Book Review - The Silent Boy

The Silent Boy

by Lois Lowry

 

Rating ***** (5 stars)

I have been on a Lois Lowry reading spree as of late. It is one that I foresee continuing until I have devoured all of her books. I am uncertain how I made it through adolescence, with my obsessive reading habit, without having discovered her before now.

I seriously believe that Lois Lowry should go down as one of the greats. She should be hoisted right next to Charles Dickens.

The Silent Boy is another amazing novel. It is a book set in the early 1900s. The main character is a very young girl who wishes to be a doctor like her father. The young girl has wisdom beyond her years, which includes her ability to accept others for who they are. This is all accompanied by a ten year old temperament. She makes for a highly entertaining narrator.

One interesting character with whom she meats is Jacob, a fourteen year old boy who would most likely be diagnosed with Autism in today's society. It is fascinating seeing a character with Autism depicted in a less modern setting. While he helps out with his farm chores, like is expected of all the children, he also refuses to take off a woolen hat, is obsessed with the grinding stones at the mill, mimics sounds, is non verbal, and has a very strong connection with animals.

The ending is a bit sad, and you can see it coming early, some aspect of it from the first chapter. Yet that does not stop the reader from being swept up in the lives of the characters.

I think it is an excellent book for a middle school student, high school student, or adult. I do think it may be a bit difficult concept wise for early elementary school students.

Book Review - How to be Human: Diary of an Autistic Girl

How to be Human: Diary of an Autistic Girl

by. Florida Frenz

Rating ***** (5 stars)

I received the book for free in exchange for an honest review. The following thoughts are my opinion.

I was so excited to receive this book. There are not enough books by Aspies (yes I prefer that term) for Aspies. There are a fair number of books by neurotypical people telling other neurotypical people how Aspies think. No offense to neurotypical people, but how I think is just as big a mystery to you as how you think is to me. Aspies think differently.

Granted to say, I was fascinated that a teenager wrote a book for other struggling kids. It was about time.

My first impression of the book was that it was a nice quality. The pages are all color. The pictures are obviously drawn by a kid, but a talented kid. The font is not typical. It reminded me of a Geronimo Stilton book, except bigger, hardback, and talking about Autism instead of mice. My kids love the format of Geronimo Stilton books. I think it is just easier for kids with ASD and ADHD to process.

Despite my best intentions the book was ripped from my hands, and navigated through all three of my children before I had a chance to read it. It is a testament to the quality of the book that it still looks new. J begged me to allow him to review the book. L decided to review it also. Their reviews are included at the bottom.

In the first page of the book Florida describes the neurology of Autism in the easiest and most simplistic terms, and I agree with how she put all of it. Any girl who knows the meaning of plasticity of the brain is someone I will completely relate to.

She then goes on to describe sensory overload in an amazing relatable way. However, I can tell that Florida has more audio sensitivities then any others. I do love the phrase emotional calculus. I can see a poster on my wall at work saying something to the effect of - I do not have time to calculate emotional calculus today.

All that and more is just in the forward to the book. It was an amazing read. In five pages she summed up everything you need to know about an autistic brain.

The book itself is divided into different steps. Each step is a concept of learning social skills. It starts with more basic concepts such as figuring out faces, figuring out emotions, and then matching emotions to faces. It ends with more complex concepts such as consequences, the social order of school, and how you fit into that social order. There are a total of 23 steps. The last step is Human or Alien?. My answer - alien. I even voted that I would use an alien emoticon to represent myself at work today. Florida's answer is a bit more enlightened then that.

Each step has text to explain about what the concepts means. The text is not overwhelming. It is usually summed up in a few short sentences. Florida then includes a drawing that she created which relates to the topic, and then her personal story which brings context to the drawing. Most steps are a page. Most of the page is filled up with the artwork. However, the artwork includes the words which really explains the concept. This is done with speech bubbles, labeling, or journaling with the pictures.

This is a book I look at and think, yes I think like that. Which to me says it is an accurate representation of autism. It is the only book of it's kind, that I have seen, which is targeted towards kids. Pure Genius!

Should you get this book? You should get ten copies. You should get one for your child, to let them know they are not alone and help them to understand themselves. I honestly believe that when they understand how they are different from neurotypicals, it is then that they learn to adapt. (I will defend my choice of the word different, we are different, we are not bad). You should also buy a copy for everyone else! Give one to your child's teacher next year. Have one on hand for a regular baby-sitter. Send one out to family. Read it in your child's classroom. Use it in a social skills group. It is useful for children of all ages to learn and understand about what it is like to have an ASD. While the book is a lot about how to navigate the world, it also tells others what the autistic mind is like.

While Florida is autistic, this book is also useful for teaching social skills to other youth who have difficulty. S, who is bipolar, also has a hard time with social interactions. She also is very artistic. She completely related to this book, and then started on working on writing her own. How is that for empowerment?

J is 13 and too cool for anything at the moment. However, I had to practically wrestle to book away from him. He did take it from me on multiple occasions. L looks at the pictures. While it is in her reading level, she currently refuses to read anything except Riley's Rules at the moment. We have used the pictures to talk about some concepts.

The following are reviews from my children:

J - Age 13 dx - Asperger's and ADHD

A good book. It really shows the nature of kids with Autism, and some of the struggles that they go through. It will help kids, parents, and even teachers to understand what their child or student is going through. It also helps the kid with Autism to help them understand that they are special, but they are not alone. And it helps them understand some feelings, and thoughts that probably haven't crossed their mind yet, or if they have then it helps explain it in better depth. My personal favorite part was the alien drawings, and also the very end of the book with other disorders that kids have. The writing on the pictures are a little sloppy, it looked like my writing.

L - Age 9 dx - currently Mood Disorder - NOS, in reality she is also an Aspie

I didn't read the book, but I looked at the pictures. It looked funny.You should read this book because it tells you what you could say to people. The pictures are a little strange. I learned from the book that fighting is not the way.

Book Review - Asperger's in Love: Searching for Romance When You Are Not Wired to Connect

Asperger's in Love: Searching for Romance When You Are Not Wired to Connect

by. Amy Harmon

Rating **** 1/2 (4 1/2 stars)

Is your child with autism ever going to fall in love, or even want to fall in love? This is a pressing concern for parents. As an adult with Asperger I wonder some days if it is possible for myself to fall in love. Perhaps that is why I gravitate towards romance stories about my own 'people'. I suppose I should begin to wonder why the romance stories are more self help manuals. Or as the case in Asperger Love a documentary.

My ex husband and myself had a few fights. I remember one fight, not long before I was diagnosed, where my ex husband accused me of never looking him in the eyes. Ha, I thought, I will totally win this argument. I turned to him and yelled back that was the stupidest thing I have ever heard, people do not look each other in the eyes.

Relationships are hard, relationships with a person, or between people, who have difficulty or complete oblivion with social conventions is even harder.

This story follows two young adults, both diagnosed on the autism spectrum, through their ups and downs of building a relationship. It looks at how they handle typical challenges, as well as challenges created by having autism. The novel is a great edition to the literature on autism, and it gives hope to parents of a child on the spectrum. It also is relatable to adults, both young and old, who are also on the spectrum.

My one complaint is that it is too short. While it gives us a glimpse into one relationship, it does not give a big enough picture into either their life, or what it is like to involve autism in a relationship. I would love to see Amy Harmon tackle more on this topic, until then I will totally check out her other books.

 

Book Review - The Autism and ADHD Diet: A Step-by-step Guide to Hope and Healing by Living Gluten Free and Casein Free (GFCF) and other Interventions

The Autism and ADHD Diet: A Step-by-step Guide to Hope and Healing by Living Gluten Free and Casein Free (GFCF) and other Interventions

by Barrie Silberberg

Rating: ** (2 stars)

 

 

I did not go into reading this book neutral. See, I wanted to love this book. I was excited to read it. While getting my Master's degree I searched for research on the GFCF diet for children with Autism. I was not very successful in my search. I could not see many empirical studies looking at the GFCF diet. Yet, I knew that L is as functioning today because I removed gluten early in her life. I know her behaviors are better now that it is out. I also know that S responds very badly to sugar. I know, with my own antidotal evidence, that diet can affect behavior. Surly this book would help point me to the research that is out there.

 

 

The book starts out strong. There is the author's own success story, followed by fact after fact after fact. Yet, there is one thing missing. There is no information to back up any claim that the author has made. There is no references, footnotes, or any scientific resource included in the book. Sure there are tons of web address - half of them are message boards.

 

Add to that the actual diet that is proposed. What is the point of removing gluten to replace it with high carb/low glycemic flours such as rice or potato flour? This is how we first approached the GFCF diet many years ago. My children ate processed GFCF food which was still junk. S went crazy with all the sugar in her body. The result is we went off the diet. This potential is mentioned in the book briefly near the end.

 

The book also includes testimonials of the diet by other families. I was not very moved by this. I wanted evidence not other people's opinions. The author then went on to fill a lot of the book with information on other therapies. Once again I was not impressed. I purchased the book for information on the GFCF diet not occupational therapy. My kids have been in that for years. In fact the only therapies mentioned that my children have not been in is the more controversial biomedical approaches such as chelation or the hypobaric chamber.

 

I really wish that there was some golden gem hidden in this book making it worth reading. Instead what I found was a collection of half truths with greater truths hidden in the text.


Book Review - I am in Here: The Journey of a Child with Autism who Cannot Speak but Finds Her Voice

I am in Here: The Journey of a Child with Autism who Cannot Speak but Finds Her Voice

by Elizabeth M Bonker and Virginia G Breen

 

Rating ** (2 stars)

 

 

The title and authorship of this book would lead the reader to think that it is written by, and about, an adolescent without autism. The reality is that this book is a melodramatic memoir which includes a main topic of having a daughter with autism. It also includes many trips down memory lanes by the main author of the book Virginia (Elizabeth's mother). Many of these ventures are quite interesting. She graduated from Harvard, seems to travel extensively, and can pick up and fly across the country for healing prayers. On a trip to Tibet she happened to meet someone who worked for PBS creating documentaries. This is not a typical middle or lower class family. None of this takes away from the book in itself.

 

My main issue with the book is that it is marketed as being written from the perspective of Elizabeth - a nonverbal adolescent with autism. In reality Elizabeth's poems are extensively included followed by small segments of explanation of the poetry. The rest is her mother's story. Her mother is a melodramatic mess. I would love to read the follow up, actually written by Elizabeth, when she is a few years older. She seems like a remarkable young women.

 

There should be several warnings before you decided to pick up this novel. The mother comes from a business profession, and this is evident in the writing. She uses analogies from business to attempt some sort of structure of her life in an attempt to make blanket statements. This would be useful if this were a self help book rather then a memoir, and if she had the endorsement, or even more universal experience, to back these ideas up.

 

The book has a mystical Christian theme to it - the author even described herself as such. Throughout the book you will find a lot of references to God and scriptures. She then seems to mix this around by talking about Tibet a bit.

 

There are a lot of references to controversial biomedical procedures. If you agree with this approach to autism treatment then I think you will be frustrated by the way she seems to vaguely mention most of them and not really reference their progress or effect, if any. She only partly does this with one treatment - and the response was more an example of an emotion journey on the part of the mother. If you do not agree with this approach then you may be a bit outraged by the fact that this mother seems willing to try anything.

 

It seems to me that so much emphases is put on the negative aspects. Elizabeth cannot speak - but she can communicate - and in this day and age there are great compact devices that can be used to give her a voice. Hence, one reason why the iPad is so popular with autistic families. I also wish that more attention was given to the journey of the family as a whole. I would have loved to hear about Elizabeth's brother who is also diagnosed with autism. It is not even until the middle of the book that we are told there is an older sister. The dad is given a brief mention - which makes no sense if he is in fact home with them and as such their primary caregiver.

 

I would have a lot less criticism if the book was marketed as a mother's perspective, although even then I think that would have only earned it an extra 1/2 star.