Look Me In the Eye: My Life with Asperger's

By John Elder Robison

Several months ago I re-visited Augusten Burrough's website because he is a favorite author of mine and I was very anxious to see when his next book was to be published. You may have heard of his most popular book, Running with Scissors, where he describes his incredibly dysfunctional childhood, his parents, and briefly his brother who was diagnosed at 40 with Asperger Syndrome (AS). Much to my disappointment, Burrough's latest book is not scheduled to come out for quite some time, but I was THRILLED when I saw his post from April 2007 about his older brother, John Elder Robison, and his new book about his life with AS that was to be published in the fall of 2007!!

While on the road for book signings for Running with Scissors, Burroughs was shocked at the amount of people who wanted to know more about his brother and all of the people who also identified themselves as having Asperger Syndrome. Burroughs encouraged his brother to write a book about his life and experiences before his diagnosis and what receiving the diagnosis so late in life has meant for him. Robison takes a wonderfully honest and matter of fact look back at his past: what might have been different, what had no impact, and how he has grown as a person because of, as well as regardless of, his diagnosis.

Please see our complete description of his book, Look Me In the Eye, for more details.

You can also visit Robison's own blog at: http://jerobison.blogspot.com/.

There are also a couple of other interesting and insightful interviews with Robison featured on YouTube, one where he is interviewed briefly by his brother and another on Greater Boston .

National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week is Oct. 21–27, 2007

This week is National Bullying Prevention Week.

The Autism Society of North Carolina Bookstore has a few key recommended titles on the subject of bullying. We would like to highlight a few of those titles here to alert parents and professionals about the resources we have available on this important topic. The titles we're featuring include a DVD and three books.


Being Bullied: Strategies and Solutions for People with Asperger's Syndrome is a 30-minute DVD program based on a presentation by Nick Dubin on the effects of bullying in school on children with Asperger Syndrome (AS). His presentation is primarily aimed at teachers and administrators, in order to give them ideas on the steps they can take to minimize the incidence of bullying in their schools. He provides sobering statistics on the number of children bullied each year, and he also offers constructive, encouraging advice on how to break down the culture of "bystander apathy." In addition, he introduces strategies for empowering the bullied child as well as the bully, so they can utilize their energy for more constructive purposes. His presentation is interspersed with clips of people with AS giving their thoughts on how bullying has affected their lives.


Gray's Guide to Bullying is an issue of The Jenison Autism Journal that features a series of articles on bullying written by educator and internationally known author Carol Gray. This publication is devoted to helping children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) deal with circumstances in which they encounter bullying. Gray, the creator of the Social Stories™ method, published this series of three articles in response to numerous questions she received about helping children with ASD who are bullied in various situations. This issue combines those articles on ASD and bullying into one useful guide that can be used by adults who live and work with children who have ASD.


Perfect Targets: Asperger Syndrome and Bullying is also an excellent resource on bullying. As the author notes, children and adolescents with Asperger Syndrome (AS) have a lack of social understanding that can lead to bullying by their classmates. These children are not only hurt emotionally and sometimes physically, but they are also deeply confused because they cannot make the distinction between manipulation and friendliness. This practical resource examines the social phenomenon of bullying and the social challenges and needs of children with AS. The author provides many insights and effective strategies for creating a bullying prevention program, and she also discusses specific environmental factors that foster bullying behaviors. The book also includes a chapter that offers a variety of personal perspectives on the subject. Written for parents and professionals, this book focuses on a whole-school approach to bullying prevention that involves administrators, teachers, parents, and students.


We also carry a children's book about bullying. Titled Nobody Knew What To Do: A Story About Bullying, this beautifully illustrated book for readers ages 4 to 8 tells the story of how one student gained the courage to deal with bullying. Ray, a student, is frequently the target of bullying. The other students don’t like it, but they are afraid to inform their teachers. One day, after having been beaten up the day before, Ray does not come back to school. A classmate hears the bullies talking about their future plans for Ray, and he gains the courage to tell his teacher. When Ray returns to school, the teacher and principal intervene, and the classmate tells of his pride in learning to stop bullies by working together with others. On the last page of the book, there are bullying prevention tips for educators and parents.

ASNC Top Ten Bestsellers List for September

September 2007 Top 10 Bestsellers

1. TEACCH Structured Teaching Assessment: Guides to Individualizing the Schedule and the Work System
   
   
2. Asperger Syndrome in the Inclusive Classroom: Advice and Strategies for Teachers
   
   
3. Tasks Galore for the Real World
   
   
4. Behavioural Concerns and Autistic Spectrum Disorders: Explanations and Strategies for Change
   
   
5. Tasks Galore: Making Groups Meaningful
   
   
6. More Than Words: Helping Parents Promote Communication and Social Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
   
   
7. Tasks Galore
   
   
8. TEACCH Transition Assessment Profile (TTAP)
   
   
9. Visual Supports for People with Autism: A Guide for Parents and Professionals
   
   
10. Climbing Art Obstacles in Autism: Teaching Visual-Motor Skills Through Visually Structured Art Activities
    

Please visit our website to read detailed descriptions of these and other popular titles. We are also adding new books weekly, so check out our New Items category to see our latest offerings.

Learning How to Mind Read

Mind Reading: The Interactive Guide to Emotions DVD-ROM is finally, finally, finally out! After a great deal of delay, illustrated by how much the Harry Potter actor pictured on the cover has aged, they seem to have worked out the formatting issues. We've been excited about this product for a while, because it seems like it offers so much more than the standard "let's learn emotions" books and videos out there. From the description:

"This disc contains an Emotions Library, which features 412 emotions organized into 24 groups. Each emotion is illustrated using 6 video clips, audio clips, notes, and mini-stories. There is also a Games Zone, which allows users to have fun with emotions and encourages informal learning about emotions in a less structured setting. In addition, there is a Learning Center, which contains lessons and quizzes to help users improve their emotion recognition skills."

The use of real photographs, instead of line drawings, is a definite strength, as is the use of photographs of people of all different ages and appearances, to help support generalization of the emotion identifcation skills learned from the computer activities.

Teachers and parents can also learn more strategies for teaching children with ASDs to recognize emotions in the book, Teaching Children with Autism to Mind-Read: A Practical Guide For Teachers and Parents, by Patricia Howlin, Simon Baron-Cohen, and Julie Hadwin, all renowned researchers in the field of ASDs. The strategies presented are divided into three core areas: teaching children about emotional understanding, including facial expressions; teaching children about informational states, including taking another person's perspective; and teaching children how to develop pretend play.

Visually Supporting Food Choices

We just got in a new CD-ROM from the "Picture This!" people, called Visual Foods. It contains over 3500 photos of food and cooking-related procedures, more than 300 pre-made layouts, and formatting software. This photo collection can be used with any age group. For young children it can be used to teach sequencing, receptive vocabulary words, and equipment labels. For older individuals it can be used to teach sequencing, meal preparation, and nutrition. It can also be used to assist nonverbal individuals who need a picture menu. It is designed to help provide support to visual learners (including early readers and nonverbal persons) in gaining new life skills and independence.

We think this is a particularly good item to pair with our customer favorite, Visual Recipes. This book contains 35 recipes grouped in the following categories: breakfast; lunch; side dishes; snacks, desserts; and drinks. The recipes consist of picture-based directions, and each step is framed for visual clarity. Simple text directions also accompany each step, and the importance of safety is highlighted. The book can also be used to teach functional math and beginning reading skills. It was designed by a parent of a child with ASD in order to teach her son fundamental skills in the kitchen, so it can serve as an excellent guide for creating further recipes of your own with the Visual Foods CD-ROM above, or with your own pictures.

General Explanation of ASDs in Spanish

We've been working on expanding our selection of Spanish-language autism titles in the bookstore, but we've been finding that there aren't all that many out there, or at least, not very many accessible to us here in the US. Therefore, we are always thrilled when we find a new one.

Our latest addition is El niño autista: Detección, evolución y tratamiento. It provides a general overview of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), with good explanations of the kinds of behaviors, language delays and/or disorders, and cognitive differences associated with autism. It also provides information on how caregivers can spot signs of autism, and where families can go for diagnosis and treatment.

This book seems particularly valuable in our Spanish selection because it does offer this nice general overview. Many of our other books focus on specific tasks, strategies, or only Asperger Syndrome, as opposed to ASDs as a whole. It offers a good place to start for newly diagnosed families, or teachers and other caregivers who would like to know more.

However, for those Spanish-speaking individuals who are ready for a lot more information, we do have another book to offer: Los Trastornos del Espectro de Autismo de la A a la Z. Presented in an easy-to-read format, the comprehensive information and strategies included in this handbook will help families, teachers, and other professional staff support individuals with ASD through the lifespan to achieve the best possible outcome. The two authors have a great deal of experience between them; Emily is the mother of a young man with ASD and an educational advocate, and Barbara has been a professional in the field of special education for more than 32 years. They decided to translate their original English version of this book into Spanish to help Spanish-speaking parents overcome the feeling of "double isolation," first due to the ASD diagnosis, and also because of the lack of information in Spanish about the disorder. The Spanish version won the 2006 Autism Society of America "Outstanding Literary Work of the Year" Award.

Two New "Topics in Autism" Books

We really like the "Topics in Autism" series from Woodbine House here at the ASNC Bookstore. Each book is written by professionals in the field, who present their information in a clear, knowledgable manner, accessible to professionals, paraprofessionals, and parents alike. Here are the two newest books in the series.

Self-Help Skills for People with Autism: A Systematic Teaching Approach stresses the importance of teaching self-help skills, reasoning that they are the foundation for many other more complex skills needed to reduce long-term dependence on others. It is appropriate for use with individuals between the ages of 24 months to the early teen years; however, it can also be used with older individuals working on skills typically taught within that age range. The core self-help skills presented in this guide are eating, toileting, dressing, and personal hygiene. Although the authors recommend a systematic approach, individualized instruction is stressed to help ensure successful skill acquisition. Emphasis is placed on developmental milestones, adhering to individual readiness to learn, and what the family or professional is prepared to teach. The authors also discuss determining what to teach, the context for learning, and motivating the individual to learn. Step-by-step examples include identifying target skills, baseline task analysis, instruction plans, and planning for the generalization of skills across settings.

Visual Supports For People with Autism: A Guide for Parents and Professionals was written by experienced professionals who currently head the Adult and Transitional Services Division at the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center at Rutgers University. They have written this resource to provide parents and professionals with the tools they need to accommodate the visual learner in any environment. The book provides valuable information on how to identify individuals who need visual supports, and also offers guidelines for use and determining the effectiveness of chosen supports. Illustrated visual support examples are presented in areas such as classroom organization; daily schedules; developing language; increasing memory; facilitating attending; motivation; and teaching sequential, math, reading, and social skills. The book is filled with more than 140 visual support ideas, and it also contains numerous tips, strategies, and case examples.