Recommended Reading on AS/Parenting

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This isn't an AS book, but it really struck home for me with what I've noticed in public education as my son has gone through school:

The Trouble With Boys by Peg Tyre

Not every suggestion works for our kids (like more recess, when that is often the most difficult part of the day), but the discussion on how difficult the organization and writing skills have become is very, very relevant. It kind of helps focus what is an IEP item v. what you might try to change on a broader level at a school.

Like Color to the Blind by Donna Williams

One of the few auto biographies I've seen about life with autism (well, at least in the limited selection of the public library here). It's been awhile since I've read Tony Attwood's complete guide but I see other people beat me to include that one on the list. I'll have to reread it because the only thing out of that book that nagged at me was the Theory Of Mind section, I vaguely remember why but I'm thinking it's something to do with empathy.

This is a great book, written by a 13 year old boy with Aspergers. It gives a good insite to at least one boy's experience. One thing that I have learned is that all Aspergers kids are different and like and do different things. It was good to understand more of what my son might think about the world.

This is book was a great read about an Aspergers man who was only diagnosed later in his 40s. He lived through the 50s and 60s as an undiagnosed child, and has some amazing insites about his own experiences.

I just remembered this book and how helpful it was:

How to Be a Friend: A Guide to Making Friends and Keeping Them by Laura Krasny Brown and Marc Brown (of the Arthur books)

It is a picture book. We got it for my sons when they were about 5, and read it to them a zillion times. It gives good, practical, kid friendly advice about making friends, how to tell if someone is your friend etc. We found it really helpful for teaching basic social skills.

I am finding "Parenting a Child With Asperger Syndrome: 200 Tips and Strategies" by Brenda Boyd to be the most helpful out of anything that I have read so far. She does not try to paint AS with rosey tones, she is honest while staying positive. Her attitude makes me feel less "bad" and more "normal" for being so frustrated at times.

another fiction book from the perspective of someone autistic:
Anything But Typical

Someone from wrong planet actually recommended this one to me and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It is easy to read and understand and has real life stories to show how things work. Sorry whoever recommended it to me, I am horrible with remembering names (Come forward if you want the credit for it).

Building Bridges through sensory integration by Paula Aquilla, Shirley Sutton, & Ellen Yac

Book title is a link if you want to see the cover.

"Socially Curious and Curiously Social: A Social Thinking Guidebook for Teens & Young Adults with Asperger’s, ADHD, PDD-NOS, NVLD, or other Murky Undiagnosed Social Learning Issues" written by Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke

We have this one in our resource room for students, and it is dogeared from my Autism and Asperger's students borrowing it. It is funny and down to earth, written in Anime style.

Just curious, has anyone here read the book "Kids in the Syndrome Mix of ADHD, LD, Asperger's, Tourette's, Bipolar, and more!" It was my first library hold ready and i just started reading it yesterday. Does anyone who's read it have any opinions about it? It seems to be a good book so far but i'm only in the 2nd chapter. The main idea of the book seems to be that a lot of these syndromes are likely to present in the same individuals, and can exacerbate and mimic one another. So it's a book geared toward teaching and parenting children who could be anywhere in "the syndrome mix". I put it on hold because i wasn't sure at the time if my son has AS or ADHD or what, so i thought reading material covering a few different problems could be a good start.

Peace.

_________________
SAHM to 3 home schooled boys, ages 11 undiagnosed AS, almost 9 NT, and 4 NT. We also share our home with 13 companion animals including 5 cats, 2 dogs, 3 ferrets, 2 aquatic turtles, and 1 chinese water dragon

You are a Social Detective by Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke has been a great help to me in coming up with ways to communicate with my first-grader daughter about what sorts of behaviors are "expected" and which are not.

This was posted by makelifehappen in a thread titled:

Autism Physicians Handbook

My favorite nonfiction book is <i>A Parents Guide to Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism.</i> When I first starting suspecting my son was autistic, I did a lot of googling and almost everything I found then was not only terrifying but didn't seem at all like my son. And yet somehow I could not stop thinking autism was the answer.

This was the first book that talked about life as I knew it. I recommended it to everyone I knew who might want to understand my son better and my mother actually apologized to me after reading it, for not having "gotten it" before.