The World of the Autistic Child : Understanding and Treating Autistic Spectrum Disorders (Paperback)

~ Ph.D. Bryna Siegel (Author) "Autism is a developmental disorder that affects many aspects of how a child sees the world and learns from his or her experiences..." (more)
Key Phrases: developmental services agencies, higher functioning autistic people, physical aversives, United States, Autism Society of America, Fruit Loops (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Bryna Siegel has succeeded admirably in the difficult task of writing a book for parents of children with autistic conditions. Her style is clear and easy to understand even when she discusses complicated issues. She has empathy for the emotional and practical stresses and strains that are an inevitable part of caring for an autistic child. She discusses treatments and outcomes with clear-sighted honesty. This is a book that parents and professionals in the field will find invaluable."--Lorna Wing, M.D., Consultant Psychiatrist, The Centre for Social and Communication Disorders

"In this volume, Dr. Siegel combines equal measures of academic expertise, common sense, and empathy for her patients and their families. The result is an authoritative and easily readable book for students, professionals of all disciplines, and parents who are struggling to understand and help those with autism. I recommend Dr. Siegel's book to every student, fellow professional, and family without the slightest hesitation or qualification."--Edward R. Ritvo, M.D., UCLA School of Medicine

"Very well done in its scope and comprehensive. It covers a wide range of treatments and provides current perspective on each. Treatment of diagnosis is thorough. This is an excellent choice for the professional bookcase--be they teacher, therapist, parent or doctor."--Gerald Budzynski, York College of Pennsylvania

Noted in Ianadian Child Psychiatry Review

Product Description

For thousands of loving and concerned parents of autistic children, the suspicion that something may be wrong comes long before the clinical diagnosis of autism, PDD (pervasive developmental disorder), or Asperger's syndrome. When rounds of testing and consultations confirm parents' worst fears, their emotional turmoil is matched by an overriding practical concern: What do we do next? The World of the Autistic Child is by far the most complete and comprehensive book ever written for the parents of autistic children, and for the teachers, child specialists, and other professionals that care for them. Written by Dr. Bryna Siegel, a developmental psychologist and director of a large university clinic for autistic children, it provides help and hope not only for the children, but for their families--the parents, grandparents, siblings, and other caregivers who must come to grips with their own grief and confusion following a diagnosis of autism or other related disorder. Dr. Siegel believes that parents' best defense is to acquire, as early as possible, the knowledge and the parenting skills they will need to work with professionals to help their child fulfill his or her potential. This book, therefore, is about understanding the diagnosis of autism, the available treatments, and how to decide what is best for a particular child with autism or PDD. Straightforward and sympathetic, Dr. Siegel guides readers through the thicket of symptoms and labels, explaining the crucial importance of intensive early education, and how to find the resources and help that are available. Behavior modification, the development of daily living skills, guidelines for selecting and designing schooling, mainstreaming, the role for traditional academics in educating higher functioning children and young people, building effective parent-teacher relationships, psychoactive medications, and dealing with the possibility of residential placement are all covered. Dr. Siegel teaches parents and professionals to use their own common sense and personal observations in evaluating the many highly publicized but unorthodox and often untested treatments for autism, including the much-touted facilitated communication (F/C), holding therapy, auditory training, ""Options"" therapy, allergy treatments, and special diets. Pulling together a wealth of long-needed information on the latest educational and medical advances, The World of the Autistic Child is a superb guide and resource that no one who cares about autistic or developmentally disabled young people will want to be without.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 351 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press; Later Printing edition (January 29, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195119177
• ISBN-13: 978-0195119176
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #347,201 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not my world, it ain't -- an outdated look at autism, September 24, 2003

By	roguealleycat "roguealleycat" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World of the Autistic Child: Understanding and Treating Autistic Spectrum Disorders (Hardcover)

I am autistic. When I read a book titled "The World of the Autistic Child," I expect it to have at least a passing relevance to my childhood. I do not expect a lot. I do not expect the author to know exactly what I in particular was like, because every autistic person is different. I just expect some resemblance to my experience somewhere in there.

I found little to none of this. The view of autism is very narrow, the writing near-obsessed with categorizing different autistic people into different diagnoses (the author's second book, while it retains some of the faults of this one, at least abandons that practice). For instance, it describes Temple Grandin as a woman with "PDD", apparently unable to acknowledge her as a "true" autistic. The prognoses are as narrow as the diagnoses.

Much of the book gets stuck on these outdated, narrow-minded views of autism, often to an intricate level of detail, and then misinterprets most of them. It apparently carries this off well enough that people think it's giving them a glimpse into the autistic mind. I've got nothing against non-autistic people trying to do that, if they carry it off well, but in comparison to this book, even the least insightful, most overgeneralizing autistic person's writing would be an improvement. At least it would have some basis in *someone's* internal experience of autism. Then, after coming to strange conclusions based on narrow and warped data, the author comes out with a gloomy set of predictions that mirror what I've heard of her real-life comments to parents.

This book would have done better to call itself a study on autism from the outside, without claiming to know anything about our "worlds" ("world" is a fashionable term for the autistic mind, it seems). It's clear that the author has almost no insight there. I've heard parents claim that the book gives them insight into their child's mind, but like the other book by this author, I find it very likely that an ability to describe autistic people in detail is easily mistaken for an ability to understand autistic people. The former, this book is good at (even within the narrow descriptions). The latter, barely, if at all.

If you want to get some real information on autism, try _The Autistic Spectrum: A Parents' Guide to Understanding and Helping Your Child_ by Lorna Wing. It may contain numerous inaccuracies, but it has more basis in our "worlds" and our reality than _The World of the Autistic Child_, and provides information that is both more practical and more hopeful for parents, who are the main audience of both books. Even _Helping Children With Autism Learn_, Bryna Siegel's second book, is an improvement over this one, although I would hardly recommend it for its stated purpose.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I would still buy this book., July 7, 1998

By A Customer

I have read the paperback version of this book. I found the descriptions of autism, pdd & other autistic spectrum disorders a little confusing - I do not have a Phd in Psychiatry or Psychology and at some points felt like I needed one to understand the terminology, charts, etc. I also found the separation of autism & pdd to be confusing. I was also suprised to learn that most autistic children are also mentally retarded (I have seen no evidence of this with my son). The author seems to be against mainstreaming autistic children, as with all autistic children, the decision should be made on an individual basis & what is best for the child. I did find the chapters on teaching extremely helpful and the author does give parents info on how to get a diagnosis & where to go from there - I wish I'd had that 2 yrs ago. Anyway, I think this would be a very good book for parents of newly diagnosed autistic/pdd children or parents who feel their child may be autistic/pdd but need more info.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Becareful Newly Dx Parents of Spectrum Kids, November 1, 2001

By A Customer

Overall, I thought this book was well written with a lot of information regarding autistic spectrum disorders. I am though somewhat concerned about the accuracy of the information as it compares to all the other information that I have read over the last few months. It seems as though the research may be either out-dated or not applicable to a lot of the children who are being diagnoised on the spectrum these days. From what I read, in some parts of the country, 1 out of 400 children are being diagnoised under the spectrum. Certainly, the 80% and 50% mental retardation rates given to autistic and PDD groups, respectively, doesn't seem correct given the current "evolving definition of autism and related disorders." Given the array of differing diagnoses a child can receive I would be very careful in reading this book and thinking that this is what the future holds for your child.