A Full Life With Autism

A guide for helping our children lead meaningful and independent lives as they reach adulthood In the next five years, hundreds of thousands of children with autism spectrum disorder will reach adulthood. And while diagnosis and treatment for children has improved in recent years, parents want to know: What happens to my child when I am no longer able to care for or assist him? Autism expert Chantal Sicile-Kira and her son Jeremy offer real solutions to a host of difficult questions, including how young adults of different abilities and their parents can: *navigate this new economy where adult service resources are scarce *cope with the difficulties of living apart from the nuclear family *find, and keep a job that provides meaning, stability and an income *create and sustain fulfilling relationships

A life skills guide for individuals with autism and Asperger's syndrome discusses social skills and strategies needed for success in the adult world, including discussion of perspective-taking, nonverbal communication skills, and stress management.

One of the biggest fears of parents with children with autism is looming adulthood and all that it entails. In her new book Susan Senator takes the mystery out of adult life on the autism spectrum and conveys the positive message that even though autism adulthood is complicated and challenging, there are many ways to make it manageable and enjoyable. From her own son with autism, now twenty-five, she has learned “never say never.” Autism Adulthood features thirty interviews with autistic adults, their parents, caregivers, researchers, and professionals. Each vignette reveals firsthand a family’s challenge, their circumstances, their thought processes, and their unique solutions and plans of action. Sharing the wisdom that emerges from parents’ and self-advocates’ experiences, Senator adds her own observations and conclusions based on her long-term experience with autism. Told in Senator’s trademark warm, honest, and approachable style, Autism Adulthood paints a vivid and thought-provoking picture of many people grappling with grown-up, real-life autism. Senator’s is the only book of its kind, as real families share their stories and their creative solutions.

"Meet Annabelle! She loves to draw and play her ukulele. She also has Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Annabelle is real and so are her experiences. Learn about her life in this illustrated narrative nonfiction picture book for elementary students"--

The co-author of "Asperger's and Girls" presents a no-nonsense guide to teaching children with Asperger's or autism the life skills they will need to function as an adult.

Does your child struggle with brushing their teeth? Is it difficult to get them dressed and undressed each day? Do they struggle to understand their body's relationship to the world? This book is brimming with simple ideas, activities and exercises to address these daily challenges that young children with autism face. Easy to carry out and to fit into your routines, they will help improve a child's sense of body awareness, coordination and motor skills, and address key tasks such as eating meals and healthy sleep. There are also ideas for tackling social challenges, including playing with friends, going on holiday and staying calm at school. The final chapter of the book explains the different support professionals parents of a child with autism are likely to encounter and how each can help their child. This jargon-free book shows how occupational therapy techniques can be used to help your young child with autism to live life to the full, and will be an essential tool for parents and carers.

In 1991, Mark Osteen and his wife, Leslie, were struggling to understand why their son, Cameron, was so different from other kids. At age one, Cam had little interest in toys and was surprisingly fixated on books. He didn’t make baby sounds; he ignored other children. As he grew older, he failed to grasp language, remaining unresponsive even when his parents called his name. When Cam started having screaming anxiety attacks, Mark and Leslie began to grasp that Cam was developmentally delayed. But when Leslie raised the possibility of an autism diagnosis, Mark balked. Autism is so rare, he thought. Might as well worry about being struck by lightning. Since that time, awareness of autism has grown monumentally. Autism has received extensive coverage in the news media, and it has become a popular subject for film, television, and literature, but the disorder is frequently portrayed and perceived as a set of eccentricities that can be corrected with proper treatment. In reality, autism permanently wrecks many children’s chances for typical lives. Plenty of recent bestsellers have described the hardships of autism, but those memoirs usually focus on the recovery of people who overcome some or all of the challenges of the disorder. And while that plot is uplifting, it’s rare in real life, as few autistic children fully recover. The territory of severe autism—of the child who is debilitated by the condition, who will never be cured—has been largely neglected. One of Us: A Family’s Life with Autism tells that story. In this book, Mark Osteen chronicles the experience of raising Cam, whose autism causes him aggression, insomnia, compulsions, and physical sickness. In a powerful, deeply personal narrative, Osteen recounts the struggles he and his wife endured in diagnosing, treating, and understanding Cam’s disability, following the family through the years of medical difficulties and emotional wrangling. One of Us thrusts the reader into the life of a child who exists in his own world and describes the immense hardships faced by those who love and care for him. Leslie and Mark's marriage is sorely tested by their son's condition, and the book follows their progress from denial to acceptance while they fight to save their own relationship. By embracing the little victories of their life with Cam and by learning to love him as he is, Mark takes the reader down a road just as gratifying, and perhaps more moving, than one to recovery. One of Us is not a book about a child who overcomes autism. Instead, it’s the story of a different but equally rare sort of victory—the triumph of love over tremendous adversity.

MICHAELISM: My POV on Life with Autism was written based on my own personal experiences having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). I was diagnosed when I was three years old when I was in Preschool and let me tell you something: it has not been an easy road! I have worked hard with my family and other professionals who have supported me throughout my whole life and continue to help me. This book is based on my own personal experiences and I am sharing my Point of View (POV) on life with Autism. Everyone on the spectrum is different. I hope that the readers will gain a better understanding of individuals with ASD.