Book Title - Can I tell you about Asperger Syndrome?
SubTitle- A guide for friends and family
Author- Jude Welton
Illustrator- Jane Telford and Elizabeth Newson
Meet Adam - a young boy with AS. Adam invites young readers to learn about AS from his perspective. He helps children understand the difficulties faced by a child with AS - he tells them what AS is, what it feels like to have AS and how they can help children with AS by understanding their differences and appreciating their many talents. This illustrated book is ideally suited for boys and girls between 7 and 15 years old and also serves as an excellent starting point for family and classroom discussions.
Reviews:
'there is still a great need for resources such as this book for children and parents who need introduction to autism and asperger's syndrome... Teaching a child that they are not "different" but that they can learn from someone who thinks and acts in similar ways to them is a great approach... It does very well in it's way of introducing this concept of autism to a child - who may be thinking "is there something wrong with me" at the early stage of diagnosis... the book would be a good resource for children as part of an overall understanding of AS.'
- theautisticlife.com
'This is a well-written and accessible volume. The author and illustrator achieve a pleasant balance with the use of simple language and a range of everyday images. As a parent of a child with Asperger's Syndrome (AS), I think that this book is a useful tool for other siblings, classmates and other members of the family-the text is specifically targeted at children aged 7 to 15 years of age. This is an excellent resource for anybody who may come into contact with AS and I believe parents of children with this condition should be guided to this volume before seeking answers on the internet or elsewhere.'
- The Frontline of Learning Disability
'Can I tell you about Asperger's Syndrome?, is beautifully designed and written by Jude Welton to help the rest of us, adults and children, understand the condition and be able to communicate with those with it.'
- Food Matters
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As a parent of a child with Asperger Syndrome, one of the most frustrating things to deal with is not always knowing how to help my child. Jude Welton's book reminds me in a simple and straightforward way of the difficulties an AS child faces daily and how we can help them overcome their struggles by modifying our responses.
This is a wonderful book because it gives the non-AS person a guide for communicating with and easing the way for an Asperger person. Not only does it identify the many ways these people are different but it suggests responses we can make which will help them to understand the world around them.
This is a very accessible book for non-AS children for non-AS children. The illustrations provide clear and strong messages and the text id direct and unambiguous as a text written through the eyes of an Asperger child would quite likely be. It is also a book for AS children who are aware of their diagnosis. I imagine that a certain comfort and support could be found in reading of others sharing the same problems and acknowledging the validity of their differences.
I was not expecting to find this book so interesting on a personal level. Having always read whatever I could find on AS this book brought me up short. I realise that I spend much time thinking of how I can help my child modify her behaviour to suit the world whereas Jude Welton's book suggests that awareness and tolerance by non-Asperger people is extremely important to an AS child trying to communicate.
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