Customer Reviews

1001 Great Ideas for Teaching and Raising Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have shelves filled with books with 'how to' and I have tried them all. My son, Brian now 14, has severe mental retardation, there are very few books for 'teaching' children like him. I took a chance on this one, and worth it. Thanx to the notes in the book I no longer try and stop him from bitting his hands, but understadning why, all of us at home started to take notes of when and what happened before and now we focus on the what happens before. This is just one excellent example.

We had a good summer and he has made great progress because of the book. We did projects with him, set real targets and monitored. My 9 year old daughter who is a part of the team helping her 14 year old sibblings, got ideas of things she could do with him and learnt much about not doing 'for him'.

The instructions for action, and this is what the book spurs you to do 'act' are clear and logically. So many times we go on to another 'intervention' and when we read the explanation that leads to the action I hear myself thinking, but you know what that is logical. It may say 'Autism Spectrum', but it is forall of us who has a child/young adult with moderate to severe intellectural disability.

I am purchasing two extra copies of the book. One to send to school when he starts in another two weeks, the other to my sister who we plan to visit in December. I also chair the National Advisory Board for Persons with Disability here in Jamaica and I am going to recommending this book to all who will listen.

I can not tell you how very much this book has helped myself and my 2 children with autism as well as the educators that I entrust with my children. There is something for everyone in this book. There are so many simple answers to big questions, I literally wanted to say "Oh, why didn't I think of that?" The education and guidance that these authors offer us, as parents, is priceless. There are so many books out there. My library of books regarding "our" spectrum grows daily. However, this one book has done more for our "team," we, as parents, and my children's teachers than any other book I can name. I will add, for our children's point of view, I very strongly suggest all books by Temple Grandin. My hope is that any parent/caregiver, anyone who loves a person with an Autism Spectrum Disorder will read this book and contact me, to expand all of our networks of support and love for these incredible people who happen to have ASD's and whom we are blessed to share our lives with. Please feel free to contact me at kristenc@wcoil.com.
Thank you to the authors, the publisher and to all who support this fabulous reference. Thank you.

This book filters through all the technical terms and gives you quick, much needed information for those daily challenges that you definitely will encounter. It deals with so many of the major issues (social, sensory, behavioral, and self-care). It is a must read for anyone that knows or works with an individual on the spectrum.

I have never written an online review in my life. However, as the parent of an autistic child, I felt I had to do this for the benefit of other parents out there that are not sure about buying this book.

The bottom line is that you should buy it! All sorts of information and ideas are presented in this ONE book. I've done research on my own and have had to put the pieces together. It was great to see all of my pieces in this book plus so much more. I wish I would have found this book years ago! It would have saved me much time and effort.

The other pluses to this book are that it is easy to read and you can easily skip around as needed if you don't have the time to read it cover to cover (which you will find yourself doing because it is written so well). Now, let me be clear. This book by no means covers all ideas in detail after detail in chapter after chapter. Think about this book as Cliff's Notes and as a great way to start thinking out of the box.

As a teacher of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) and Sensory Integration Dysfunction (DSI), I have read nearly ever book written on the subject. Most focus on recognizing, and getting a diagnosis and treatment for, ASDs, or games/activities. This book stands out as one of few that address COPING. It is full of small techniques and tricks to help your child/student cope with the world around them. Some are everyday routine suggestions; others are situational tricks that actually help (I've test-run many). Even if you think you know pretty much everything, there are enough fresh ideas in this book to make it worth the read. I highly recommend it to anyone who works with these special kids.

My friend is a joy to be around most of the time. However, I must admit that there are those moments that I just don't understand why he does certain things. I cringe when he speaks out of turn or what I think may be strange or inappropriate. I've often thought "if only he would/wouldn't do certain things, he wouldn't have such a problem socially. I hurt for him. Through the reading of this book and others, including, "Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew", I have learned to show him always that I love him unconditionally. He will develop on his timeline and feel more self confidence in being who he is. He too has gifts and abilities just waiting to be discovered. Great Book!

As a father of a child with ASD and a special education teacher who deals with ASD kids every day in some ways I am in a unique position to judge the merits of programmes and strategies that come up. I welcome this book that it gives strategies for various situations one is likely to encounter and this is appreciated after attending lots of broad sweeping seminars etc. Unfortunately the book itself seems to suffer from sensory overload , it flow is jumbled and there is little structure to the book. The chapters are ad hoc and so are the strategies. The book is not written by educational professionals so practising teachers will see that many of the experiences are part of the general curriculum.
One of the keys factors that I have found both at at school and home is the environment that ASD kids thrive in , which is structured routine environments that have been carefully planned to eliminate sensory overload. This is not really adequately addessed in the book. When I believe it should be the cornerstone of intervetion and then other strategies and experiences flow from that position.
Too many time have I seen ASD kids meltdown because conditions at home or in the classroom are disorganised , chaotic and random.
Having said all this there are some real gems in this book which makes it well worth the purchase price and giving it a good thorough reading several times.
Personally I would like to see a better book with clear steps and layout written by parents , teachers , kids and others.

While Autism can be mystifying, this book is a real time-saver in unraveling so many of its misconceptions. It gives you solution options, offering hope to those working with children with ASD and the social, sensory, behavioral, and self-care issues they have. This book offers non technical, practical, indispensable advice. An absolute must for educators.

Wow! I can't say enough about the invaluable information that I gained from this book. I have read many books on different aspects of autism, but this one tops them all. It helps you to be able to get into the mind of one with autism and understand more fully how they process information. The book gives insight on sensory integration a means to communication. I cannot imagine having great needs and not being able to make them known. How frustrating that would be. We are reminded to patiently and wisely move on to Plan B when Plan A is not working.

Terrific ideas! Very creative suggestions on embracing it's presence in our lives and how to successfully work with these individuals. Great guidelines to understanding the limits of their world such as: sensory issues, overload, communication, limited interests, and interaction with others.