Customer Reviews

A Parent's Guide to Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism: How to Meet the Challenges and Help Your Child Thrive

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a parent, I found this book highly informative. I would not hesitate to recommend it to a parent or proffesional working with AS/HFA kids. I especially found the advice to parents about working with teachers/therapists to be very common sense, but not condescending. ie (pp107) "One of your biggest challenges as parents of a child with AS/HFA is bringing all the therapy options together into a cohesive treatment program that adresses your childs needs and promotes a normal development in an integrated fashion."

The goal of his book, as quoted on page 21 "is to help you decide whether the dx of AS /HFA are relevant to the person in your life you are worried about and whether this book will help you in your search for answers."

The process of using the DSM IV and how doctors use it to pinpoint your childs dx was made quite clear and was helpful. I was greatly helped by the explanation of the dx process in chapter two. The chapter on treatment options was laid out as clearly as posssible also. This book can give hope to parents of kids with AS that your kids will be ok, we just need to pivot expectations of ourselves and the way we can work with our kids.

I strongly agrree with the statement on pages 7 & 8..."As a parent, you will want to make sure that your child receives the most accurate diagnosis possible, but, in the case of these disorders, you need to be aware that precision may elude us for some time to come. What's important is that...regardless of the label, that the treatments suggested fit with your child's weaknesses and strengths."

Quite a few chapters were devoted to suggestions for working with AS/HFA kids at home and at school. there was alo a chapter on Teenage and Adult AS persons.

Highly recommended!

Mrs. F

There is a research thrust to this book (unsurprising given Ozonoff's research contributuons) that puts it a few notches above others in the market. Unquestionably this, plus a very fluent writing style, puts the book in a different class.

Unlike specific intervention texts, it does not lay out particular lesson plans but reviews methodological principles and best practices. As one would expect from the authors, the book is superb on descriptions of Autistic Disorders and prognosis. It has less advice on specific intervention strategies than one might like, but it does offer reviews of approaches. For interventions, I would recommend looking at Succeeding with Interventions for Asperger Syndrome Adolescents.

So what does this book offer over the many others on the same bookshelf? Well it's horses for courses. It's avery balanaced book and certainly it doesn't understate the difficulties. I think that professionals and researchers will get a more out of it than others. However, there just isn't a whole pile written on AS and adolescence. Hence parents with a research interest will also gain a lot. Ultimately it is a slightly more 'high brow' book than notional equivalents. I have certainly found myself going back to it rather than the others over the past few months.

This book sets the stage for years to come by exploring the progress that has recently been made in Asperger's syndrome analysis and understanding. It is a postive analysis of AS from all sides--the professional(cut and dried definations, explained simply and thuroughly), to the positive manner to encourage and work with "aspies" (those with Asperger's Syndrome) of all ages. This book also covers factually and with sympathy and sensitivity topics such as adolescense, adult-hood, and dating, as well as the usual preschool and elementary age recommendations.

The positive suggestions offered in this book will be inspirational and educational for parents, and should be shared with those in the schools, colleges, and even the employment fields--in other words to anyone dealing with an "aspie". The reader will have many positve ideas to try, as well as an increased understanding of AS. Since AS is increasing at alarming rates, it would be an excellent book for anyone in Special Education to read this book.

I like this book. I am and adult with AS with an adult child on the spectrum. I'm sorry to say that this book is mainly about kids and teens with AS, but it does have some good points that are helpful to adults. If you are interested in parenting, this is a good book. I also highly recommend Karen Zelan's book "Between our world and theirs"

I have met Dr. Ozonoff, she get's big points from me for being a really nice person.

I really appreciate her working to break down the artificial barrier between the AS and HFA labels.

I have a son with AS in his third year at a major University in the Northeast. If you are reading this....you will love this book. Very informative, helpful, and very reassuring. I wish that I had found it years ago.

I have read several books on ASD and this one was by far the most helpful. Most books are aimed at younger and more severely affected children, so it was so helpful to read detailed information concerning older childre, adolescents, and adults. As both a parent of a PDD-NOS child and an adult with some autistic-spectrum traits myself, I can attest that the information on learning styles and social difficulties is dead-on.

As an aside, I was surprised that the book mentioned nothing about one major problem common to HFA children and adults: a severe difficulty with recognizing faces.

As a parent of a child diagnosed PDD-NOS, I was elated to find this book. I like the fact that it groups the Asperger's kids with the High Functioning Autistic kids, because in my experience, the two groups do have so much in common (and diagnoses can be somewhat subjective). The book is very well-written and has a positive outlook. I have found myself rereading parts, underlining, taking notes -- it is a great resource and has given me some terrific new ideas and insight into how I can better parent my son and encourage him to be the best he can be and live the fullest life he can. I highly recommend it.

This book was refreshing in that it focuses on how to use the strengths that ASD children possess in order to work through some of the difficulties they may face. This approach gave me a different way of viewing my son - a little guy with many tools that will help him overcome the challenges that will come his way.

This is an excellent book to learn about Asperger Syndrome. A social worker loaned me her copy and I found it very informative. I was not knowledgeable in what was causing our eight year old grandson's behavior. Half way into this borrowed book - I ordered this book and sent it to our daughter-in-law. She too found it an excellent book and the authors' suggestions very helpful in order to guide her son forward with his socialization. This current school year he is being home schooled due to the school system being unfamiliar with Asperger's. Our grandson has a very high IQ but this grandma could not understand "why" his social skills were lacking if he was so intelligent. I am now much better informed and truly believe it is very important that designated school personnel get specific training so these children do not have to be sent on a regular basis to the principal's office because of their behavior as our grandson was. This book addresses Asperger Syndrome from A to Z.

Our son's psychologist recommended this book following his Asperger's diagnosis and it has been tremendously useful already. We were able to gain understanding of our son with every chapter and implement new strategies immediately with positive results. This book has so much information in such a tiny space that you can read and re-read this many times and still glean more information. It helps you to understand what Asperger's is, why your child does what s/he does, and most importantly how to work with your child, teachers, and others to make life enjoyable and more functional again. I highly recommend this book to any parent of a newly diagnosed child. When you finish this book, you should read Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin - another fascinating and useful perspective on the ASD world of your child.