Thinking Person's Guide to Autism: Everything You Need to Know from Autistics, Parents, and Professionals

Having read this cover to cover, it's a decent resource both for autistic people looking to learn more about themselves, and for friends and family of autistic people hoping for some insight (though I hope you'd consider just asking the autistic person in your life about themselves, not only reading books written by others). The reason I only gave it three stars is because there are comparatively very few chapters by actual autistic adults, because for large portions of the book it only focuses on autistic children (hi, us autistic adults are here and need attention too!), and because some of the articles speak positively about certain therapies that most autistic adults consider abusive (ie applied behavior analysis, aka ABA - if you want to know more about why this is bad, check out some blogs by autistic adults, or the book Loud Hands: Autistic People Speaking, which is a great - better than this one - resource for autistic people and their loved ones as well, and is entirely written by autistic adults). Also, the book slogs through many, many chapters by parents and the occasional professional before even getting to the section written by actual autistic adults. It also talks about the grief parents feel when discovering their child is autistic, which is borderline offensive as an autistic person - autistic children are not dead or damaged, they are just different than you expected, and their differences should be supported and celebrated, not treated as a negative life event. I would like this book better if it was written mostly by professional and autistic adults, or at least advised on or edited by actual autistic people, rather than being mostly parent-written articles, especially since at least one or two of the parent essays are somewhat offensive. That said, taken with a grain of salt, this book definitely has some good information in it, and I would recommend it as a secondary resource after talking to or reading works primarily by autistic adults.

I am not a parent, but I am Autistic, be it on the mild end of the spectrum (Asperger Syndrome/High Functioning Autism). Also, i''m not a native English writer so i might ramble on a bit ;-)Trying to write a review for this book is rather difficult since the book presents me with a serious catch 22.This book is a very complete collection of every probable piece of knowledge a parent with a severely autistic child needs to be aware of, presented in a reasonably accessible way, and coming from diverse sources, many autistic themselves.Where lies the catch.Parents will read this book in the hope to better know their child -BUT- to read this book correctly you need to know your child.The sufficiently aware parent will know what information is relevant and important for his/her child and what information can be safely regarded as less relevant or important.The insufficiently aware parent might learn and become -needlessly- very concerned of problems and their solutions because of reading about them here.The book goes to great length to point out cures, remedies, therapies and solutions that are insufficiently proven to work, or even proven not to work. This is priceless knowledge to avoid going down a wrong track at great cost in time, money and heartbreak. The book also points out a lot of things that work, are always good to know regardless, or might require very long term planning that needs to start NOW.What this book cannot do is point out precisely what solution applies to your child. The book does offers very good suggestions on the type, qualities and the qualifications of the professionals that can best assist you for being the best parent possible. I would therefore very strongly suggest that you start by reading up on finding the right persons to guide and help you.Best of luckJ.

This is an excellent autism resource for parents,teachers, and other professionals who work with the Spectrum population on some level. I bought an extra copy for my son's school library/special education resource room.Autism is so very many different things that I think we sometimes become overwhelmed, and we resort to the parent version of squeezing our eyes shut and covering our ears. This relatively normal response is particularly unhelpful to both those individuals who work with the autistic population and our loved ones with autism.The book is a straight-forward and far more beneficial option to the "eyes shut/ears covered" response.One aspect of this particular book that I personally liked is that the information is presented in sort of an a la cart fashion--find for what you want, what you need, and then come later for something else when you need that. This takes the edge off being overwhelmed by a long shot. One of the clearest memories I have from when my son was diagnosed was the anxiety of being overloaded with information. Don't misunderstand me--the information is absolutely there, it is simply that the information is presented in a way that is not overwhelming.As a parent and a teacher, I know the alone-ness of having a special needs child and I know that it is a hard and long search to find your place among parents in similar situations. I'm not entirely sure I've found mine place yet.This book provides insight directly into that feeling--snapshots, if you will--of what other parents go through.Wow, I would have LOVED to have that in my early days!Finally, I think we are just now beginning to find an effective middle-ground approach to working with autistic individuals and the book focuses on that without bias or judgement. After researching and consulting with my son's doctors, it was obvious that GFCF or gluten-free was not our first, or most practical, or even ever necessary move. I still felt really, really guilty about it, and that's the last thing the parent of a special needs child needs. This book would have helped to breach the chasm between the choice and the guilt because another standout point the book makes is that there are no complete absolutes regarding autism. As Dr. stanley Greenspan said, "if you meet one autistic child, then you've met one autistic child."True That.

Easy reading, completed within 2 days of receiving it. Authors are a good mix of adults with autism, parents, and educators. Highly recommended.

good info

This book contains real-life information helpful to those involved with someone on the spectrum. Strength-focused points of view. Overviews of therapies. "You're not alone". I refer to it frequently. Borrowing from the library wasn't enough.

So many perspectives.