Anyone know of any excellent autism books to help those who work w/ autistic kids help to better understand them & learn the best strategies to get them to learn better?
autism books I don't know any specific books; however, you can find a whole of resource books at B&N and Borders. Or better yet, just Google online. From my own experience working with students w/ autism, I used a lot of visual aids and simplified all the class notes. It also helps to give breaks in between. It really varies on each students' needs and what works for him/her.Good Luck!
My favorite books about ASD are "Demystifying the Autistic Experience" by William Stillman (http://www.amazon.com/Demystifying-...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280807403&sr=1-1) and "Thinking In Pictures" by Temple Grandin (http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Pict...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280807485&sr=1-1). As for strategies I think it really depends what types of strategies you are looking for. I recently got The STAR Program (http://www.starautismprogram.com/) and thought the teacher resources in these books did a better job at fully explaining some of the Applied Behaviour Analysis techniques than other sources that I had read before. Woodbine house always makes great books and I've heard good things about their autism books (although I only have one myself and its specifically related to Scripts and Script training for teaching conversatoin skills - GREAT BOOK). I know I have a lot of their books about Down syndrome and they are amazing. You might want to check what they have on their website. Just search "Woodbine House".
Thanks for the book suggestions, mom2mikey, I'll be looking them up as we are starting to have more and more students on the spectrum in our classrooms. As far as suggestions and strategies--lots of visuals, predictable routines, limit choices, allow breaks, provide a quiet environment free excess stimuli.
I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I did read the book "Let Me Hear Your Voice" by Catherine Maurice. I'd classify it as an autobiography, but it does go pretty in-depth of what types of treatment her children were exposed to.
I like A Land We Can Share: Teaching Literacy to Students with Autism. Here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/Land-We-Can-S...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280839895&sr=8-1.
Thanks a lot guys! I'll copy & paste these posts in an email to myself & look into getting them soon.
Ms. I, anything by Bryna Siegel..... Dr. Siegel works heads up the autism program at UCSF's Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute and has written several easy-to-read, easy-to-understand (& use) books for parents and people working with students with autism. She is the BEST, IMHO...I've had the privilege of hearing her speak several times, and she is just so down to earth, practical, and brilliant! Love, love, love her. You can't go wrong with any of her books. Good luck!
ten things your student with Autism Wishes you knew No More Meltdowns by Jed Baker The Way I see it, and Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin
For kids with Asperger's/HFA, I love "Simple Strategies that Work!" by Brenda Smith Myles, Diane Adreon, and Dana Gitlitz. It is divided into 10 sections based around a strategy, and it is a super easy and practical read. Each section gives a strategy overview, explanation of why that strategy might be needed (what things might look like from the student's perspective), and ways to implement that strategy in the classroom. GREAT book for people whose background is mainly gen ed and a SUPER easy read. "Learners on the Autism Spectrum" by Kari Dunn Buron and Pamela Wolfberg is a more complicated read, but very very comprehensive and fascinating. Each chapter is written by an expert in that particular area of autism research, so you can pick and choose what areas you are interested in. It is VERY current and up to date. I also like "A Work in Progress" by Ron Leaf/Jon McEachin- good if you work with more severely impacted kids. Explains discrete trial training, how to do task analysis, how to break down communication, academic, and self-help tasks and teach step-by-step, etc. Includes data collection!
I found Stillman and Grandin of little use when trying to help teachers understand autism and how it affects students w/ASD; Bogdashina's Communication Issues In Autism And Asperger Syndrome: Do We Speak The Same Language? and The Theory of Mind And the Triad of Perspectives of Autism And Asperger Syndrome: A View from the Bridge were far more useful. Stillman and Grandin wrote from a first-person perspective, while Bogdashina wrote from an etic perspective while seeking input/clarification/agreement from people with ASD. Get a copy of Sainsbury's Martian in the Playground, particularly if you are dealing with elementary students w/ASD. This book is full of first-person accounts of the primary school experiences of many people w/ASD. When I look at much of the literature suggested from the perspective of a teacher, it is OK--it provides a start, or in some cases, a system. But when I consider it as an autistic, there are problems. We simply don't learn in the same way NTs do. Presenting information we need in a way we can't really access doesn't teach us anything but the words or actions: we can't really use what we've learned. Anyone who's worked much with kids w/ASD has learned or been told that we often don't generalize information or knowledge--but the information wasn't presented in a way that we could see it as generalizable. From our perspective, it is often as if our teachers are over-generalizing information. ABA, as it is often done, is a good example of this--we are taught a specific skill, in a specific context, and expected to generalize it. How do you know? How can you tell what should be generalized and when? That is what we need to be teaching, and good ABA programs do teach this. On the other hand, many of the authors of the books seem to forget that, or not do it well. When I work with teachers, I usually advise them to know and learn to understand their students, then apply what they learn from the books in a way that makes sense to them and to their students. Done that way, almost anything written in the past 10 years about teaching kids w/ASD will be of use.
Thanks for your post, JustJim. This coming year, we will have 3 grade 3 and 4 students who are on the spectrum in our regular ed classrooms. Our kindergarten teachers and aides have quite a bit of experience with students with autism, but the other teachers do not and will be coming to me for advice. Unfortunately, my experience is minimal as well, but you've given me some things to think about.
