Tidy Tim

The ‘Get to Know Me’ series is aimed at children with additional needs and those who support them in the classroom. Developed by child psychologist Dr Louise Lightfoot and illustrated by Catherine Hicks, the resources in this series include activities specific to anxiety, depression, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). This book, Tidy Tim, has been designed to support the individual child but also to be used in whole class teaching, to encourage an empathetic and inclusive environment.

In this book, we meet Tidy Tim, an octopus with many arms but not many friends. His swirly whirly feelings make him spend all day cleaning and tidying his house instead of going out and making friends. But one day, Tidy Tim gets himself into a terrible tangle and realises he needs the help of Jenni the Jellyfish, who helps him untangle his arms and his feelings.

This book was written with children with OCD in mind, providing an opportunity to relate to Tim’s thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and experiences. However, children with a range of needs may benefit from the story. The book is written in a narrative style, so it does not use diagnostic labels and is not intended for this purpose. Instead, the focus is on creating a common language which children can understand and use to make sense of how they are feeling.

A practitioner guidebook (ISBN 978-0-8153-4948-8) and draw along version (ISBN 978-0-8153-4951-8) are also available.