Friday, December 28, 2012

New Parenting Picks on Autism

Bad Animals: a Father's Accidental Education in Autism by Joel Yanofsky
"A veteran book reviewer, Yanofsky has spent a lifetime immersed in literature (not to mention old movies and old jokes), which he calls shtick. This account of a year in the life of a family describes a father's struggle to enter his son's world, the world of autism, using the materials he knows best: self-help books, feel-good memoirs, literary classics from the Bible to Dr. Seuss, old movies, and, yes, shtick. Funny, wrenching, and unfailingly candid, Bad Animals is both an exploration of a baffling condition and a quirky love story told by the author." Summary courtesy of Syndetics, Inc. Booklist calls Yanofsky's book "a welcome perspective on autism and fatherhood."


The Autism Revolution: Whole-Body Strategies for Making Life All It Can Be by Martha Herbert, M.D., Ph.D.

"Move beyond conventional thinking about autism. . . . After years of treating patients and analyzing scientific data, prominent Harvard researcher and clinician Dr. Martha Herbert offers a revolutionary new view of autism and a transformative strategy for dealing with it. Autism is not a hardwired impairment programmed into a child's genes and destined to remain fixed forever, as we're often told. Instead, it is the result of a cascade of events, many seemingly minor: perhaps a genetic mutation, some toxic exposures, a stressful birth, a vitamin deficiency, and a series of infections. And while other doctors may dismiss your child's physical symptoms--the diarrhea, anxiety, sensory overload, sleeplessness, immune challenges, and seizures--as coincidental or irrelevant, Dr. Herbert sees them as vital clues to what the underlying problems are, and how to help. In The Autism Revolution, she teaches you how to approach autism as a collection of problems that can be overcome--and talents that can be developed. Each success you achieve gives your child more room to become healthy and to thrive. Drawing from the newest research, technologies, and insights, as well as inspiring case studies of both children and adults, Dr. Herbert guides you toward restoring health and resiliency in your loved one with autism. Her specific recommendations aim to provide optimal nutrition, reduce toxic exposures, shore up the immune system, reduce stress, and open the door to learning and creativity--all by understanding and truly meeting your child's needs. As thousands of families who have cobbled together these solutions themselves already know, this program can have dramatic benefits--for your child with autism, and for you, your whole family, and your next baby as well. A paradigm-changing book that offers hope and healing for the millions of families who have autism in their lives, The Autism Revolution shows that there's plenty you can do every day to give someone you love the best possible gift: a life lived to the fullest potential"-- Provided by publisher.

Carly's Voice: Breaking Through Autism by Arthur Fleischmann with Carly Fleischmann
"At the age of two, Carly Fleischmann was diagnosed with severe autism and an oral motor condition that prevented her from speaking. Doctors predicted that she would never intellectually develop beyond the abilities of a small child. Carly remained largely unreachable through the years. Then, at the age of ten, she had a breakthrough. While working with her devoted therapists, Carly reached over to their laptop and typed “HELP TEETH HURT,” much to everyone’s astonishment. Although Carly still struggles with all the symptoms of autism, she now has regular, witty, and profound conversations on the computer with her family and her many thousands of supporters online. In Carly’s Voice, her father, Arthur Fleischmann, blends Carly’s own words w ith his story of getting to know his remarkable daughter. One of the first books to explore firsthand the challenges of living with autism, it brings readers inside a once-secret world and in the company of an inspiring young woman who has found her voice and her mission." (from Amazon.com)


Easy to Love but Hard to Raise: Real Parents, Challenging Kids, True Stories, edited by Kay Marner and Adrienne Ehlert Bashista


Whether it's the challenge of raising a child with an autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, SPD, OCD or another challenge or disability, these parents share their stories of the struggles and joys they've faced.

Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon
"Winner of the National Book Award for The Noonday Demon and a board member of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and Columbia Medical School, Solomon began seeing illness and identity as related when he covered the deaf pride movement in the 1990s. Here, he expands on this notion by exploring how families deal with children who fall outside the perceived boundaries of normal-those with dwarfism, Down syndrome, or exceptional genius, for instance, or who commit serious crimes-showing how both family and children redefine themselves." (Summary courtesy of Syndetics, Inc.)

Parenting Girls on the Autism Spectrum: Overcoming Challenges and Celebrating the Gifts by Eileen Riley-Hall

"This book is a celebration of all the wonderful and unexpected gifts that having a daughter on the autism spectrum can bring to a family. Each chapter offers encouragement and guidance on issues such as school, friendships, meltdowns, special gifts, family relationships, therapies and interventions. The author's positive, upbeat tone and practical advice and suggestions are guaranteed to provide support to parents, grandparents and family members. This book also gives educators, and anyone else working in a supporting role, an insight into what life is like for girls on the spectrum and their parents." Book jacket.

Everyday Activities to Help Your Young Child with Autism Live Life to the Full by Debra S. Jacobs and Dion E. Betts
"Does your child Struggle with brushing their teeth? Is it difficult to get them dressed and undressed each day? Do they struggle to understand their body's relationship to the world?" Summary courtesy of Syndetics, Inc.

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