The Asperger Parent: How to Raise a Child with Asperger Syndrome and Maintain Your Sense of Humor [Paperback]

Jeffrey Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2002 | ISBN-10: 1931282145 | ISBN-13: 978-1931282147

In this humorous and refreshingly honest book, Jeffrey Cohen, father of 11-year-old Josh, discusses what it s like to be the parent of a child with Asperger Syndrome. Based on Cohen s experiences raising his son, who was diagnosed with AS at the age of 5, The Asperger Parent provides essential information and emotional support without being clinical and dry. Cohen offers his insights in an easy-to-read, anecdotal tone. This book is a real treat for parents, especially those with newly diagnosed children. It covers every emotion an AS parent will feel worry, sadness, anxiety, joy, pride, fear, triumph and offers a light at the end of the tunnel.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Finally, a book that addresses PARENTS of children with AS. It's easy to read and hard to put down. -- Diane Adreon, Associate Director, Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, and a parent of a child with AS

From trials to victories, to Josh stating that he "likes having AS", there is much here for AS parents. -- Stephen Shore, Author of Beyond the Wall: Personal Experiences with Autism and Asperger Syndrome

If you have ever felt alone in the parenting experience, this book is for you! --Lisa Elliott, Author of Embarrassed Often, Ashamed Never

About the Author

Besides being an Asperger parent, Jeffrey Cohen is a freelance writer and screenwriter, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Star-Ledger, American Baby, TV Guide, USA Weekend, and Premiere, among many others. He is also the author of For Whom The Minivan Rolls: An Aaron Tucker Mystery. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Autism Asperger Publishing Company (October 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931282145
• ISBN-13: 978-1931282147
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeffrey Cohen started life as poor street urchin, orphaned and taken in by a gang of pickpockets led by an older man named Fagin. No, wait. That's someone else, entirely.

In reality, Cohen was born in Newark, NJ during a certain year, and grew (more or less) up in Irvington, NJ, otherwise known as the Garden Spot of the Western Hemisphere.

After a childhood of normal duration, Cohen attended Rutgers College in New Brunswick, New Jersey, so as to maintain a record of never having left the Garden State for more than two weeks at a time, something which has never been equaled (or attempted, by anyone else). He studied English (when actually attending classes and not lounging at the student newspaper office), but decided to work as a journalist anyway.

Finding work (after a fashion) at the Passaic Herald-News, he served as a municipal reporter for well over six months, establishing new lows in news gathering, but managing, in his final work for the newspaper, to quote Chico Marx.

Following a hideous foray into public relations, Cohen eventually became a trade journalist, covering the consumer electronics business until someone told him to stop.

Since 1985, he has been a freelance reporter and writer, writing for such publications as The New York Times, TV Guide, USA Weekend, Premiere, American Baby and The Newark Star-Ledger, among many others.

He is also the author of more than 20 feature-length screenplays, some of which are actually good. His work has been developed by Jim Henson Productions, CBS, Gross-Weston Productions, Ken Walz Productions and others.

Cohen lives in New Jersey (big surprise!) with his wife and two children, who have been sworn to secrecy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Great Advice, February 7, 2005

By 

Kevin Tipple (Plano, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Asperger Parent: How to Raise a Child with Asperger Syndrome and Maintain Your Sense of Humor (Paperback)

Having a "special needs" child is an incredibly stressful ongoing event and something author Jeff Cohen knows well as the father of a child with Asperger Syndrome. In its simplest terms, Asperger Syndrome (AS) is a form of higher functioning autism. Instead of another book on how to help the child, Jeff Cohen looked at the often forgotten group in such situations: the parents. Parents, regardless of the child's disability, are often blamed by society for their child's problems and may not have the local support needed to deal with the issues. This book, as he notes in the first chapter, is designed to be a sort of portable support group for those days and times it all gets to be too much.

It will get to be too much at times as he writes in the second chapter, "Other Parents Think I'm A Monster." What parent of a special needs child hasn't gotten the LOOK from another parent or adult when his or her child acted way out of bounds in public? That look that says you aren't doing something right and why won't you stop the child now? Jeff Cohen relates his own experiences along with the guilt and shame one instantly feels as others pass judgment on your parenting skills without ever having spent a minute in your shoes. Something all parents of special needs children will relate to.

If one isn't careful that internal battle can spill over into the schools. In "The Debate Over Inclusion" he lays out the arguments on both sides of the issue regarding placement of AS children in the public school system and recounts how well his local school district has handled the situation. He shares coping skills concerning the school's staff decisions and how to best get the help the child needs without becoming adversarial.

What follows is maybe the most important chapter in the book, "Remember That Person You're Married To?" The author gently and with more anecdotes reminds the reader to pay attention to his or her spouse. The guilt and stress over having an AS child or any disabled child is heavy, and it is easy to blame the partner for the situation. One has to constantly remember that it isn't anyone's fault and to take time to keep the romance alive. The author advocates quite strongly that time alone together for the parents is vitally important not only to strengthen the relationship, but to be a better parent and happier person that it is better able to cope with the situation. This chapter contains a lot of good advice not only for AS parents but for everyone.

Jeff Cohen then goes on to cover how to deal with sibling rivalry, moments one dreads like eating out and going on vacation, how to deal with medication issues, and other topics. Through it all, the author shares his personal experiences both happy times and sad times as she shares hard earned insight from being there before much was known about the syndrome. It is a roller coaster ride and Jeff Cohen recounts it all along with providing a lot of good information.

The bottom line theme through out the work is directly expressed towards the end of the book, "Lighten Up On Yourself." Jeff Cohen's overall point is that none of it is your fault and you are going to make mistakes as an AS parent. Hopefully, the good will outweigh the bad which is the best any of us as parents can hope for whether our children have AS or not.

Book Facts:

The Asperger Parent: How to Raise a Child With Asperger Syndrome and Maintain Your Sense of Humor

By Jeffrey Cohen

Autism Asperger Publishing Co.

www.asperger.net

Large Trade Paperback

ISBN # 1-931282-14-5

243 pages

$19.95

Kevin R. Tipple © 2005

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is about YOU. No, really, not your child, you!, March 29, 2004

By 

Dreamdog (PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Asperger Parent: How to Raise a Child with Asperger Syndrome and Maintain Your Sense of Humor (Paperback)

If you're like me, you buy books on AS and consider the purchase a treat for yourself, even though the books concern your child. I was afraid this book might lose its focus on the parent at some point and start to focus on our kids--after all, how can one write about parenting a child with AS without writing about the children?--but the book remains solidly focused on the parents and discusses our children only in relation to our own lives.

Cohen is funny and insightful. I knew he knew what my life was like from the moment I read a line on the first page about when his son was expelled from his first preschool. My son was also asked to leave two preschools, so I had to chuckle in recognition.

This book is one I'll turn to whenever I need a real treat--just for me.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new must-read, December 30, 2002

By 

Karen B Mielke (Maplewood, MN, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Asperger Parent: How to Raise a Child with Asperger Syndrome and Maintain Your Sense of Humor (Paperback)

Jeffrey Cohen has captured the fears, frustrations, triumphs and hopes of Asperger parents beautifully. Easy to read, humorous and reassuring, this book is a great addition to the must-read list for parents of children challenged with Asperger Syndrome and related developmental disorders.
Somewhat repetitious, but we're used to that!