Aspergers and Asd

[spedrunner]

If your child is on the spectrum and you have tn done so already please read :  

www.amazon.com/Asperkids-Insiders-Understanding-Teaching-Aspergers/dp/1849059020

and

www.amazon.com/Asperkids-Secret-Book-Social-Rules/dp/1849059152

by jennifer o toole

i went to a workshop and met her. She has aspergers herself, along with her husband and three children.  It's amazing speaking to someone with aspergers bc she can give us the scoop of both "worlds". 


She she also has a great blog with lots of info

asperkids.com

enjoy!!

[auntie]

Rant follows. Feel free to ignore if you wish.

Not a fan.

The use of the term "aspie" is controversial. I don't particularly like it. I would be all up in a teacher or other professional's business if they used it to describe my child.

It's fine if adults, like John Elder Robison or DS, wish to self identify using the term; I choose not to use it. I feel it sort of trivializes and "cutifies" the very real challenges associated with ASD. I mean, would we called a kid with Downs Syndrome a "downie".

I'm also not a fan of subsuming random people into the Asperger umbrella as she does in her blog. I see this a lot among people who are on spectrum or whose child is, as if claiming Einstein or Gates for the team somehow enhances the brand. I don't think we can armchair dx dead people like Jefferson across the context of their culture either.

Her rule book is good; she nailed it. I liked this book, too. It's that rare resource that has a female spin.

www.amazon.com/Middle-School-Nobody-Teenage-Experiences/dp/1934575623

JKP sends me advance copies of a lot of their books so I've read some of her stuff. The launch pad book was sort of funny because it didn't seem to include any information a competent parent wouldn't already have done.

IME, sometimes speakers on spectrum make the assumption that all on spectrum experience life as they do. My biggest pet peeve are the teachers who insisted my son was a visual learner who thought in pictures because Temple Grandin said so. Ugh. Dr. Grandin is awesome, but she's never met my son who is more of an auditory learner.

[spedrunner]

i agree with the term "aspie" I don't like it myself, but I felt she had some great insight that allowed me to see into my students worlds a bit better