Asperger Syndrome and Adolescence: Practical Solutions for School Success (Paperback)

by Diane Adreon (Author), Brenda Smith Myles (Author)
Key Phrases: less structured times, learning traits, special education office, Asperger Syndrome, Circle of Friends, Karen Nelson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Myles and Adreon offer an array of practical, proven interventions to help address these challenges. -- Peter Gerhardt, Research assistant professor and division director- Rutgers University

The subtitle 'practical solutions for school success' guarantees that this book will be eagerly sought and frequently consulted. -- Bernard Rimland, Director Autism Research Institute

This must-have resource is jam-packed with sensible and easy-to-implement solutions for teachers, aides, parents, and others. -- Stephen Shore, Author of Beyond the Wall: Personal Experiences with Autism and Asperger Syndrome

Product Description
In this comprehensive book, the authors start with an overview of those characteristics of Asperger Syndrome that make adolescence particularly challenging and difficult. The centerpiece of the book is a detailed discussion of strategies and supports necessary to ensure a sucessful school experience for students with Asperger Syndrome at the middle and secondary levels.

What sets thisbook apart is the way it ties all the recommended strategies together in a real-life study of Michael, a youth with Asperger Syndrome. This touch of real life continues in the closing chapter, which consists of statements by parents and adolescents with Asperger Syndrome.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 227 pages
• Publisher: Autism Asperger Publishing Company; illustrated edition edition (May 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967251494
• ISBN-13: 978-0967251493
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #152,936 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #36 in	Books > Nonfiction > Education > Special Education > Mentally Disabled
  #42 in	Books > Nonfiction > Education > Special Education > Socially Handicapped
  #48 in	Books > Nonfiction > Education > Special Education > Behavioral Disorders

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good scheduling advice but little on pragmatics, February 5, 2003

By	John Harpur (Trim, Meath, IRELAND) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There is a wealth of advice in this book which all parents and teachers should find helpful. Plenty of checklists are offered and numerous cameo case histories are presented. The references are good but perhaps a bit limited (may be of importance only to researchers - no mention of central coherence deficit for instance). The main point of the book is the get schools to recognise and deal with stress build up in AS pupils before it boils over. Some of this will be familiar from Myles' other book on tantrum management.

The advice for high school transition is very practical. Make sure he knows the schedule, pin the timetable everywhere, fix routine reminders inside textbook covers, make sure he knows which teacher tolerates which behaviour, etc. It is all good sensible advice, though I wonder how deliverable it is in the ordinary school setting?

The authors touch on 'circle of friends', travelcards and a host of other supports, but ultimately pin their support hopes on resource teachers and an enlightened school policy. Unfortunately, this is where I begin to part company with the book. Few schools could make the quantum shifts expected, and the authors could have made much more of their advice if they had identified compromise strategies. Teachers are human, not superhuman. Also in my limited experience, parents of AS teenagers often have unrealistic expectations of their offspring's academic performance and that tends to obscure their grasp of daily school realities. The classic example here is the emphasis on the 'gifted' child who must attend a 'gifted' school irrespective of the impact that has on the school and child. The authors tend to cite gifted children examples a lot in their case studies. I don't think this is helpful.

Perhaps unconsciously the book also portrays the AS teenager as very much a ship in the night steering a lonely course from class to class, from teacher to teacher, etc. How to help out here? Again, while friendship strategies are touched upon, no elabaorated plan is developed. A weakness to my mind.

The book presents the AS teenager as very much a patient to be treated by the environment. I don't want to appear overly critical of the book. It is good that adolescent AS are being addressed, however, for the life of me I could not grasp why there is no section on teenage communication pragmatics - these are extensively treated in another book Succeeding with Interventions for Asperger Syndrome Adolescents. The authors simply skate by the whole problematic of communication skills. It seems that as long as your 'gifted' child is doing well academically and no one is hitting him, then we should be pleased. This struck me as a very lobsided developmental philosophy. Interestingly the book points out in footnote in the beginning that it will ignore sexuality and relationship issues. Ignore these? In a book dealing AS adolescents?

Overall this is a good book for advising on schedule construction and maintenance of the daily school routine. It has limitations and depending on your needs they may be significant or otherwise.

76 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Asperger Syndrome and Adolescence by Myles and Adreon, September 22, 2001

By	Leia Francisco (Washington. D.C. area) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book addresses a crucial need for parents, educators and children affected by Asperger's Syndrome. In clear, simple and solid terms the authors focus on the impact of Asperger's Syndrome(AS) in middle school and high school. Most important for those of us who are parents of AS children, it integrates specific classroom and support strategies. I used this book as the basis for my IEP meeting with my son's school committee. In fact, the school counselors were so impressed by some of the information that they are ordering the book for their department.

You will find very detailed examples of assessments, classroom setting needs, and organization supports ranging from homework checklists and graphic organizers to transitional checklists. A case study on "Michael" puts all the points into chronological action--with a hopeful outcome. I doubt that any parent with an AS child will not identify with the efforts and emotions associated with the case study.

The authors have managed something quite remarkable in making the rollercoaster teen years--thrown in with the unique challenges of Asperger's--understandable and they do, indeed, provide practical solutions.There are many fine books on AS, including Asperger's Syndrome, by Tony Attwood, but this gave me the concrete tools I needed at just the right time in my son's life.

To Brenda Smith Myles and Diane Adreon, thank you for this great resource. I will be using it often.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great help for older children with Aspergers, July 10, 2001

By	Ketty P. Gonzalez (Coral Gables, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This book is a wonderful tool to help children who have Aspergers Syndrome and are about to enter, or are in, middle or high school. Although many times they can "keep it together" until then, many children with AS falter when the academic and social demands of school increase. One of the authors is not only an expert on the field, she is also the mother of a son with AS, so she has been there. A must buy for parents of children with AS.