Customer Reviews

Just Give Him The Whale!: 20 Ways to Use Fascinations, Areas of Expertise, and Strengths to Support Students with Autism

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It's hard to decide what I love most about this book. Throughout the book Kluth and Schwartz combine three essential elements for working with All children: Respecting difference, challenging assumptions, and empowering learners. From the cover to the last page they get the reader thinking about the biases that influence how we view children(they're fascinations, not obssessions!) and they offer hands-on, realistic strategies for bringing out the best in all students. They tell stories from teachers and students who have found success in creative ways. It's inspiring and positive throughout. I bought a copy for myself, then ordered several more to share.

Great book-- filled with dozens of examples and has ideas on using fascinations to calm, comfort, inspire, teach literacy and math, and support social skills & communication efforts. Lots of good stories too and applications for elementary and secondary classrooms. My friend recommended it to me & now I am recommending it to both parents and teachers.

Kluth and Schwarz have done it again! They have authored another easy to read and immensely helpful book on the heels of "You're Welcome." The primary tenants of "You're Welcome" - specifically collaboration, differentiation, adaptation and positive behavior supports - all carry forward into the world of students with fascinations, passions and interest areas. Even though this text is focused on students with autism as an attribute, readers will find that it is tremendously helpful with a wide range of individuals who have fascinations, passions and strong interests with or without disabilities. Similarly, even though this text is directed towards educators, others, such as parents, family members, advocates and even employers can and will find wonderful ways to connect with and support people who have fascinations, passions and strong interests. Thanks you for another great book. I'm looking forward to reading the companion children's book about Pedro and his whale and to sharing it with the children in my life.

At its core, Autism isn't a deficit of intellect or capacity - its a deficit or misalignment of motivation and engagement.

If you can motivate; if you can keep the child engaged - then the possibilities are enormous.

Motivation and engagement aren't simple to achieve, though. And "giving the child the whale" won't work as a party trick. Children with autism have a keen sense of sincerity and authenticity.

This book is great and a wonderful resource for parents, teachers, supports and friends and family of a child with ASD.

My only word of caution is that, as with all things, balance is really important. Sometimes "giving the child the whale" will contribute to engagement. But sometimes, the attachment of the child's attention to the "whale" is so great, that the child will then find it difficult to engage with anything or anyone other than the "whale" itself.

But that's ok. Because the suggestions in this book aren't party tricks. They aren't cute little tips that will automatically transform a child struggling with a loud and confusing classroom or other environment into a model student. The suggestions are gateways. They're about motivating the adult to think about things differently, to work a little harder (with less judgment) to find the keys to motivation and engagement.

An amazing book! Paula Kluth reveals a collection of fascinating stories that provide insight into the truths about students with autism in our schools. This book is filled with useful information for tools and strategies we can use to support inclusion and facilitate a valuable learning experience for all students. As teachers we should always strive to motivate and engage our students as individual learners. I would recommend this book to any teacher who aims to appreciate the interests and passions of his or her students and use those fascinations in the implementation of valuable lessons.
A truly inspiring and positive book.

Paula Kluth has done it again! Co-writing with Patrick Schwartz, she has created another valuable, useful guide for teachers. "Just Give Him the Whale" provides information on what teachers can do to help students who have "deep, consuming fascinations" to increase communication, reduce anxiety, facilitate inclusion, and learn academic content.

It did leave me wanting more in-depth information about how the ideas presented could be expanded for general use in the classroom; the book had many short and specific examples. However, I found that the ideas presented were very relevant and practical for both general education and special education teachers. I believe that if the ideas were used, it would help increase student motivation, reduce many challenging behaviors, and help create a positive, caring classroom community. According to "Just Give Him the Whale," all of this can be done in a way that is positive and respectful to students with autism.

Nicole Caldwell, M.Ed.
Editor of Positively Autism

This is a wonderful book for any teacher who has special needs children in an integrated classroom. Simple ideas on how to get the best of your students. Quick and easy to read chapters make this book easy to use also. I think it should be required that all teachers read it. As a grandparent of a special child, I've learned some things to use also. GREAT

Great ideas for educators to implement in their curriculum. The solutions in this book are not just for students with ASD but for keeping any student interested in the course materials.