April Autism Awareness: books and conversation about the Autism Spectrum

Every April for several years, I've started a thread for Autism Awareness. April is National Autism Awareness Month in the United States (and apparently in some other countries, too), and the alliteration makes April Autism Awareness a natural "fit" for an alternate Theme of the Month. This isn't meant to take away from any other theme posted for April; it's just a forum for those who may be interested in reading and discussing books about the Autism Spectrum.

Here are some links for those seeking online information about the Autism Spectrum:

Autism Society: http://www.autism-society.org/

Autism Speaks: https://www.autismspeaks.org/

April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day! A number of landmarks around the globe are going to be lighted in blue to honor the day.

To start things off, I've obtained an inter-library loan of John Elder Robison's Be Different: Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian. I need to finish it by the 13th of April so that it can go back to its home library on time! :)

I read Robison's book Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's several years ago, and have wanted to read Be Different ever since.

I intend to listen to the audiobook of look me in the eye, unfortunately I found after I got it from the library that it's an abridged audiobook. I'll still listen to it but I'm not so happy.

I've recently watched the first & second seasons of a Danish/Swedish tv series, The Bridge, and want to draw attention to it as the main female detective, Saga, has aspergers syndrome. It's compelling viewing.

I hope to read Al Capone Does My Shirts if it comes back to the library in time.

I have a new found interest in the spectrum. My housemate and friend's son has something which makes him (in her words) quirky; and to my experience seemingly terminally depressed. I am needing some information, and support. He is living with us and sometimes can be very helpful, and a hard worker, other times he sits around spreading disorder and filth. Sigh.

I'll be back.

I'll be reading Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer.

>5 maggie1944: My nephew shows signs of autism, so I too have a need for more info. So I'm interested to see what folks read.

Oh, and I added this thread to the group wiki under Monthly Themes.

Happy to see the thread up, Terri! I am planning to read my copy of The Rosie Project.

Thanks for making this thread. I don't have any very close personal connections with autism, but I have known a couple of kids with the diagnosis and my boyfriend's friends' kids are showing signs of it now.

I have read some books with autistic characters or characters with Asperger's in the past. I have read Born on a Blue Day and The Rosie Project. I read Al Capone Does My Shirts years ago but do not remember there being a character on the autism spectrum in the book.

I hope to read George and Sam: Two Boys, One Family, and Autism by Charlotte Moore finally after searching for it for many years, finally ordering it online, and then keeping it on my shelf for another two years. :-/ I also hope to read Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin another book I have on my shelf.

I just started I Am in Here: The Journey of a Child with Autism Who Cannot Speak but Finds Her Voice, another book by a child who learned to communicate using Soma's Rapid Prompting Method. Well, it's by the girl's mother, but the girl's poetry and comments are scattered throughout.

I recommend the novel Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks.

So nice to see so many posts here! I lack time to respond to everyone individually right now, but welcome to everyone!

One quick note of reply where I can address a specific issue:

>9 Tara1Reads: I read Al Capone Does My Shirts years ago but do not remember there being a character on the autism spectrum in the book.

The little sister in the book -- the father took the job on Alcatraz so that the girl could go to a special school across the bay -- she's the autism spectrum character. The author never uses the label "autism" because that diagnosis didn't exist in that era, but she has the hallmark characteristics of severe autism. The author's own sister has autism, which is why she created that character.

>12 tymfos: Ahh. Thanks for the explanation. I read that book so long ago I don't remember much of it unfortunately.

I just finished I Am In Here. This is the third book I have read about a severely autistic child who is finally able to begin to communicate using a letter board or keyboard. The other two books were Carly's Voice and Ido in Autismland. Each of the 3 children is remarkably intelligent, expressive, and insightful, and each had previously been "locked in" by their autism, sometimes labeled as mentally retarded or taught the same remedial lessons for years. Of the three books, this was my least favorite. The author-mother was just too much for me, too many emotions about everything, from a homeless man the mother befriends to a deaf man who is a friend and dies of cancer.

Instead I would recommend either Carly's Voice or Ido in Autismland. Both of these books also are partly written by the titular teen. I Am In Here features the child's lovely poetry and her explanations of the poetry, but she doesn't help with the narrative of the book. So the mother's (overly wrought) narrative looms large.

I think this year I'm going to listen to The Reason I Jump, by Naoki Higashida. If I'm feeling particularly spunky, I'll try to get my hands on Al Capone Does my Homework, too.

Be Different: Adventures of a free-range Aspergian by John Elder Robison

I loved this book! I'm going to buy a copy for my son, so he has time to read it. It offers lots of good insights and advice for those on the "high-functioning" end of the Autism Spectrum, and those who deal with them. Robison wasn't diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome until he was 40, and the diagnosis explained a lot to him about his struggles as a youth. He managed to compensate successfully (and then some) for his autistic traits, building a successful career in music electronics and special effects (working with KISS and Pink Floyd, among others) and now operating a high-end auto repair business. (Got a vintage Rolls Royce that needs a tune-up?) Robison is an exceptionally intelligent man, but many of the insights he offers will be helpful to a lot of people on the autism spectrum.

I finished the abridged audio edition of Look me in the eye by John Elder Robison and found it very interesting up to the last third where he discusses his marriages and how he dealt with his son during his early years, which I found less compelling. Still the work he did for rock bands was fascinating to listen to. I don't know what was left out and the last 3min track didn't play for me but overall I liked his honesty.
I've read Running with Scissors, his brother's memoir so was aware of how bad their parents were at parenting.

>17 avatiakh: I read that one and really liked it!

I finished Das Seh-Glas meines Bruders yesterday. (The Seeing Glass). Interesting book. Basically about the author's temporary blindness due to inflammation of the optic nerve, but during this time she has vivid dreams taking her back to her childhood and her memories of her brother. Those parts take place before anyone knew what to do with these children and he lands in a home for the mentally handicapped/disturbed.

When we lived in Geneva I volunteered at my son's elementary school and now and again had contact with an autistic boy who was there. Everyone knew the situation and treated him with respect. I remember one concert put on for the parents at which he fled the room shortly before his group was to sing. He came back and sang. I don't remember how it was expressed, but I do remember that the whole room of parents showed support and pleasure that he was able to do that.

I finished George and Sam: Two Boys, One Family, and Autism yesterday. I am glad I finally read it. I learned more about what it's like for the less able autists and what it's like being a parent to them. I also learned about therapies used for autism that I was not previously familiar with such as the auditory integration therapy.

I read the 2004 edition. I am assuming Moore came out with a new edition in 2010 because that's when all of Andrew Wakefield's papers with his false claim that autism was linked to vaccines were retracted.

One of the things that hit me in 'Seh-Glas' was the pain the mother still felt years later by the claims that autism was caused by an unloving, refrigerator mother. This is a condition that has had a lot of 'causes', not just parents but also doctors want something or someone to blame. (In that case a forceps birth was also blamed.)

>21 MarthaJeanne: The refrigerator mother was mentioned in George and Sam as well. It was a theory that emerged in the 1960s. Clara Claiborne Park wrote a book, The Siege: A Family's Journey Into the World of an Autistic Child, about raising her autistic daughter in the era of the refrigerator mother. Her daughter, Jessy, went on to study mathematics and according to Park should be able to one day live an independent life.

I will list the other books Charlotte Moore recommends in case anyone is interested or is looking for something to read related to the topic.

The Siege by Clara Claiborne Park
Exiting Nirvana by Clara Claiborne Park
The Autistic Spectrum by Lorna Wing
Nobody Nowhere by Donna Williams
Somebody Somewhere by Donna Williams
Martian in the Playground by Clare Sainsbury
An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks
Diet Intervention and Autism by Marilyn Le Breton
A User Guide to the GF/CF Diet for Autism, Asperger Syndrome, and ADHD by Luke Jackson
Freaks, Geeks, and Asperger Syndrome by Luke Jackson
Multicoloured Mayhem by Jacqui Jackson
Running with Walker by Robert Hughes
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Emergence: Labeled Autistic by Temple Grandin
Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin
Autism: Explaining the Enigma by Uta Frith
Wild Boy by Jill Dawson
The Essential Difference by Simon Baron-Cohen
Asperger Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals by Tony Attwood

Multicoloured Mayhem (wanted British spelling)
Running with Walker (on a short list under others)

Clare Sainsbury also misspelling

I've been fascinated to read of companies that specialize in finding jobs that autistic people are particularly suited to, placing them, and then working both with them and their coworkers to make it work.

I have completed Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool for Autism Awareness Month and I hope to get to Rubbernecker before the end of the month.

I was enjoying Navigating Early, but had to return it for the next person in line at the library. I did get to finish Al Capone Does My Shirts, which I enjoyed for the coming of age story of the boy who was so good with his sister (who, in a later time, would probably have been diagnosed with autism).

I read The Rosie Project over the weekend and found it to be a delightful romantic comedy with the wonderful autistic character Don. A great feel good story that made me appreciate all that much more how challenging our social world must be for individuals with developmental disorders that make up the autism spectrum and how everyone has something special to offer.

Happily, I have the audiobook of The Rosie Effect at the ready!

Thank you to everyone who has participated in this thread. I haven't been as active here as I'd hoped to be, but I've noted a few items to add to my Wishlist!

>28 tymfos: Thanks for hosting!

Forgot to say that I finished The Reason I Jump and Al Capone Does my Homework, and reviewed them on my thread. In short, I think The Reason I Jump is well worth reading to anyone interested in Autism. Most of the books by autistic people are written by higher functioning autistic people. This book is written by a less high functioning teen. That's what really makes it stand out.

April is long gone, but I'm going to post this review here:

Aquamarine Blue 5: Personal Stories of College Students With Autism edited by Dawn Prince-Hughes

This was a very unusual and interesting book. It is a book of essays written by college students on the autism spectrum, about how they experience the world and especially how they have experienced college/university life. As the parent of a son on the spectrum who has just graduated from high school and is headed to college, this book was both encouraging and inspirational and also extremely discouraging, by turns. The editor has Asperger's Syndrome. She made a point that the writings were, for the most part, not edited except for obvious typos -- she kept the style of writing as the individuals wrote without polishing it up for "neurotypicals" to read. Frankly, I found most of it very readable, though the viewpoints were a bit unusual. Most of these folks were very articulate. It was a fascinating look into how some folks on the higher-functioning end of the autism spectrum think and feel.

>31 tymfos: I still have the thread starred so thanks for posting! Could you explain what makes some of their viewpoints unusual?

Maybe I didn't phrase that well. It's more, as the editor (who has Asperger's explains) the way that connections are made -- a different flavor of stream-of-consciousness. Also, it's fascinating to see explained how so much of what is socially acceptable (in terms of manners and custom) really doesn't make a lot of sense when looked at under the lens of pure logic and literal speech. It's also enlightening to see discussed, in writing, what things that neurotypical folks take for granted one would know, in terms of social custom, that is just not on the radar for some people on the spectrum, or are totally misunderstood. (I stumble on these situations all the time with my son, but he's not as articulate at explaining how he understands/misunderstands things.) I wish I could quote examples, but the book was an inter-library loan with a short loan term, so it had to go back right away.

>33 tymfos: Yes, this is the part of the book I would be interested in. There are so many things that are second nature to us as neurotypicals that mystify people on the spectrum, and I would like to know more about what those things are.

There is a new book coming out in August, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, that seems interesting.

>34 Tara1Reads: That new book does sound interesting!

>34 Tara1Reads: Neurotribes is one of this month's offerings in LT's ER program

>36 tymfos: Yes and they are giving away copies through the GoodReads FirstReads program too.