In So Many Words

Sunday Best is a collection of my favorite links from blogs I have read in the past week (or sometimes a bit more if I get behind!) Posts may range from thought-provoking or challenging to instructive or informational, with a dose of fun and light-heartedness thrown in occasionally for good measure.

No Pick Outs! – Some food-inspired thoughts from The Gang’s Momma at The Gang’s All Here! about adoption, the Great Commission and the Word of God. Sounds like heavy stuff, I know, but this is well worth the read.

A Message for the Village – A too-true post by Caitlin at Welcome to Normal about how we don’t always ask for help from those around us, even when we really need it. This really resonates with me and is a good reminder to those of with friends who may be struggling without showing it.

Learning About Friendship by K.I. Al-Ghani – A review of a book about friendship skills for children with Asperger’s and High-Functioning Autism by Maddy at Whitterer on Autism. I have placed this on my list of must-get books for Michael.

Aspergers Children and Manipulative Behavior – Interesting article at My Aspergers Child about various forms of manipulative behavior and how to address them (with “manipulative” being used merely to describe the type of behavior without connotating a “bad” child). I was especially interested to see something I have tried to describe from my experiences with Michael being given a name – “confusion promotion.” I’m not sure he does it on purpose, but sometimes I feel like we have gotten so far away from where we started that I’m not even sure what the original disagreement was about!

Auditory Processing Strategies for the Classroom – I am often commenting to Michael’s team at school that I don’t think they realize how much of the verbal information that the other children pick up doesn’t register with him. This article at National Autism Resources has a great list of suggestions that could be implemented for a child with this sort of difficulty.

Please feel free to share your favorites from the week in the comments – I’ll be sure to check them out!

I have a guest post up for Try This Tuesday over at 5MFSN today; Dr. H from Adopting the Older Child is sharing about the strategies and tools she has found to help her adopted daughter get through the night.

Since I had suggested a topic of book recommendations for this week, however, I decided to post my own list of books that I have found the most helpful since finding out my child had special needs here.

Book Recommendations: Trish’s Top Ten

Coming up with a definitive best books list is practically impossible, so I am going to just share a few books that came to me right when I needed them and have helped me get through some of the challenges that have arisen.

1. Facing Autism by Lynn M. Hamilton

2. Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder: A Mother’s Story of Research & Recovery by Karyn Seroussi

3. Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Complete Guide to Understanding Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and Other ASDs by Chantal Sicile-Kira

4. Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children with Sensory Processing Disorder by Lucy Jane Miller

5. Engaging Autism: Using the Floortime Approach to Help Children Relate, Communicate, and Think by Stanley I. Greenspan and Serena Weider

6. The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children by Ross W. Greene

7. Visual Strategies for Improving Communication : Practical Supports for School & Home by Linda A. Hodgdon

8. The Complete IEP Guide: How to Advocate for Your Special Ed Child by Lawrence M. Siegel

9. Autism: Effective Biomedical Treatments by Dr. Sidney Baker and Dr. Jon Pangborn

10. What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children’s Vaccinations by Dr. Stephanie Cave

and a bonus, just because it’s a topic near and dear to many a mother’s heart…

11. Toilet Training for Individuals with Autism or Other Developmental Issues by Maria Wheeler

For more great book recommendations and other tips, check out Try This Tuesday!

For my general post at 5MFSN on Friday, I decided to spend just one more week on the topic of special needs ministry. Since I have talked mainly about my own experiences for the last two weeks, I decided to post a list of resources related to this area. I included several books and ministries that our team researched prior to starting the Friendship Station, as well as some others that I found.

Some of you may remember my series of Autism Resources posts back in April of this year, as part of the Blogger for Autism Awareness effort organized by Genevieve at Mother of Confusion (currently a mother-to-be of more confusion!). I finally updated all the links on the table of contents for those posts and put them up as a separate page on this blog, so you can see the entire list under the Resources page.

I enjoyed putting together the Autism Resources posts in April so much that I had planned to continue doing them every so often, but it seems that an entire month has gone by already without my getting around to it. So, the last time I was at the library, I noticed this book in the new non-fiction area and just had to pick it up.

Autistics’ Guide to Dating: A Book By Autistics, For Autistics and Those Who Love Them or Who Are in Love with Them by Emilia Murry Ramey and Jody John Ramey

Although my son won’t be dating anytime soon (he is only 6, after all!), I was intrigued to hear what this married couple, both of whom are on the autism spectrum, had to say on the topic of dating and relationships. The book follows the status of their relationship from the initial meeting to dating and courting (they call their unique mixture of the two “dorting”) to becoming engaged and getting married.

Each chapter, in addition to specific related topics, includes a heading for Jody’s Story, Emilia’s Story, and Conclusions and Joint Analysis. They stress that this is not a definitive how-to book but rather an opportunity for people with autism to have a variety of resources on this topic just like non-autistic people have lots of books to turn to on the subject.

Here are some other books of related interest suggested by the Ramey’s:

• Asperger Syndrome – A Love Story by Sarah Hendrickx and Keith Newton
• Aspergers in Love: Couple Relationships and Family Affairs by Maxine Aston
• Alone Together: Making an Asperger Marriage Work by Katrin Bentley
• An Asperger Marriage by Gisela and Christopher Slater-Walker
• Asperger Syndrome and Long-Term Relationships by Ashley Stanford

Please let me know if you have other helpful resources on this topic. Also, feel free to check out my other posts on Autism Resources or What I’ve Been Reading. Thanks!

Blogging for autism awareness? Join us.

Thank you to Genevieve Hinson for organizing and encouraging the Bloggers Blogging for Autism Awareness this past month. I personally have enjoyed the opportunity to meet and learn from a variety of parents, professionals, and people on the autism spectrum. The many different experiences and perceptions shared show that the oft-repeated quote still hold true:

If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.

My general posts on autism awareness can be found here, and the complete list of my Autism Resources posts can be found here. While I will still continue to post about autism, of course, it won’t be with quite the same frequency, I’m sure. Thank you to all who have been following along with me and the other bloggers; I hope you will stick around so we can continue the conversation. Blessings!

Note: Although I will be taking the Autism Awareness blogroll down from my sidebar, I am leaving it here so that you can still visit them as you have a chance.

Wow, what a month! I have enjoyed putting together these resource lists on a variety of topics related to autism, although it has been challenging to keep up and I did not get one out every single day.

To make it easier for visitors who are looking for information on a particular topic, I am publising the complete list of posts below. I may share more resources from time to time, and I will update this list as I do so.

Suggestions of resources or topics are always welcome. Thank you to everyone who has recommended other books and websites this month, as my “To Read” list has grown considerably.

From April 2008:

Autism Resources: Sensory Processing

Autism Resources: Auditory Integration

Autism Resources: IEP’s and Advocacy

Autism Resources: Special Diets (Intro)

Autism Resources: Special Diets (The Actual List)

Autism Resources: Biomedical Interventions

Autism Resources: Social Skills

Autism Resources: Family Experiences

Autism Resources: Personal Experiences

Autism Resources: Vaccinations

Autism Resources: Inspirational

Autism Resources: Parenting

Autism Resources: Caring for the Caregiver

Autism Resources: Siblings

Autism Resources: Educating Others

Autism Resources: Visual Strategies

Autism Resources: DIR & RDI (Huh?)

Autism Resources: ABA, VB & PRT

Autism Resources: General Information

As with every topic I have covered during Autism Awareness Month, there are many more resources available that I can list here. We are truly blessed to have so much more in terms of options and information easily accessible than the parents who have gone before us and paved the way. With that said, here are three of my favorite books on autism spectrum disorder:

Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Complete Guide to Understanding Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and Other ASDs by Chantal Sicile-Kira

This book is a wonderful all-around resource written by a professional who is also a parent of a child with autism. She takes you through understanding what autism is (and what it is not) to the various treatments that are available and continues on to discuss family, educational, and community issues. Ms. Sicile-Kira has a companion book titled Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum, and I see on Amazon that she has a book on Autism Life Skills due out in October 2008.

The Everything Parent’s Guide to Children With Autism: Know What to Expect, Find the Help You Need, and Get Through the Day (Everything Series) by Adelle Jameson Tilton

As a “new” parent, i.e. having just received a diagnosis of autism for our son, this book helped me tremendously by providing information in an easily digested format and touching on a large variety of topics. I was completely overwhelmed by the information I was receiving from all around me, and this book gave me a foothold to start my climb.

The Autism Encyclopedia by John T. Neisworth and Pamela S. Wolfe, Ph.D.

There are many different models or approaches to working with children on the autism spectrum. For this particular post, I chose DIR & RDI because I remember being thoroughly confused when first trying to research our options, thinking perhaps people were just mixing up the letters. So what do these letters stand for and what is the basis behind each method? Well, I’m so glad you asked!

DIR/Floortime

DIR stands for the Developmental, Individual Differences, Relationship-Based Model, which focuses on mastery of the stages of development. Floortime is one part of this approach, and as such it is “both a specific technique…and a specific philosophy that characterizes all daily interactions with the child.” This quote comes from the most recently published book on the DIR/Floortime method, Engaging Autism:

Engaging Autism: Helping Children Relate, Communicate and Think with the DIR Floortime Approach by Stanley I. Greenspan, M.D. and Serena Wider, Ph.D. – presents the DIR model and Floortime approach in a comprehensive format that is easily accessible to both parents and professionals and also includes a section on overcoming difficult symptoms. From the book comes this statement:

The goal of treatment within the DIR/Floortime model is to build foundations for healthy development, rather than to work only on surface behavior and symptoms. With this approach, children learn to master critical abilities missed or derailed along their developmental path.

Websites for More Information are:

• ICDL: The Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders – organization founded by Drs. Greenspan and Wieder to advance the identification, prevention, and treatment of developmental and learning disorders.
• The Floortime Foundation – foundation partnered with the ICDL. Their tagline, “Reaching beyond autism,” reflects their focus on early intervention regardless of a diagnosis.

Note: In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I am highly enthusiastic about this method since it has been so effective for our son and fit so well with our family style. Every child (and every family) is different, however, and each must find the approach or approaches that work best for their unique situation.

RDI

RDI stands for the Relationship Development Intervention Program. It was developed by Dr. Steven Gutstein in response to the “missing piece” he was not seeing in the children he had treated with a behavioral approach; he calls this piece Dynamic Intelligence. On his website, Connections Center, he states:

The goal of the RDI Program is to provide the majority of people on the autism spectrum with the potential to attain a true quality of life.

Here is a select list of his publications:

Autism Aspergers: Solving the Relationship Puzzle–A New Developmental Program that Opens the Door to Lifelong Social and Emotional Growth by Steven E. Gutstein – this is the first book that describes the RDI model and its theory.

Relationship Development Intervention With Young Children: Social and Emotional Development Activities for Asperger Syndrome, Autism, Pdd and Nld by Steven E. Gutstein and Rachelle K. Sheely – 1st book of objectives & exercises, focused on younger children.

Relationship Development Intervention With Children Adolescents and Adults by Steven E. Gutstein and Rachelle K. Sheely – 2nd book of objectives & exercises, for older children on up.

My Baby Can Dance: Stories of Autism, Asperger’s and Success Through the Relationship Development Intervention® (RDI®) Program by Steven E. Gutstein, Ph.D.

In my next post, I plan to cover some of the other treatment models commonly used with children on the spectrum. I am interested to hear what approaches your children have responded to the most.

What are Visual Strategies? The simple answer is that “visual strategies are ways to improve the communication process by using supports that can be seen.” (taken from a brief article by the Midland County Educational Service Agency, adapted from Linda Hodgdon’s book below).

Examples in our daily lives might include a daily planner or to do list, road signs, and people’s body language. Other things we could use to facilitate communication and understanding are picture or object schedules, written or pictorial breakdowns of a specific task or routine, picture icons used with or in place of speech, choice boards, charts for token/reward systems, etc.

The books listed here give great information about not only the what, but also the why and the how of using visual strategies, including resources for supplies you might need. At the bottom, I have listed a couple of websites that have free printable items that could be useful for parents of younger typical children as well as teachers and parents of children or adults on the spectrum.

Some Books to Consider:

Visual Strategies for Improving Communication : Practical Supports for School & Home by Linda A. Hodgdon (and here’s Linda’s website)

Visual Supports for People With Autism: A Guide for Parents and Professionals (Topics in Autism) by Marlene J. Cohen and Donna L. Sloan

Making Visual Supports Work in the Home and Community: Strategies for Individuals with Autism and Asperger Syndrome by Jennifer L. Savner, Brenda Smith Hyles, and Brenda Smith Myles

Activity Schedules for Children With Autism: Teaching Independent Behavior (Topics in Autism) (Topics in Autism) by Lynn E., Ph.D. McClannahan and Patricia J., Ph.D. Krantz

A Picture’s Worth: PECS and Other Visual Communication Strategies in Autism (Topics in Autism) by Andy, Ph.D. Bondy and Lori Frost (and here’s the PECS website)

A Couple of Websites to Check Out:

do2learn.com: a site with free teacher & parent material and free computer-based instruction as well as other resources available at a cost, including their Make a Schedule software (online or desktop version)
chartjungle.com: has lots of free printables, including calendars, checklists, chores and schedules

When your child receives a diagnosis of autism, one of the first hurdles is often explaining it (sometimes several times) to family and friends. There are a number of good resources for this, including these:

• Family Matters page on the O.A.S.I.S. site – this page has quite a few links to various resources for friends and families, and the letter to grandparents is especially good.
• TACA’s Ten Suggestions for Grandparents of Children with Autism – a simple list, but they can find lots of additional info if they look around the website
• AutismInfo.com’s page for Family and Friends – the layout isn’t great but it has some good information on it.
• Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew – a book by Ellen Notbohm. This is a fantastic book, and I highly recommend it to everyone! There is also a version for teachers about their students with autism.

At some point, you may also be interested in helping your child’s playmates and school peers to understand better how they can be a friend to someone with autism. Before doing this, you of course must think about when and how to disclose the information to your child and the best way to go about presenting the information to the children. When you are ready, here are some books that may be helpful:

Can I Tell You About Asperger Syndrome?: A Guide for Friends and Family by Jude Welton, Elizabeth Newson, and Jane Telford (aimed at ages 7-15)

A Is for Autism F Is for Friend: A Kid’s Book for Making Friends with a Child Who Has Autism by Joanna L. Keating-Velasco (told through the voice of Chelsea, an 11-year old with severe autism)

The Autism Acceptance Book: Being a Friend to Someone With Autism by Ellen Sabin (aimed at ages 9-12)

Since We’re Friends: An Autism Picture Book by Celeste Shally and David Harrington (aimed at ages 4-8)

Playing by the Rules: A Story about Autism by Dena Fox Luchsinger and Julie Olson (aimed at ages 9-12)

If you have a story about how you explained the diagnosis to your friends and family, or to your child’s peers, I would love to hear it (whether in my comments, via an email, or in a post of your own).