Customer Reviews

Asperger Syndrome and Rage: Practical Solutions for a Difficult Moment

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a home school teacher of a precocious 10 year old AS son and the wife of an equally brilliant, but emotionally unstable, disabled husband (possibly AS), I use the information contained in this book to help me manage both my child and husband during those difficult moments. This book is a godsend for those of us with explosive AS loved ones and a blessing for helping AS loved ones with milder anxiety features. The book aids in identifying anxiety triggers and sensory overload triggers that can start "the rumbling stage" of a rage cycle to help make the environment more "AS FRIENDLY." While often times environmental triggers cannot be avoided, the ability to recognise the rumble stage early and apply practical interventions, is what makes this book particularly valuable to me as a teacher and stand-in therapist for my son and hubby. Not very many specialists are out there to properly diagnose and treat AS. This book makes it easier for AS families to cope especially when AS professionals are simply not available in one's area.

I am the mother of THREE children with Asperger Syndrome. When our oldest son began attending school we were exasperated with the school staff and their inability to understand that he was being triggered into meltdowns, and we had no way to track what was setting him off. This book has a clear and concise methodology for tracking meltdown triggers in the school setting. In addition it gives very specific examples of what to do and not to do during each stage of the rage cycle. Because it is brief many of the staff were willing to read it. Using the methods in this book were were able to create a plan that helped eliminate a large number of triggers because the staff finally understood there were EXTERNAL causes, not internal or behavioral causes as they had assumed.

If it was up to me it would be standard issue in every school and required reading for every special education program. Teachers need and want this information because they are not taught how to deal with our Asperger Syndrome children's unique needs. I have bought several copies and always have one with me at every IEP meeting I attend in case I need to refer to it directly. If you have children with Asperger Syndrome who are attending school you need this book!

Kristi Sakai author of
Finding Our Way: Practical Solutions for Creating a Supportive Home and Community for the Asperger Syndrome Family

Asperger Syndrome and Rage is a practical, state-of-the-art guide for parents and professionals. As a parent of a young adult son with Asperger Syndrome and a school psychologist, I felt as though the authors had lived in my home and worked with the students I served in the school. Feasible and realistic solutions to assist individuals with AS to become successful in their daily lives and to learn to monitor and control uncomfortable situations are presdented. Every concept introduced is clearly explained in easy to understand language and is followed by real-life examples. The ultimate goal of this book is to help individuals with AS understand their exceptionality, complete with its strengths and challenges. This book is an invaluable resource.

We bought this book for my son's fifth grade teacher, who had some trepidation about teaching my son, First,we had bought this book for ourselves and it made total sense to us. After the teacher adopted many of the teaching strategies described in this book, my son had the most successful year in his whole scholastic history! The teacher also happened to be very experienced, consistent and organized, which helped very much, but he had taught my son before that with little to no success. This book made the difference.

The thing is, the teacher developed behavioral strategies and explicit rules for the whole classroom, so my son was never singled out! My son's severe behaviors improved incredibly until they were exremely limited - both at school and at home. His relationships with his peers progressed amazingly. And his schoolwork blossomed; he was ranked #3 in the entire class.

Alas, this year, when the strategies were NOT applied to the classroom, the whole year fell apart and we withdrew my son from that school.

All goes to show, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, and this book gives TONS of prevention.

Finally, there is a section for the parents that makes perfect sense. I liked the one about engaging in verbal arguments - it's ok not to have the LAST word as long as you have the LASTING word.

This book is the Gold Standard of books on Asperger Syndrome. Along with Teresa Bolick, "Aspergers and Adolescence," I frequently recommend these books to everyone who has any tangential contact with Asperger Syndrome.

THANK YOU Brenda Smith Myles for writing this book. I hope to read many more of your books.

NOW....this is a WONDERFUL book. When my husband and I started to read this book, it was like someone had actually interviewed our son Jon. We were amazed at how it discribed him to a "T". We have learned why he does some of the things that he does and why he understands things the way he does. This book is a MUST for all parents and schools who have kids with AS. I wish we would have had this book 3 years ago. It would have saved us all alot of pain and tears.

This is the first book I've read about Aspergers that actually gives you something to go to the school with to develop a plan to head off rages at the pass, so to speak. Most of the other books tell you what the Asperger childs deficits are, but do not give you any solutions or even a direction to go in. I didn't realize that there is a specific order that social, behavioral, and communication skills develop in children, and that they have to learn them in the right order otherwise they can not learn any new skills. I am going to approach my son's school with this book and have them implement these "common sense" strategies.

I read the first 30 or so pages of this book shaking my head and saying "Yes! Yes! This is my child- now tell me what to do about it!" I never got to that. The majority of the book is sample forms to be used by teachers in a school setting along with advice to those teachers. The last part- the very shortest part- is for the parents and it, quite frankly, isn't really much help. I wouldn't recomend this book unless you are buying it for your child's teacher. Then it could be worth while.

This is the most helpful and practical book I have found for dealing with the many challenges of raising children with Asperger's syndrome. In it, you will find tools to work with your child positively, and maybe even keep your cool in the process!This is no-nonsense information. I have two children with Asperger's and this book has helped me work with both on their own unique problems. This is NOT another book describing Asperger's Syndrome, it is a HANDBOOK for helping our children.

My son's Resource Teacher recommended "Aspergers Syndrome and Difficult Moments: Practical Solutions for Tantrums, Rage, and Meltdowns" by Brenda Smith Myles and Jack Southwick. This has been an excellent book to read and I am thrilled that my son's "team" at school has also taken the time to read this!

While my son technically has high functioning autism and not asperger syndrome, the information applies perfectly. There are many similarities between high functioning autistic people and those with asperger syndrome and the main difference in the diagnosis of the two is that there is no significant language delay with aspergers and there are more symptoms present with autism...This book is packed with information that will be helpful to those dealing with "difficult moments" that come with autism and aspergers. There are chapters on the "rage cycle" and how to recognize when it is coming and also information on self-calming and self-management strategies.

I definetly recommend this book!

If your child has meltdowns in school, you MUST read this book. More important, it should be required reading for all school personnel who come in contact with AS kids who have meltdowns.