April is Autism Awareness Month (in the US, anyway)

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For the past few years, I've posted a thread in April for Autism Awareness Month. (I know some countries observe it in different months, but I'm familiar with the US observance in April.) As some of you know, my son has autism, so it is an area of interest and advocacy for me. I invite anyone with an interest in the subject to post books they are reading on the subject, or even the names of books they've read in the past that were helpful and informative.

Hi Terri, one of my schools is now a district center school for students with autism. I have learned a lot from those exceptional kiddos this year.

I've read some children's titles recently, probably books you already know about: Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine, Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko, and Rules by Cynthia Lord. A newer adult title is Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks.

Edited to add: I'm not sure how helpful and informative these titles are, as they are fiction. I do think reading about the challenges those characters (and those who love them) face helps kids develop understanding and compassion.

Hi Terri. My oldest friends son has autism and I'm immensely proud of him. He's a delight to be with despite the mountain he has to climb every day to get through 24h in a world that's really scary. I shall look forward to checking back for book recs.

2 > Anne, I agree about the value of well-done fiction with characters on the autism spectrum. I read Mockingbird and really loved it. I read Al Capone Does My Shirts, and actually met the author at the Children's Literature Festival at Frostburg (MD) University a few years ago. (She was my favorite presenter of all the authors there that year.) Rules is on my list of books to get to. I wasn't aware of Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend. Thanks for the rec!

One of my favorite adult fiction reads with a main character with autism is Elizabeth Moon's The Speed of Dark. Moon's own son has autism, so she wrote the character with great authenticity.

3 > Hi, Caire! Glad you'll be checking in. My regards to your friend and her son. I'm glad they have a friend like you who appreciates the challenges of autism.

Link to this thread on the group wiki is up.

Hi Terri! As you know, my oldest daughter has Aspergers Syndrome. I plan on reading Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World, which was recommended by Kathleen and perhaps Born on a Blue Day if I can get it from the library in time. Thanks for setting up this thread - I'm looking forward to seeing what others are reading on the topic this month.

5 Thanks, Jim!! :)

6 Hi, Mamie!

It's worth noting that Temple Grandin has a new book coming out at the end of the month: The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum.

The Temple Grandin book looks good. I've never read any books on autism, but one of my best friends has Asperger's, which will shortly be phased out and replaced with "autism spectrum disorder" under the new DSM. LOL!

I will also plug April's thread for Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage month:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/152284#

8 Hi! I've heard about the changes in labels in the upcoming DSM. The autism spectrum truly is a continuum, and I think the change may be quite appropriate. Depending on the individual, it can be hard to tell where the border is between "high functioning autism" and "Aspergers," anyway.

Thanks for the info about the Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I may try to find something to fit that theme.

ETA to add And thanks for plugging this thread on your heritage thread!

I started the thread for The Sound and the Fury which I thought would dovetail nicely with Autism Awareness month. Join if you want!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/152293

Last year, I read and loved Mockingbird, Born on a Blue Day, The Speed of Dark, and Al Capone Does my Shirts (among others). I also read Animals in Translation, by Temple Grandin - I loved it, too, though it was only obliquely about autism, and I think Grandin has written some others that are more directly about autism.

This year, I'll read The Sound and the Fury with the group read above. I'll probably try out Rules if I can get my hands on it.

Rachel, I actually have The Sound and the Fury on my TBR shelf. Perhaps I'll start it and join your group read.

Grandin's Thinking in Pictures is very good; it is autobiographical and much more directly about autism.

I had a browse through different books tagged with autism, and have started the curious incident of the dog in the night time. It's not a subject I know a lot about beyond the generalisations that are almost certainly not the whole picture.

Finished the curious incident of the dog in the night time and found it an unusual read. Christopher is, of himself, quite unsympathetic, seeing he seems to have no emotion of himself; the emotional content is invested in those who try to care for him.
is this representative of how some on the Autistic spectrum see the world? it's not something I have any experience of myself.

Here is a good resource to learn about Autism Spectrum Disorders. To answer your question, go to the page of "signs and symptoms. I hope you find this helpful, Helen.

For a simple answer to your question: Yes.

To add my two cents: people on the autism spectrum can vary widely in the amount of emotion they express. My son is actually rather affectionate with people he knows. He doesn't always know how to express emotion appropriately, especially in new settings or contexts.

I read and really enjoyed Marcello in the Real World last year, and I am going to try to get Rules by Cynthia Lord this year.

I should get to Marcello and Rules one of these days, Judy!

I just learned from Book Bub that Amazon has the Kindle version of Autism & Asperger's Syndrome in Layman's Terms by Raymond Le Blanc on special for 99 cents through April 16. So I bit and bought it and have been glancing through it.

At the very least, it is current (2012) and touches on the changes in the new DSM-V diagnosis manual. So that's helpful, as many of my other references are older. It looks easy to understand, and seems to touch on the most important points dealing with autism. The Intro says that it's designed to assist parents and other caregivers. Other info in the intro suggests that it may be targeted to those facing a new diagnosis who need to learn the basics about ASD. I'll need to read further before I can say more.

I finished Rules by Cynthia Lord and rated it a four star read. A touch contrived, the author still told a heart-felt story that felt realistic. I would definitely recommend this book to younger readers.

I finished The Sound and the Fury. One of the narrators, Benjy, has a developmental disability. I don't think that he's actually supposed to have autism, but to be honest, I found the book really hard to understand, so maybe.

Benjy is treated really poorly in the book, so it made my think about how far we have come in the treatment of people with developmental disabilities, and how far we have yet to come.

20 At the time the book was set, the diagnosis of "autism" didn't even exist. And it's hard to "diagnose" from what's written . . . as you said, very hard to understand. I sort of stalled on the book. There's been too much going on in my life and in the world in recent days for me to focus enough brainpower on it.

You are absolutely right in pondering how far we've come, and how far yet to go, in regards to how our developmentally disabled citizens are treated.

I bit on a very short-term special (probably over by now) and bought two Kindle books featuring a character who has an high-functioning autism diagnosis (though she rather rebels at labeling). The Gauguin Connection & The Dante Connection by Estelle Ryan. The premise is that, through her "logical" study of body language (making up for autism's lack of intuitive understanding of it) and her inherent ability to spot patterns, Genevieve Lenard has become an expert in detecting insurance fraud. Specialty: art theft fraud. I read the first chapter of the first book, and am reserving opinion until I read more.

I just finished Karin Fossum's mystery Black Seconds. It contains a character that shows characteristics of autism -- at one point, that diagnosis is actually mentioned as likely.

I'm continuing The Gauguin Connection, which has a central character with high-functioning autism. I'm still deciding if the character is convincing or if the story is worthwhile. So far, OK.

I'm also still working on my e-book of Autism & Asperger's Syndrome in Layman's Terms by Raymond Le Blanc, which has some useful basic information for those wanting to learn about the autism spectrum; some of the more recent research was even new to me, and I'm pretty familiar with the subject. There's a lot of repetition if you read it straight through -- it's set up so you can read sections that are of interest, but this format leads to certain things being said over & over because they appear in each section. There are a few statements that leave me scratching my head, but most of it is pretty good info.

Title: The Gauguin Connection
Author: Estelle Ryan
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2012
Series: Genevieve Lenard #1
Date finished: 5/3/13
Off the Shelf? (pre-2013 or ER?) Source?: Off virtual shelf, not long-term
Category for 13 in 13 challenge: Space Invaders
How does it fit the category? (if not obvious): doesn't really fit anywhere else
Alternate category
My Rating: 3 stars
Notes:

The central character and narrator of this story is Dr. Genevieve Lenard, a woman with high-functioning autism who works as an insurance investigator. The premise is interesting: aware of her autistic lack of intuitive ability to "read" people, Genevieve made a formal study of body language, to the point where she is one of the world's foremost experts in it. Her job consists mostly of sitting in a room with computer monitors, looking at videos to pick up signs of fraud in those filing claims; also, she is expert at examining data and picking out patterns. Her boss and mentor, Phillip, says she has saved the company many millions of dollars in fraudulent claims; Phillip is normally happy to let her do her work in peace and quiet, and to smooth over her inability to interact socially with co-workers and clients.

But Dr. Lenard is moved out of her comfort zone when Phillip's old friend Manny seeks help with a case involving murder, art fraud, stolen weapons, and various European security agencies. She finds herself interacting not only with the curmudgeonly Manny, but also with some unlikely allies and mysterious enemies.

I thought the premise and the main character were interesting. I didn't much care for the story itself. I'll say up front that tales of international intrigue are not usually my cup of tea. I have no idea whether any of the European organizations and agencies (other than Interpol) exist and were used fictitiously, or were wholly fictional. The whole conspiracy tale seemed convoluted and rather implausible.

The narration stayed "in character" for a person on the Autism spectrum. There was no use of metaphor or other figurative language, except as she dealt with the words of those around her. Her lack of comprehension of the non-literal language of other people was totally realistic (As I have a son on the Autism Spectrum, I've encountered that bewilderment countless times when I've made the wrong word choices.) It goes without saying that this isn't a book to read for rich, literary use of language.

I didn't much like the story, but I liked the character. I have the next book in the series, and I'll eventually give it a try.

Title:Autism & Asperger's Syndrome in Layman's Terms
Author: by Raymond Le Blanc
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2012
My Rating: 2 1/2 stars

This book contains a lot of useful information, but I don't like the format. There is much repetition. Some of that is because it's set up more as a reference, not as something to be read straight through. But I feel that it still doesn't require so much of the same info to be presented over and over as it is in this book. Also, some of the wording is very awkward and confusing. This is a book badly in need of a competent editor.