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AUTISM FILE'S BOOK REVIEW AND MEDIA PAGE
The book reviews on this page will be positive book reviews on published materials that we feel will be beneficial to the autism community. THERE WILL BE NO NEGATIVE REVIEWS ON THIS SITE. If you are an author or publisher and would like to submit a book for review, please contact: kim@autismfile.com or curt@autismfile.com .
We look forward to working with all of the talented and passionate individuals in the Autism File family to bring you the reviews of the publications that will make a positive impact in your lives!
This page will also contain some of the latest news and information that is pertinent to the autism community, as well as information on what's coming up in the newest editions of The Autism File, Autism File U*S*A and La Agenda de Autismo magazines!
We are currently working to udate our web site and would like to let our loyal readers know that new reviews of the latest publications will be coming very soon!
TRP Wellness
TRP Wellness is a series of DVDs regarding occupational therapy for children with special needs, assisting children of all disabilities and diagnoses. Hosted by Rachel Hunter and instructed by Britt Collins, MS, OTR/L, this series of DVDs is used in therapy with ADHD, ADD, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, MR, Multiple Sclerosis, sensory processing disorder, spinal muscular atrophy and developmental delays.
This series is chock full of ideas and strategies to help parents, caregivers and educators with ongoing daily challenges and explains clearly, a wide variety of activities. These activities teach essential social, organizational and behavioral skills in a playful, fun and safe environment that clearly explains why each is helpful.
The TRP Wellness DVD set, we believe will be incredibly beneficial for those parents that want more than their insurance company provider are allotting or perhaps for those that simply can’t afford private OT sessions. TRP Wellness gives you the information and guidance needed and takes you through your child’s individual plan for the entire day.
OT for Children with Autism, Special Needs & Typical, the first DVD in the set, runs forty five minutes. The first DVD is basically an introduction to OT and teaches you about your child’s behavior and how to implement sensory diets in your home. There’s no doubt that this DVD will help you prepare yourself for the implementation of this incredible program.
OT in the Home runs ninety minutes and covers routine, tips for fine and gross motor skills and sensory feedback issues. These are all subjects that many parents of children with autism struggle with on a daily basis.
OT in the School also runs ninety minutes and instructs educators and parents alike with the movement, transition and calming environments that are so crucial to a successful school experience. If you are concerned about your child’s performance in school, this one is a must have!
Yoga for Children with Special Needs is a forty five minute DVD that features yoga instructor Aras Baskauska. Aras models in the DVD how to present these activities to your child.
This entire set of DVDs will be a resource that most parents will find not only extremely helpful in their child’s care, but also an essential part of the day to day activities that will keep your child active and learning for years to come.
Review by: Kimberly Linderman, Editor www.autismfile.com
Tasks Galore offers a three book set to transition your child through the many difficult areas of learning that are so common with children on the spectrum. Tasks Galore, the first in the series, is for the pre-k, and elementary school aged children as well as students needing beginning steps. There are 250 tasks that are arranged in color pictures for use in early education.
Tasks Galore designs meaningful tasks and incorporates movement and sensory input that makes the child’s learning experience enjoyable and effective. Using visual structure and cues on the student’s level of learning and understanding ensures that the child will advance in his or her abilities. With incorporating fine motor skills, readiness, language arts, math, reasoning and play, teachers, therapists and parents alike will see the positive gains that this book is sure to promote. Making this program based on the individual child’s strengths and EP goals, Tasks Galore makes learning creative and fun.
Tasks Galore for the Real World is the second part in the series of books and is designed for older elementary students to the adult learners. In this series, older students will learn everyday life skills and will transfer them into functional daily living goals. Once again, full color pictures of visually structured independent living skills that are so essential for our older children and teenagers make this an easy way to get your child to learn these skills.
Students learning from Tasks Galore for the Real World learn from a functional approach and the learning skills are applied tasks relevant to all environments.
Tasks Galore, Making Groups Meaningful is designed for classroom groups. The full color pictures are once again making the programs easy to learn and understand in the group settings that so many of our children desperately need.
Climbing Art Obstacles in Autism is a wonderful and enchanting, visually structured way to explore art for the children. With step-by-step photos and checklists, this fourth book in the series will help the child gain skills without relying on verbal or physical prompts. As we all know, art is many time incredibly challenging for our children so this step-by-step approach to art is a must have for those parents or therapists that are trying to get their children to “think outside the box”.
This wonderful series of books can be bought individually or are sold as a set. They are colorful, creative and definitely a valuable resource that you will turn to time and time again. These are also a must-have tool for; schools, teachers and therapists alike that will undoubtedly have a lasting and positive impact on all of the children that have an opportunity to take advantage of them.
BOOK REVIEW
The Encyclopedia of Dietary Interventions
By Karyn Seroussi and Lisa Lewis, Ph.D
ISBN 978-0-615-20169-6
Publisher: Sarpsborg Press; 1st Edition June 23, 2008
Anyone looking to understand, implement or maintain dietary interventions will find this book incredibly helpful. Karyn Seroussi and Lisa Lewis have written an invaluable resource for your autistic child, loved one with immune system dysfunction or someone combating yeast and bacteria.
In 1995, Karyn Seroussi and Lisa Lewis created an international parent network for dietary and biomedical interventions for autism. Thirteen years later, the sum of their knowledge is here in one easy-to-reference guide. In our search to treat and recover our ASD children, we as parents learn that dietary intervention is one of the most successful and important treatments available. The difficulty has always been trying to learn, implement and maintain the diets we choose. All of the needed information is now available in this one comprehensive guide that is easy to read and understand.
This encyclopedia makes implementing dietary intervention seem like a breeze. If you feel that you do not have the time to do the research, the energy to learn the information or enough information to maintain this intervention, this resource is definitely the one for you!
Karyn Seroussi is the author of Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and PDD, which is the story of her son’s recovery through dietary and biomedical interventions.
Lisa Lewis, Ph.D is the author of Special Diets for Special Kids I & II. two of the most insightful and helpful books available on the GF/CF diets for children with disabilities.
All three of the books previously written by these two fine authors were instrumental in helping me with my son on his road to recovery. Their newest endeavor will be even more helpful and I can only imagine how valuable this comprehensive encyclopedia will be to someone who is just starting their journey.
Packed with tips, hints and strategies, The Encyclopedia of Dietary Interventions will make these diets easy to learn and understand with simple but thorough explanations. Karyn and Lisa’s newest book is a must-have resource for those new to the autism diagnosis and battle hardened veterans alike.
Review by Kimberly Ann Linderman / Editor; autismfile.com
Book Review
A Child’s Journey out of Autism
By Leeann Whiffen
ISBN-13: 978-1-4022-1838-5
Publisher; Source Books Trade (March 1, 2009)
This family’s journey of hope and recovery is documented page by page from the real life mom’s perspective. A Child’s Journey out of Autism is a telling story of confusion and research, which is told in a way that those of us in the autism community can all relate to. A well told and compelling tale of a family trying to understand what has happened and how to treat their son and find the answers needed.
The journey will almost certainly hit home to many in our community. The heartbreak and eventual triumph in searching for, finding and implementing the answers to the questions that we all so desperately need answered. Leeann speaks volumes in her book about how critical it is to start early intervention and how hard it was to find the resources that meant so much to Clay’s recovery.
The intensity of the story makes this book almost impossible to put down as you read of Leeann’s search to heal her son.
Leeann is very active in the autism community, particularly in the state of Utah. She has recently been working on Clay’s Law, a Bill requiring that insurance companies pay for the treatment of autism. The Bill is set to go to the Utah State Senate this year.
For more information on the Bill: http;/utautismcoalition.blogspot.com.com/
Review by, Kim Ann Linderman / Editor; autismfile.com
Autism Spectrum Disorders
by Chantal Sicile-Kira
ISBN:
0-399-53047-9Price:
Website:
www.chantalsicile-kira.comPublisher:
www.penguin.com
When I give copies of
Autism Spectrum Disorders to individuals learning about autism, I often say, "Most books give you information on autism. This book gave me hope and encouragement."
From my experience as the father of an eight-year-old son diagnosed with PDD-NOS, I’ve found that books on autism fall into three primary categories: 1) clinical treatises which, although academically useful, depersonalize people into case studies and offer little understanding of the complexities related to the condition, 2) books by parents, practitioners, or people with ASD who are passionate in their presentation but sometimes lacking in objectivity and scholarship, and 3) how-to books touting a treatment or viewpoint without a scope of the bigger picture.
Selected in 2005 as the Autism Society of America's Outstanding Literary Work of the Year, Chantal Sicile-Kira’s book is uniquely successful in navigating the labyrinth of autism using both mind and heart. To read it is to look at possibilities and potential instead of being devastated by the weight of the word "autism."
Advising parents, she writes, "You are raising a child, not a disability." And this mantra would be a healthy perspective for the medical and educational community to adopt as well.
As the subtitle states, the book is truly comprehensive with 360 well-crafted and well-researched pages. Her extensive bibliography citing more than 200 sources demonstrates her desire to go far beyond rendering one person’s opinion.
In fact, she augments her manuscript with a generous presentation of essays written by Temple Grandin, Dr. Bernard Rimland, and other individuals who bring their knowledge and experience to the pages.
The book explores suggested causes and contributing factors of autism, its many forms, and its diagnosis as well as the wide range of treatments, therapies, and interventions. She also addresses educational challenges, legal issues, social interaction, and dynamics of family life.
Autism Spectrum Disorders
presents many perspectives without elevating or discounting any reasonable ideologies—no small accomplishment when you consider that she addresses sophisticated biomedical approaches such as mercury detoxification as well as such simple helps as play therapy. The result is an unbiased forum for differing viewpoints to be given equal attention so the reader can draw his or her own conclusions. She also speeds the reader’s ability to seek additional information by providing contact information on dozens of books, associations, and vendors, including many website addresses for online research.Sicile-Kira’s life has uniquely qualified her to present this material. Years before having a son who has a diagnosis of severe autism, she worked professionally serving individuals with developmental differences. She has also worked in television production as a line producer which deftly honed her skills as a researcher and journalist. And as parent of two children, she knows first-hand what living with autism is like. Her explorations of the day-to-day challenges and opportunities demonstrate wisdom derived from real-world experiences.
I appreciated the style with which she approached the material—straightforward yet empathetic, extremely knowledgeable about the most complicated issues (including medical, educational, and legal jargon which she graciously decodes for all to understand) but unafraid to acknowledge the importance of finding the humor in situations. Frankly, I’m drawn to a personal account that acknowledges the many challenges of raising a child with autism without assuming the role of martyr.
As the incidence rates of autism diagnoses continue to spiral,
Autism Spectrum Disorders should be required reading for physicians, child-care workers, and family members who are con-cerned about a child demonstrating possible signs of ASD.Reviewed by Michael Nolan