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Body, Mind, & Spirit Books
Emotional Health & Psychology Books
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Autism Books
Stephen Shore
Linda G. Rastelli
Temple Grandin
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Published:
September 19, 2006

Understanding Autism For Dummies

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Overview

Friendly, accessible guidance for parents of autistic children and people caring for autistic adults

Autism affects more than 1 million children and adults in the United States, and parents may be confused by the behavior of autistic children. This book provides help-and hope-by explaining the differences between various types of autism and delivering the lowdown on behavioral, educational, medical, other interventions. Featuring inspiring autism success stories as well as a list of organizations where people who support those with autism can go for additional help, it offers practical advice on how to educate children as well as insights on helping people with autism use their strengths to maximize their potential in life.

Stephen Shore, EdD (Brookline MA), serves on the board for several autism spectrum-related organizations and he has written Beyond the Wall: Personal Experiences with Autism and Asperger Syndrome (1-931282-00-5) and edited Ask and Tell: Self Advocacy and Disclosure For People on the Autism Spectrum (1-931282-58-7).
Linda G. Rastelli (Middletown, NJ) is a veteran journalist who specializes in health and business.
Temple Grandin, PhD (Fort Collins, CO) is the author of the bestselling Thinking in Pictures (0-679-77289-8) and Emergence: Labeled Autistic (0-446-67182-7).

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About The Author

Stephen M. Shore, EdD, who was diagnosed on the autism spectrum, is a college professor and an international lecturer and consultant on autism.

Linda G. Rastelli, MA, is an award-winning writer with 20 years of experience writing about health, education, and business topics.

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understanding autism for dummies

CHEAT SHEET

As you're learning more about autism, this Cheat Sheet can serve as a handy reference to the related acronyms and helpful websites. It also provides tips on how to communicate with a person who has autism, make sure they get the most from their education, and ensure they are properly prepared for emergencies.Questions to ask about autism interventionsMany “entrepreneurs” are only too happy to accept your money for their “miracle cures” or interventions for your loved one with autism.
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As with every other condition, autism has its own set of acronyms that it pays to become familiar with. The following table helps you translate some of the acronyms you’ll see and hear over and over during your life as a caregiver of or a person with autism. Acronym What It Stands For ABA Applied Behavioral A
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Many “entrepreneurs” are only too happy to accept your money for their “miracle cures” or interventions for your loved one with autism. Keep your eyes open, and ask these questions about all those sellers and their interventions: What evidence supports the intervention’s effectiveness? Is the evidence independent research or just case studies?
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Language and communication deficits are usually the most serious and stressful aspects of autism. Communicating successfully is a major challenge many people with autism face. Their ability to communicate dramatically affects how well they interact socially in a non-autistic world. Many people with autism lack the skill to even request a glass of water or to ask that the volume of a television set be turned down.
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People with Asperger Syndrome tend to be exceptional. Their ability to communicate, their great memories, and their intelligence often mean that teachers, doctors, and family members don't notice the real challenges in socialization and pragmatics that they face. As a result, children and adults with Asperger Syndrome often don’t get correct diagnoses or receive the proper treatment and support until later in life (compared to those who are more severely affected with autism and are more noticeable).
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Because doctors can’t definitively, precisely diagnose autism, they encounter several other conditions and symptoms that tend to enter the diagnostic mix. This mixture makes awareness of conditions with related or similar symptoms important. Read on to see a rundown of conditions and symptoms and appear to be like autism.
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Finding out your child has autism is very difficult. No one can tell you that the road ahead will be easy. You may have to rewrite the script of your child’s life (and your own). You have a whole new set of issues, pressures, and decisions to deal with now. And people around you may not understand or appreciate the depth of what you’re going through.
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Researchers are able to identify symptoms of autism at younger ages than ever before, as young as 18 months. This development leads toward more emphasis on early treatment, simply because that time frame is where children can usually make the greatest gains. Pediatricians are now looking for potential markers, such as a larger head during exams, and they are encouraging parents to look for other early symptoms, such as unusual eye contact and inability to follow a point.
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Your child with autism can thrive in school. You may need to be more involved in the educational process of your autistic child than with an unaffected child, but the rewards of that extra investment can really pay off for you and your child. The following tips can guide you and your child’s teachers to a good educational experience: Insist on specific and measurable goals for your child’s IEP (Individualized Education Program).
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If you have autism or are caring for someone with autism, you can find resources, information, and legal support through the Internet. The links in the following list can help open new vistas of aid and support: Autism Resources Autism Society Wrightslaw
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Communication is one of the biggest challenges for people with autism. To engage in conversation with someone with autism, you need to shift your expectations and perhaps your style of communication a bit. The tips in the following list can help you understand and be understood by a person with autism: Speak slowly and clearly, and don’t expect an immediate response.
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You can help most autistic children think conceptually by guiding them to put details together to form ideas — preferably with visual symbols. You can demonstrate abstract concepts like “more” or “less” with objects instead of explaining them in words.To teach an autistic child fractions, for example, you can use a piece of paper or a piece of fruit that you can cut up to show quarters, thirds, and halves.
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For many people with autism any disruption of their routine is overwhelming, and a real emergency situation is enough to throw anyone off-balance. So, if you have a loved one with autism, it pays to prepare as best you can before an emergency arises. Use the following tips to prepare your autistic loved one and your whole family: Consider attaching an identification sticker to the door or window of an autistic person’s home to prepare a person coming in to help.
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One of the hardest things to understand about an autism spectrum disorder is the great importance many people with autism place on structure and routine. Your autistic child may shriek if she can’t watch her favorite video all the way through each time, even though she’s seen it countless times. Or he may have to put on his shoes immediately after he puts on his socks, and if his parents can’t locate the shoes he likes best immediately, he asks for them repeatedly, sounding like a broken record, until he gets them.
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Regrettably, bullying in school, on the playground, and beyond is a fact of life for people with differences. Most people on the autism spectrum report bullying experiences in school. Some research indicates that 94 percent of children with Asperger Syndrome are bullied in school. Bullying is characterized by four key components: A power imbalance.
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If you have autism or you care for a person with autism, making an emergency ID card is a good idea. If you make a card for someone else, educate the person with autism to keep it on hand to share with people in confusing situations, such as when they’re approached by a uniformed person or when they have difficulty interacting with others they don’t know.
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Autistic disorder is classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, a reference published by the American Psychiatric Association, as having 6 or more symptoms from a list of 12 possible symptoms. The manual groups these symptoms of autism into three areas: social interaction, communication, and behavior.
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Some people classify autism spectrum disorders into subtypes by their presumed causes, but because science hasn't yet resolved the causes, this practice is controversial and not widely accepted. But you can look at autism as a spectrum ranging from severe to light. People with severe autism might be greatly disabled, whereas those with high-functioning autism (HFA) and Asperger Syndrome may be affected so slightly that their autism doesn't play a major role in their lives.
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Professionals diagnose autism based upon symptoms shown in the categories of social interaction, communication, and behavior. Early diagnosis and intervention, with characteristics present before the age of 3, are very important, because research shows that many features of autism respond better when you deal with them early.
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As you're learning more about autism, this Cheat Sheet can serve as a handy reference to the related acronyms and helpful websites. It also provides tips on how to communicate with a person who has autism, make sure they get the most from their education, and ensure they are properly prepared for emergencies.Questions to ask about autism interventionsMany “entrepreneurs” are only too happy to accept your money for their “miracle cures” or interventions for your loved one with autism.
Read More
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If your child has been diagnosed on the autism spectrum, you need to worry more about actually understanding and treating his condition more than the clinical labels he gets stuck with. The earlier your child is diagnosed with autism, and the sooner you find the best medical care and programs available to you, to more your child will prosper.
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