Future Horizons Incorporated Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew

well rounded book forsomeone with limited knowledge. great for someone with any influence on someone in the spectrum

I feel this is an excellent primer for those new to autism, especially those who are still struggling to understand if the behavior they see is identifiable. Our 5-year old son has recently been diagnosed with high-functioning autism, and I bought this book not only for myself, but for his grandparents. His grandmother read the book before coming to stay with my husband for a week while I was out of town, and it helped her immensely. It helps to give you a sense of empathy rather than just frustration when your child acts they way they do; consequently changing how you react to it (I'm much better able to be patient now that I understand that he is struggling to work his way through situations just as hard as I am). While I learned a significant amount of important basics, just as important is that I walked away with a sense of hope, which was incredibly healing for me as I emotionally wrestled with my feelings after the diagnosis. The author shares her experience with her own son, the highs and the lows; and later editions have epilogues in the back with updates on her child who is now a functional, happy, independent adult. While this does not mean that every child will turn out as well-adjusted, at least you feel as though it might actually be possible, instead of being consumed with nightmare scenarios of them as an adult.Another important component in the book is her careful analysis of the language we use to describe people with autism and how much damage it can (and does) do - not only to the psyche of the adult, but also the child, and the world at large (this is such a stigmatized condition, which was part of my struggle when I heard the news - I thought I knew what autism was. I did not). Phrases such as "suffer from autism" for example, are unhelpful and give the wrong impression about a child's daily existence. As another reviewer (who has autism) touches on, even high profile, helpful advocate organizations such as Autism Speaks infer that there is something "lesser-than" about those with autism, by referring to "finding the missing piece of the puzzle" (which is also illustrated in their logo). From this book I realized my son is not missing any pieces, he is just a more complicated puzzle to fit together (and all children are puzzles in their own way, really). While it is true, as several other reviewers have mentioned, there are not many specific strategies other than making you aware of what's going on in an autistic child's brain and how they perceive the world, I don't think this book is meant for that. It is a personalized viewpoint from a mother who has worked her way through this with her own child, and the things she learned that can apply to your child (and you) as well. *Specific* strategies come from therapy, as every child is different, and will need slightly different guidance and help. There's no "one-size-fits-all" remedy (although if you are looking for some basic strategies as well as ideas for how to help your child on an on-going, daily basis, I am finding "1001 Great Ideas for Teaching and Raising Children with Asperger's and Autism" to be helpful).This book literally changed my way of thinking about the future and about my son, and as a mom staring down a new, uncertain, long and winding road, I am very, very grateful.

I have ordered 8 copies of this book, I run an Autism support group for parents who have children with ASD, I highly recommend this book for parents, teachers, and anyone interested in learning about ASD, the book is immediate and user friendly, simple to absorb and understand what the content literatures attempting to relay. You wont be disappointed I intend to order more copies great for "parents receiving ASD diagnosis" give great insight into ASD and more importantly "focuses on understanding ASD from the child's perspective" If I could give this book a rating I would rate 100 STARS!

I am using this book for both personal and professional reasons. If you are a parent of an autistic child many of these things you have discovered already. That being said, if you have just received a diagnosis or are not familiar with autism this is a great book to read. It is written in Plain English . The book is organized so that one gets a brief overview of the ten things and then the chapters that follow are more in depth. I like this because it makes for easy reference. I also like the fact that it points out that no one should stereotype anyone. My sons autism is not who he is just one aspect of him. I introduce him as my son NOT my autistic son. This is a great text for educating your family members as well as those outsiders that are ignorant . I actually had an ignorant man ask me what is he? I replied a human being with special super powers.

..... living with someone on the autistic spectrum. I have read a number of books that purport to help understand the breadth of challenges facing the families of those living with an autistic child. All were helpful, some more than others, with the only deficiencies being perhaps a too narrow focus on the authors personal experience. An understandable approach, given that the majority of those challenged by Autism present different behaviour and symptoms reflecting their position on the spectrum.There does seem to be however a number of consistent core truths and behaviours that are vitally important to understand and come to grips with. Ellen Notbohm manages to capture most of these and presents in a clear and concise manner a road map, if you will, explaining these key elements and offering a well thought out response that I hope you will find, as I did, enormously helpful.You cannot take the square peg representing an autistic child's needs and fit it into the round hole that is our expectations of how to parent a child.The parenting skills we learned from our families, our teachers, our therapists, may be roughly useful to help you cope with the majority of children but there are those who are tuned to a different frequency. They need extra love, extra understanding and a standard Dr. Spock approach may not fit. We need to learn to tune in to the right channel. Ten Things can help you. I highly recommend it.