A Parent's Guide to Autism: A Parents Guide to Autism

I have read this book before and decided to re-read it now that it has been 5 years since my son was diagnosed with autism. It is interesting to note how my perceptions and understanding have changed in that time, and that obviously changed the way I read the book this time around. I still feel that this is an important book to read for any parent of a child with an autism spectrum disorder. The book is basic and straightforward and deals with issues like "What are People with Autism like?" , "What Can Medication Do for People with Autism?" and"What's the Best Approach to Education?"What is really interesting to me is the background that the author brings to the book, his brother had autism (long before it was even a word) and his own son was later diagnosed with autism as well. I heard the author speak at our local autism conference at the end of October and I found him to be refreshing and absolutely fascinating. I wanted to include a few of the highlights of his presentation to share here.Mr. Hart gave an detailed history of autism and how it came to be known by that name. Although it is believed that there have been people with autism since the beginning of time, therewas not an actual term describing the symptoms until the 1940's when Kanner and Asperger both published papers on a strange combination of talents and disability that seemed to be present in some people. At this time, parents were blamed for their child's disability. Mr. Hart's brother was in his twenties during the 1940's and his family had no knowledge of these published papers. His brother was not allowed to attend school and he talked a lot about how people with disabilities have gone through their own civil rights movement for the right to obtain an education. The 1960's brought a growing belief that autism must be caused by something organic or biological and many new approaches in treatment were developed such as TEACCH, Lovaas, and Applied Behavioral Analysis. The 1970's brought great strides in genetic research and it is his belief that we currently know about as much as we possibly can about the genetics of autism and the mystery will still remain. There were a few breakthroughs in the 1980's and 1990's but they were disappointments (fragile x, secretin, etc.) His experiences in growing up with a sibling with autism had a great impact on him. His brother was completely dependent on their mother for everything and when she died, he had to be institutionalized. This had an enormous impact on how he has raised his own son with autism. He was very sensitive to the needs of his non-disabled child and has tried very hard to give his autistic son as much independence as possible. His son is now in his thirties, works in the public library, successfully uses the public transit system, lives in his own apartment, and has an impressive collection of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. (I had to chuckle when I saw the slide of his son'sNinja Turtle Collection in the liv

I wish that I had read this book first! Charles Hart has a great way of explaining about what autism is! I did not cry once during this book! The information was fascinating as well as reassuring that I am doing the best things for my son! I highly recommend it! Good Luck!

This book is written from the perspective of a sibling and parent and emotionally geared towards the feelings experienced by those whose loved ones have been, or are in the process of, being diagnosed with Autism. The outline of the book and the ease with which the reader could skip across topics make it a good point of reference for further investigation of treatment and intervention options.Many parents in our Autism organization who have read the book commented on the author's insight, and the emotional healing properties of his writing. The empathy, compassion, and depth of understanding conveyed by the author is certainly due, at least in part, to the fact that his brother and his son are both Autistic, born 50 years apart. The author also wrote a book about his personal experiences called " Without Reason : A Family Copes With Two Generations of Autism " The comparisons of then and now, similarities and disparities, make this other book worth reading as well if you can find it. (It's out of print).

This is an excellent book for anyone touched by Autism. After my son's diagnosis five years ago, I searched for an easy to read reference guide to help answer my endless questions. This isn't a "my story" book; rather, it is an easy to search guide which allows the reader to hop from topic to topic & find answers. As I work with parents of recently diagnosed children, this is the first book I give them.

This is a good book for someone who is not well informed on autism and how it is manifested. A good beginning. The author has a lot of experience in the field. Both his brother and his son are autistic. I also recommend his biography though it has been out of print