Life with Aspergers

One of the many interesting things about people on the autism spectrum is that the abilities of most people seem to be wildly underestimated. It’s hard to come up with a simple reason why this is the case but the results can have catastrophic effects on their lives and families. One of the most problematic areas of autism is communication. It’s often assumed that kids who don’t reach their speech milestones by ages 4-5 will never communicate; or at the very least that they will never speak. This is not necessarily the case and as circumstances change, new technologies develop and your children get a better “handle” on their differences, speech can become a very real possibility.  Ending the Milestones Unfortunately, some parents have already given up by the time their children are ready to develop language and they never have a chance to reach their potential. This is understandable as parents can only continue with normal milestones for a limited time before they need s...

Uniquely Normal: Tapping The Reservoir of Normalcy To Treat Autism by Robert J. Bernstein Uniquely Normal is a very impressive book which looks at a number of cases over Robert Bernstein's career ranging from children as young as two to adults aged sixty-five. It's quite a different book to the usual "parent's guides" that cover the subject because this is more a collection of abbreviated case studies. Robert's techniques for treating conditions associated with autism are unique and very effective and as you progress through the book you'll begin to understand what to look for in your own children and how you can use those "moments of normalcy" to open up a larger world for them. In the introduction to the book, Robert talks about growing up with a brother on the autism spectrum. I find that the best writers on autism are either writers with autism themselves or writers with a life-long connection to autism that usually starts with a sibl...