Parenting Your Asperger Child: Individualized Solutions for Teaching Your Child Practical Skills

by Cathy Grayson and Alan Sohn

Book Overview

Asperger's Syndrome is a form of autism--but with the right guidance, these children can go on to live happy, fulfilling lives. In Parenting Your Asperger Child , Dr. Alan Sohn's and Cathy Grayson's groundbreaking Cognitive Social Integration Therapy (CSIT) offers practical solutions that help parents prepare their children for a fulfilling life of social interaction outside the confines of their syndrome, addressing such topics as: - The six characteristics...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399530703
• ISBN13: 9780399530708
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Parenting Your Asperger Child Best Book I have found!

I purchased this book because I was looking for a few ideas for assisting my son and got a lot more than I had even hoped for. This book gives an overview of the many types of asperger traits and how these traits might play out in real life. For instance, my son is an emotional high anxiety Aspie, and this book provides actual type conversations with each type of asperger child. I found the conversations helpful because they taught me the best method of asking questions and of assisting my son to a less emotional state. I would highly recommend this book to anyone needing more directed information. Absolutely wonderful book; easy to read and comprehend.

Best of the Best!!!

I have a son with Asperger's, not diagnosed until age thirteen, and I've probably bought every book out there on the subject. I have to say this book is far and away THE BEST and most useful one I've ever gotten. I just came across it a couple of weeks ago while browsing in a bookstore, and just flipping through it I could tell it was just what I'd been looking for. So many of the other books describe behaviors that seem to fit a majority of Aspies, but that didn't quite fit my son. I felt SO relieved to see the chapter on subtypes, to know that other children out there are like my son (no outburts, no impulsive behaviors or inappropriate communication, but very rigid, uninterested in friendships or independence at age 15, and with anxiety through the roof). To the authors: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! I recommend this book to every Aspie parent I meet now, and tell them it's a 'must' for their libraries. Please write more!!!

Can't do without this book ...

This is the book I have been looking for. It seems to be written with the understanding that the parents of an Aspie may need to have material presented to them in the same way their child does (it is mainly genetic ... right?). The book offers helpful, practical and doable solutions to the everyday issues parents are handling with their Aspie child. All of us parents know when a writer/psychologist/doctor really "gets it" and believe me these two understand what it takes to help our children. This book has helped me calm MY anxiety about doing good by my son and to have a better picture of his future. You will not be able to put it down.

A groundbreaking contribution, highly recommended

In "Parenting Your Asperger Child," Alan Sohn and Cathy Grayson have made a groundbreaking contribution to parents who struggle to understand and guide children with Asperger's disorder. Their teachers and therapists will also be encouraged and well advised to keep this book close by. While there is no shortage of new books on the subject of Asperger's disorder, this one should be on the short list of anyone wanting to understand and help children diagnosed within this category. Sohn and Grayson operate on the unambiguous assumption that children with this disorder (as well as related disorders such as pervasive developmental disorder, semantic pragmatic disorder, high-functioning autism and nonverbal learning disability) are truly different from "typical" children. Such a child sees, feels, understands, and acts differently because of his or her special needs. Experiencing the real world with this tint evokes anxiety and resultant rigidity and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. As internationally known expert Tony Attwood has commented, "Asperger's (and autism) is anxiety looking for a cause." The authors have drawn on their extensive experience and the principles of cognitive therapy to formulate Cognitive Social Integration Therapy (CSIT) which offers practical solutions that help parents prepare their children for a fulfilling life of social interaction beyond the confines of their syndrome. To have written such a book on Asperger's syndrome is no small achievement. Drawing from their experiences in clinical and school settings, the authors comprehensively and succinctly describe the traits and typologies of the syndrome. They describe subtypes which are invaluable in helping the reader to understand each child in an individual way. The everyday coping strategies that derive from their framework are the book's strength. Throughout, the authors' language is authoritative and encouraging with user-friendly terminology. In a parenting book that speaks so simply and yet profoundly, my only disappointment was the lack of recognition for the parents' experience of anxiety and often grief in raising a child that is so different and often puzzling. In virtually all cases, the infant cradled in the parent=s arms is different to some degree, small or large, from the child fantasized in the mind, and the reconciliation of these images is central in the daily work of parenting. All along the spectrum or continuum of autism and related disorders, each child is unique and each family likewise provides a distinctive social context. There is no one size that fits all children or all families. The concept of the "sphere of influence" which the authors develop for parent, teacher, or therapist speaks to the importance of the relationship with the child in developing skills and mutual respect and understanding. On an individual basis, each family has to look at what helps their child whether cognitively, behaviorally, or socially in relation to sc

Basic How-to Directions

As with any book about helping children with Asperger's Syndrome, the suggestions/recommendations provided do not fit all children. There is simply too much diversity within the Asperger population to allow blanket statements or approaches to address more than a handful of people with this condition. The authors have done a very good job in presenting many approaches with the express reminder that all solutions will not apply to all children. I found the book to be a confirmation of the approach I have taken with my child and an encouragement to expand on these solutions. Having Asperger's Syndrome myself, many of the suggestions were already in place due to my personal experiences growing up. Still, there were several new approaches or modifications that were helpful since there are differences between my child and me. My wife found this book much more useful than I did since she does not have any personal experience to draw upon in dealing with social situations from an Asperger perspective. This book should prove helpful to parents who do not personally struggle with social skills de to Asperger's Syndrome; parents who face such struggles may also find value here.