“Sex, Drugs and Asperger’s Syndrome (ASD)”

A User Guide to Adulthood

by Luke Jackson
with a foreword by Tony Attwood.
Jessica Kingsley Publishers

I wholeheartedly recommend this book. This is the unabridged sequel to Luke Jackson’s best selling guide to adolescence Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome. In this new book he reveals the pitfalls involved in the transition to adulthood and the challenges to adult life.

He delivers his information in a humorous, personal way but is very keen not to generalise or stereotype. He also uses bullet points and lists which I personally found very helpful to focus on. He covers everything from socialising, bullying, drugs, alcohol, relationships, finding and keeping your first job and what topics are good to talk about in social situations and what topics you probably shouldn’t talk about in social situations.

Tony Attwood provides the foreword and focuses on the sensory issues which Luke refers to throughout his book.

We will be bringing this to our next monthly post-diagnostic support group to donate to Autism Inclusive.

“The Dyspraxic Learner: Strategies for Success”

by Alison Patrick
Jessica Kingsley Publishers

This is a well written book written from the perspective of a professional working within the field but also from her personal experiences.

The chapter headings are as follows:

UNDERSTANDING DYSPRAXIA
PHYSICAL DYSPRAXIA
LITERACY STRATEGIES
EFFECTIVE STUDY SKILLS
THE DYSPRAXIC MIND: NEUROLOGICAL EFFECTS
THE DYSPRAXIC MIND: EMOTIONAL CONSEQUENCES
PREPARING FOR WORK

It is of most relevance for children and young people and of course parents of children with Dyspraxia. I particularly like the conclusion where it focuses on diagnosis, treatment, research that she would like to see happening as very little research is going on with Dyspraxia and the fact that there needs to be change in society and an awareness of the diversity of thinking skills that comes with Dyspraxia. The key strengths identified are:

EMPATHY FOR OTHER PEOPLE
LATERAL THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITIES
HAVING A PERSPECTIVE THAT DEVIATES FROM THE NORM

There are lots of practical examples of things that may or may nor help and I recommend this book.

I shall be bringing it to Crewe Library on Wednesday if people would like to borrow it from Autism Inclusive. Donations are gratefully received for borrowing books.

“Marriage and Lasting Relationships with Asperger Syndrome”

(Autism Spectrum Disorder). Successful strategies for couples or counsellors

by Eva A Mendez
with a foreword by Steven M Shore.
Jessica Kingsley Publishers

I recommend this for anyone in a relationship with someone with Asperger Syndrome.  The author clearly explains her terminology, uses case studies throughout to illustrate what she is trying to say and has potentially useful charts and schedules for people to follow that may help in relationships that are perhaps not working as well as either partner would hope for.

She interestingly uses the term “NS” meaning Non-Spectrum rather than NT meaning Neurotypical.  As she points out the NS spouse or partner can have neurological differences other than Autism Spectrum Disorder.  She also changes Autism Spectrum Disorder to Autism Spectrum Difference as she views individuals on the Autism Spectrum as being neurologically different rather than having a disorder.

The chapters include pursuing a diagnosis or not, accepting the diagnosis, learning about and understanding ASD, managing anxiety, depression, anger, OCD and ADHD, self-exploration, awareness and advocacy, expanding Theory of Mind and emotional intelligence, coping with sensory overload and avoiding meltdowns, meeting each other’s sexual needs, bridging parallel play, creating a relationship schedule™ ,  improving communication, co-parenting strategies, prioritising self-care for the NS partner, organising, planning and outsourcing, suspending judgements and managing expectations, staying motivated, neuordiverse couples counselling, every neurodiverse marriage is unique.

This is an up to date book drawing on current research and thinking but more importantly the book is being informed by a number of people she has worked with which seems to be considerable.

She also states that whilst the majority of couples that come to see her consist of an NS woman married to a man with ASD the principles in the book are relevant to couples who are in same sex relationships and those who do not fall into binary genders.

Just a word of “warning” Eva Mendez is American and the book is written for an American audience so please bear this in mind.

I shall be donating this book to Autism Inclusive at our monthly post-diagnostic support group.  These books are free to be borrowed, however, donations would be gratefully received.

Book Review of
“M IS FOR AUTISM”
Students of Limpsfield Grange School

Vicki Martin
Jessica Kingsley Publishers

ISBN Number 978 1 84905 684 7

I don’t know how many of you saw the television documentary of the Students of Limpsfield Grange School (and a link to it if possible) and this is a book that is written by and for teenage girls with Autism, however not only would I recommend this for any teenager with Autism, but also for parents of children with Autism and certainly professionals. It is beautifully illustrated with lots of wonderful colour and lots of wonderful coloured pages (including purple!).

It is clearly written with not too many words and certainly no jargon or terminology, making it an accessible book for everyone. It talks very much about the anxiety of the young teenager with Autism, as well as the struggles to gain a diagnosis and the impact of the diagnosis, not only on the young girl herself, but on her mother and father. It also talks about the relationship between her and her brother and in very few words, in my opinion, manages to convey in particular, the anxiety and confusion that surrounds people with Autism living in the world that is at best confusing and at times frightening.

I wholeheartedly recommend this and brought the book along to our August post diagnostic support group meeting and gave to Autism Inclusive. As always the books can be borrowed from Autism Inclusive, there is no charge but donations will be gratefully received.

Book Review of Autism from Diagnostic pathway to Intervention:

I thoroughly recommend this book to parents with children on the Autism Spectrum that they can then share with Educational Psychology, teaching staff and so on.

Whilst it starts from the diagnosis it points out quite rightly that whilst diagnosis is about grouping that diagnostic criteria are actually very narrow and only focus on social communication, social interaction, repetitive patterns of behaviour.

The book goes on to talk about much more modern models of cognitive functioning in Autism, including Mentalising (Theory of Mind – that is the ability to understand other people’s intentions, beliefs and desires), weak central coherence (that is a skill in paying attention to detail but that leading to missing the wider context). It also talks about executive functioning. Executive functioning is also explained in terms of planning, self-monitoring, especially use of working memory and focusing attention and switching attention appropriately.

These important theories are explained in relatively simple language and all the way along the examples given are of real children in real world situations. It also talks about Autism as context blindness, that is not being able to use the context spontaneously to determine meaning.

Throughout the book real examples are given. They also use tables, drawings too, and provide checklists which the author has allowed to be photocopied that could actually be used with real children in real life situations such as in school.

The chapters look at the following areas:

• Looking at a child’s learning style
• working and learning as a member of a group
• social interaction and social communication
• social understanding
• executive functioning

There is also a very interesting chapter called Autism and the Landscape of Fear.

All the references are published at the back and there is an extremely interesting appendix on sensory sensitivities.

I shall be giving this book to Autism Inclusive to be included in their library and just a reminder that whilst no charges are made for borrowing books all donations to Autism Inclusive would be gratefully received.