
Pre & Post Activity Check-Ins
Similarly, ask your teen to do pre and post activity check ins with an emotions chart. This can be used for activities they’re looking forward to (and may need to practice managing hyperactivity or excitement) or activities they’re feeling frustrated or anxious about having to complete. At the post check-in, discuss how they felt during and after the activity to help your teen move forward from positive and negative events.
Role-Play Scenarios
Present social or hypothetical situations (e.g., “You’ve been left out of a group text”) and ask participants to identify how they might feel using the chart. Choose different people in the scenario and practice using the feelings chart to navigate different social situations with heightened positive or negative emotions. Role playing can also help your teen build perspective-taking skills for others’ emotions.
This can also be helpful when role playing with another emotional control strategy like “Stop, Think, Act” In high-stress situations, the method teaches the individual to:
- STOP – First, take a pause. Take a breath and avoid responding on impulse;
- THINK – State the problem. What’s happening right now that is causing stress, upset, or frustration? What feelings—either physical or emotional—are happening as a result of this problem? Think about a solution or an alternative. What’s the best way to resolve the issue?
- ACT – Try out the best plan. If you’re not sure what the best strategy is, the best action is to communicate that to someone else in the environment. Sometimes the best emotional control is to say, “I need help right now.”
Progress tracking and goal setting
If your teen or young adult struggles with one or two different emotions specifically, feelings charts can help your teen set a goal and track their progress. For example, if they often feel frustrated but find it difficult to recognize when it’s happening, they can set a goal to identify and label frustration three times per day. Over time, they can use the chart to note patterns, triggers, or improvements, creating a tangible way to measure their emotional growth. Progress tracking can also build their confidence and help them see that emotional awareness is a skill they can develop.
Emotion Journaling with Charts
Pair the chart with a simple journaling exercise. Help your teen choose emotions like joy, sadness, anger, and fear from the chart, then write a sentence or two about what it feels like in their body when they feel that way, and what are several things they can do in those situations. This can help your teen practice the skill of reflecting on their emotions.
To start trying these strategies, download our free .pdf emotions chart for an example of how you can customize one of these strategies for your teen or young adult.
Complex Emotions and Emotional Literacy
Emotional literacy is the ability to recognize, understand, and express emotions in oneself and others. Developing emotional literacy is essential for building strong relationships, achieving emotional well-being, and improving communication skills. Emotional literacy helps children develop healthy relationships and cope with stress. The feelings wheel is a useful tool for developing emotional literacy, as it provides a visual representation of the complex range of emotions and how they are related to one another.
What to Do/Not to Do When Using a Feelings Chart
While there are no one-size-fits-all charts, there are some helpful strategies you’ll want to consider when introducing a feelings chart with your neurodivergent learners:
- Choose the right chart for the individual’s needs and developmental level. Start with a chart that matches their emotional vocabulary and visual preferences. Younger or less verbal users might prefer simple, colorful designs, while older teens and young adults may benefit from nuanced charts with more complex emotions. Including primary emotions, as identified by Robert Plutchik’s emotion wheel, can help in recognizing the basic emotions that form the foundation for all other feelings.
- Use relatable examples to explain the chart’s purpose. Connect the chart to their daily experiences. For instance, “When you feel upset during __, this chart can help you show or tell me what’s going on.”
- Incorporate it into familiar routines. Make using the chart a regular part of their day, like checking in during morning meetings, before meals, or after school. The more it becomes a habit for your teen or young adult, the easier it will be to use in situations where their emotions may be “off” or dysregulated.
- Address resistance or skepticism with encouragement. Be patient and encourage participation without pressure. Explain how the chart can make things easier for them and model how you use it yourself to show how it can have value for your teen. If they don’t immediately use it, be persistent and continue to revisit the chart at different times.
- Avoid starting with “tough” emotions. Embedding visual prompts are a strategy to use before your teen or young adult is struggling. During the middle of a meltdown or major emotional response is not the time to bring out the feelings chart for the first time. Choose a pro-active time when you and your learner are in a positive, relaxed state and ready to try something new.
Adapting A Feelings Chart for Neurodivergent Individuals
Finally, here are some additional tips on customization and ways you can make a feelings chart have more value for your own learner’s individual needs.
- Include specific emotions or triggers relevant to the individual. Tailor the chart to reflect the unique experiences of your student or child, such as adding emotions like “overwhelmed” or “excited” that resonate with their day-to-day life. If your learner already has vocabulary around emotions, add the words they’re familiar with.
- Use personalized images or color codes. Incorporate photos, icons, or favorite colors that make the chart more engaging and relatable for the individual. For visual learners, ask them what colors may represent different emotions and tailor it to their own description of the sensation in their body.
- Integrate sensory input descriptions. Add sensory-focused options like “I feel hot,” “My hands feel tingly,” or “My chest feels tight” to help bridge physical sensations and emotional awareness.
- Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Integration. Feelings charts can be embedded into existing AAC devices or systems to make emotional expression seamless.
- Symbol-Based Charts. Use symbols or pictograms instead of words for users who process visual information more effectively.
- Cultural and Linguistic Considerations. If you work with students from different backgrounds or who may describe emotions in multiple languages, ensure the chart reflects their cultural and linguistic background. Add appropriate language, imagery, and emotional concepts that resonate with their identity.
How to Evaluate Effectiveness and Encouraging Long-Term Use
After all this, you may be asking, “How do I know if it worked?”
Successful adoption of a feelings chart might look different for different learners. In general, it can be identified by an individual’s increased ability to recognize and name their emotions, such as happiness, frustration, or sadness.
For example, a teen who previously struggled to articulate frustration might start pointing to “frustrated” on the chart during stressful moments, showing growth in emotional awareness.
Other things to look for: improved behavior, such as fewer outbursts or conflicts, and stronger social interactions, like expressing empathy or understanding towards others. Positive feedback from the individual—“This helps me explain how I feel”—as well as from their peers or caregivers, is also a strong sign that the tool is making a meaningful impact.
Encouraging Consistent Use
Part of successful adoption is also consistent use. Long-term success of a feelings chart involves integrating it naturally into daily life without making it feel like a chore. For instance, a family could use the chart during dinner to check in on everyone’s day, making it a regular and inclusive activity.
Celebrate small milestones, such as correctly identifying a challenging emotion or successfully using the chart in a tough moment, by offering verbal praise or small rewards. Training peers and caregivers to understand and support its use can also make the chart a consistent and reliable resource in various settings.
Summary
Feelings charts offer a wide range of benefits for neurodivergent teens and young adults, from fostering emotional growth to enhancing communication and promoting self-regulation. By helping individuals better understand and express their emotions, these tools create opportunities for stronger relationships and greater self-confidence.
In therapy, feelings charts are used to help individuals, particularly those with complex mental health issues, develop emotional regulation skills. They are an essential component in various therapeutic modalities, including individual and family therapy, to support adolescents and children on the Autism Spectrum in enhancing their emotional literacy and coping strategies. Similarly, the emotion wheel is a valuable tool in therapy, counseling, conflict resolution, and self-improvement contexts, offering a structured way to explore and manage emotions.
As teachers and coaches, you play a vital role in fostering these essential emotional skills. Your encouragement, patience, and willingness to adapt can make all the difference in helping your students thrive. Remember, emotional development is a journey, and your support is a crucial part of their success.
Why not give it a try? Incorporate a feelings chart into your classroom or coaching sessions and observe how it transforms emotional interactions. Share your successes and insights with others—together, we can build a more emotionally aware and supportive community.
TL;DR – (Too Long; Didn’t Read)
Feelings charts are invaluable tools for neurodivergent teens and young adults, helping them name and navigate emotions with clarity.
Understanding emotions is a key goal of using feelings charts, as they provide tools and therapeutic approaches to help children with autism identify and express their feelings.
These visual aids can support emotional growth, improve communication, and foster self-regulation.
By customizing charts to individual needs and embedding them into daily routines, educators, parents, and coaches can unlock emotional awareness and confidence in their learners.
Start small, celebrate progress, and involve peers and other caregivers for lasting success.
Why not try one today and see the difference it can make? Share your experience to inspire others in creating emotionally supportive environments!
Further Reading
- Cowen & Keltner (2017) – Self-report captures 27 distinct categories of emotion bridged by continuous gradients
- Life Skills Advocate – Executive Functioning Ripple Effect
- Life Skills Advocate – Stop, Think, Act
- Michigan State University Extension – Children and empathy: Teaching emotional literacy
- National Clearinghouse of Autism Evidence Based Practice
- PrAACtical AAC – Dealing with Feelings: 5 Ways to Encourage Emotion-related Expression by AAC Learners