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Title: A Parent'S Guide To Autism : A Parents Guide To Autism by Charles Hart ISBN: 0-671-75099-2 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (8 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Do NOT Read this Outdated Book, Get FACING AUTISM instead!
Comment: This book gets ZERO stars from me and is, in fact, dangerous because it is SO outdated and negative! It kept me from even considering ABA therapy which, once I FINALLY got my son to see a development specialist from Children's Hospital, was the Doctor's strongest recommendation. ("ABA has been proven to work, and it is NOT experimental. I've been successful in getting some insurance companies to pay for it by writing a medical letter of neccessity," the doctor told me.) Re: ABA, Hart cites outdated negative reinforcements and aversion techniques NO LONGER USED vs. the positive reinforcements--tickling, favorite toys, etc-- that are now used by ABA therapists. The book discourages parents in every chapter with the basic message being "lower your expectations." Again, though parents are reporting vast improvements with dietary intervention and vitamin supplements, he discourages it says it just makes austic kids even more "different" and hides behind the lame "is not accepted by most in the medical community." Meanwhile, while not ALL doctors agree, the head of the childhood development department at Children's Hospital in DC DOES recommend that parent's try the casien-free, gluten-free diet. While I know I should feel the same sympathy and kinship with Hart that I feel for every parent of a child with autism, I don't. I'm angry at him for his closed mind and for the direction his book might mistakenly send parents. Especially since ALL the literature agrees that every moment counts and early intervention can make ALL the difference. I wish I had NOT read it. ...
Rating: 2
Summary: I Guess I Don't See It Like Everyone Else
Comment: This was the first book I read when faced with the possibility that my son might have autism. Unlike other reviewers I cried all through the reading of it. Granted, that would be a normal reaction to facing my child's diagnosis at the time, but frankly this book made it worse. I felt the book highlighted all the devastating things about the disorder and accented the "weirdness" of it.Particularly hurtful to me was how each form of therapy or treatment was profiled. The last paragraph of the section always told why that treatment could never work for long if at all. I remember the question "Is there hope?" being asked with the answer "Absolutely." However,this book did not make me feel hopeful and in fact compounded my grief. I have since come to learn that there is indeed great hope and documented scientific proof of some therapy's efficacy. I believe the author's intentions were to be helpful and informative, but I could never recommend this book.
Rating: 4
Summary: An important book to read
Comment: I have read this book before and decided to re-read it now that it has been 5 years since my son was diagnosed with autism. It is interesting to note how my perceptions and understanding have changed in that time, and that obviously changed the way I read the book this time around. I still feel that this is an important book to read for any parent of a child with an autism spectrum disorder. The book is basic and straightforward and deals with issues like "What are People with Autism like?" , "What Can Medication Do for People with Autism?" and
"What's the Best Approach to Education?"
What is really interesting to me is the background that the author brings to the book, his brother had autism (long before it was even a word) and his own son was later diagnosed with autism as well. I heard the author speak at our local autism conference at the end of October and I found him to be refreshing and absolutely fascinating. I wanted to include a few of the highlights of his presentation to share here.
Mr. Hart gave an detailed history of autism and how it came to be known by that name. Although it is believed that there have been people with autism since the beginning of time, there
was not an actual term describing the symptoms until the 1940's when Kanner and Asperger both published papers on a strange combination of talents and disability that seemed to be present in some people. At this time, parents were blamed for their child's disability. Mr. Hart's brother was in his twenties during the 1940's and his family had no knowledge of these published papers. His brother was not allowed to attend school and he talked a lot about how people with disabilities have gone through their own civil rights movement for the right to obtain an education. The 1960's brought a growing belief that autism must be caused by something organic or biological and many new approaches in treatment were developed such as TEACCH, Lovaas, and Applied Behavioral Analysis. The 1970's brought great strides in genetic research and it is his belief that we currently know about as much as we possibly can about the genetics of autism and the mystery will still remain. There were a few breakthroughs in the 1980's and 1990's but they were disappointments (fragile x, secretin, etc.)
His experiences in growing up with a sibling with autism had a great impact on him. His brother was completely dependent on their mother for everything and when she died, he had to be institutionalized. This had an enormous impact on how he has raised his own son with autism. He was very sensitive to the needs of his non-disabled child and has tried very hard to give his autistic son as much independence as possible. His son is now in his thirties, works in the public library, successfully uses the public transit system, lives in his own apartment, and has an impressive collection of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. (I had to chuckle when I saw the slide of his son's
Ninja Turtle Collection in the living room of his apartment, because I can envision my son with a living room full of Happy Meal Toys!) He and his wife decided when their son became a
teenager that they were going to have to let him take some risks to learn to be independent. He figured early on that the best way to survive was to "hang loose" and "enjoy what he could" with
his son. He stopped worrying about if it was "appropriate" for his grown son to obsess over Ninja Turtles because it really was his son's choice. He reiterated several times that "the fewer
things you have to worry about and battle over, the better your life will be." He says the most important things we can teach our children with autism is community living skills; how to tell
time, spend money, use the transportation system and develop vocational abilities.
I realize that this is not really a book summary, but I think it is a great glimpse into the author's mindset and that helps to explain the tone the book is written in. The book is an encouragement for parents that something CAN be done to help their child, and also a warning to not fall prey to every new whim in treatments. Consider the quality of your child's life and the whole family before risking everything on some unproven course of action.
Another reviewer did not like Mr. Hart's conservative approach and I can understand that also. This book does have some sections that might seem dated but it is still very good and basic advice which is what parents need when faced with the news of this diagnosis.
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