Autism and Me: Sibling Stories

In AUTISM AND ME: SIBLING STORIES, 14 kids, ages 5 to 17, give or take a year, tell readers what it's like to live with a sibling who has autism. And they tell it like it is. They say: *that their sibling is not like "regular" people, but they are also unique, or *their brother or sister's out-of-control behavior is frustrating, painful, or embarrassing, or *they wish their sibling could speak or write or run fast, or *their brother or sister is not dumb, or *they are proud of their sibling's accomplishments, like remembering details most people would forget, or never notice to begin with, or empathetic with teammates when they're upset, or *how much they enjoy and love their sibling, and *more. Author Ouisie Shapiro, whose niece Arie and nephew Luke are featured in the book, selected "telling," sensitive, but not sappy, lines from her interviews with these children to illustrate how autism affects them. Photographer Steven Vote captured sibling interaction and, most important, the love between them in touchingly intimate photographs. Kids who have siblings with autism will recognize themselves and their brothers or sisters in the essays and photos in this book. Perhaps they will want to write their own essays. Perhaps they'll be comforted to know other kids think and feel some of the same things they do. Kids who don't have direct contact with autism will learn important information that will help them understand why people who have autism behave and think differently than other people, and it will help them develop empathy for these people.

Autism and Me: Sibling Stories is exaclly what it professes to be 32 pages devoted to what it is like to have an autistic sibling. Each sibling pair is given a two page spred. The story is written by the non autistic sibling about what it is like to have an autistic brother or sister. There are very diverse sibling pairs from as young as first grade to as old as heading off to college. There is also a nice representation of gender mix between the sister or the brother having autism and he sister or the brother non autistic sibling. This story is a great way to share autism with a younger audience. It is perfect for a non autistic sibling who wants to know there are others out there and he/she is not the only one trying to relate to an autistic sibling. It would also be a great way to share with a class, neighboor, or other younger population what it is like to relate to an autistic child. This book does relate more towards classic autism siblings or lower functioning asperger's. It may not be the best book to help other's relate to your higher functioning autistic/asperger's child. As a mother of two autistic children I am very happy to have Autism and Me: Sibling Stories in my collection of autism books!

This picture book with full color photograph illustrations is a collection of stories written by children and teenagers who have a sibling with Autism. The children appear to range from age eight to nineteen and their siblings are either younger or older than them. In these stories, the children candidly share details about their sibling's life including how they are schooled and what their strengths and challenges are. The stories include the neuro-typical sibling's emotions (positive and negative) about their sibling and how their behaviors, emotions or biologically based issues sometimes negatively affect the family or their experiences doing typical family activities in public places. Ouisie Shapiro crafted these stories from interviews she had with the neuro-typical children and teenagers. Her crafting of the stories is well done with the same topics being covered in each story. The children whose stories are shared show empathy and perhaps more maturity than their peers may possess yet sometimes their frustration is shared which is entirely understandable for their age. Or perhaps the issue is that the interviewer over-edited the interviews and the younger children come off as being better spoken or more mature than they really are, I am not sure. Regarding the negative emotions, we can't expect children and young teens to have the maturity level or high patience threshold that some adult parents with children with Autism have been able to summon up. I am happy to see that the stories are realistic and honest which includes some negative emotions as that is their reality! After reading all the stories the general message and information that I learned is that not all children and teenagers with Autism have identical manifestations of the condition. They are schooled differently and they have different strengths and weaknesses. The challenges and problems are shared but the book is not all negative because within each story the sibling conveys their empathy and love for their sibling despite having to deal with things like public embarrassment, annoyed strangers in restaurants. The empathy and the ability of the children to communicate their emotions, especially the love they feel toward a not always easy to live with sibling touched me. This book is unique and no other book like this exists on the market today to my knowledge. I see this book being used as a read aloud to a child whose sibling has an Autism spectrum diagnosis. It is an excellent way to explain how Autism can affect different children in different ways (not everyone with Autism will be just like the child's sibling). Reading aloud the stories with their positive message as well as expression of some negative emotions felt by the sibling, is an excellent way to start conversations between parents and their neuro-typical child. The neuro-typical child in a family with a sibling who has Autism deserves time and attention from their parents too, and they need their pare

When my grandson was diagnosed with autism, it was as if our world had shattered. Two years later, all of us have learned a lot about unconditional love. "Autism and Me: Sibling Stories" by Ouisie Shapiro provides answers to some of the questions parents and grandparents of autistic children have. How will the child's non-autistic sibling feel about the most significant experience of his/her own childhood? What does the sibling do about bullying at school? What kinds of bonds do the autistic and non-autistic child develop. The photographs by Steven Vote are joyful. The stories are told in children's words and voices with the wisdom of children and the truth" "I wish Mary Gwen could talk. It would be nice to hear what she has to say. She could tell us if something hurts instead of hitting us." I recommend this book for all classrooms, school libraries, and families. Shapiro adds insight into this baffling, frustrating condition.

What a heartfelt book,to listen to what their brother/sister has to say... Only if we could take lesson from the children. I believe the author was able to express how the children were able to interact with their sibling. I think it might bring home the fact that the next time we see an Autisic child, we might just have a different kind of understanding just what the family is dealing with. Would recommand this book to others. Very education.