An Early Start for Your Child with Autism: Using Everyday Activities to Help Kids Connect, Communicate, and Learn


Sally J. Rogers - 2012
    This encouraging guide from the developers of a groundbreaking early intervention program provides doable, practical strategies you can use every day. Nearly all young kids—including those with ASD—have an amazing capacity to learn. Drs. Sally Rogers, Geraldine Dawson, and Laurie Vismara make it surprisingly simple to turn daily routines like breakfast or bath time into fun and rewarding learning experiences that target crucial developmental skills. Vivid examples illustrate proven techniques for promoting play, language, and engagement. Get an early start—and give your child the tools to explore and enjoy the world.Winner--American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award Mental health professionals, see also the authors' related intervention manual, Early Start Denver Model for Young Children with Autism, as well as the Early Start Denver Model Curriculum Checklist for Young Children with Autism (sold in sets of 15).

The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath


Leslie Jamison - 2018
    Leslie Jamison deftly excavates the stories we tell about addiction--both her own and others'--and examines what we want these stories to do, and what happens when they fail us.All the while, she offers a fascinating look at the larger history of the recovery movement, and at the literary and artistic geniuses whose lives and works were shaped by alcoholism and substance dependence, including John Berryman, Jean Rhys, Raymond Carver, Billie Holiday, David Foster Wallace, and Denis Johnson, as well as brilliant figures lost to obscurity but newly illuminated here.For the power of her striking language and the sharpness of her piercing observations, Jamison has been compared to such iconic writers as Joan Didion and Susan Sontag. Yet her utterly singular voice also offers something new. With enormous empathy and wisdom, Jamison has given us nothing less than the story of addiction and recovery in America writ large, a definitive and revelatory account that will resonate for years to come.

Committed: Dispatches from a Psychiatrist in Training


Adam Stern - 2021
    His new and initially intimidating classmates were high achievers from the Ivy League and other elite universities around the nation. Stern pulls back the curtain on the intense and emotionally challenging lessons he and his fellow doctors learned while studying the human condition, and ultimately, the value of connection. The narrative focuses on these residents, their growth as doctors, and the life choices they make as they try to survive their grueling four-year residency. Most importantly, as they study how to help distressed patients in search of a better life, they discover the meaning of failure and the preciousness of success.

Rex: A Mother, Her Autistic Child, and the Music that Transformed Their Lives


Cathleen Lewis - 2008
    Rex: A Mother, Her Autistic Child, and the Music that Transformed Their Lives

The Skeleton Cupboard: Stories From a Clinical Psychologist


Tanya Byron - 2014
    Through the eyes of her naive and inexperienced younger self, Byron shares remarkable stories inspired by the people she had the privilege to treat. Gripping, poignant, and full of daring black humor, this book reveals the frightening and challenging induction all mental health staff face and highlights their incredible commitment to their patients. It shares the tales of ordinary people with an amazing resilience to life's challenges.

What Made Maddy Run: The Secret Struggles and Tragic Death of an All-American Teen


Kate Fagan - 2017
    This was a girl who succeeded at everything she tried, and who was only getting started.But when Maddy began her long-awaited college career, her parents noticed something changed. Previously indefatigable Maddy became withdrawn, and her thoughts centered on how she could change her life. In spite of thousands of hours of practice and study, she contemplated transferring from the school that had once been her dream. When Maddy's dad, Jim, dropped her off for the first day of spring semester, she held him a second longer than usual. That would be the last time Jim would see his daughter.What Made Maddy Run began as a piece that Kate Fagan, a columnist for espnW, wrote about Maddy's life. What started as a profile of a successful young athlete whose life ended in suicide became so much larger when Fagan started to hear from other college athletes also struggling with mental illness. This is the story of Maddy Holleran's life, and her struggle with depression, which also reveals the mounting pressures young people, and college athletes in particular, face to be perfect, especially in an age of relentless connectivity and social media saturation.

No Cure for Being Human: And Other Truths I Need to Hear


Kate Bowler - 2021
    A beach body by summer. A trip to Disneyland around the corner. A promotion on the horizon. Everyone wants to believe that they are headed toward good, better, best. But what happens when the life you hoped for is put on hold indefinitely?Kate Bowler believed that life was a series of unlimited choices, until she discovered, at age 35, that her body was wracked with cancer. In No Cure for Being Human, she searches for a way forward as she mines the wisdom (and absurdity) of today's "best life now" advice industry, which insists on exhausting positivity and on trying to convince us that we can out-eat, out-learn, and out-perform our humanness. We are, she finds, as fragile as the day we were born.With dry wit and unflinching honesty, Kate Bowler grapples with her diagnosis, her ambition, and her faith as she tries to come to terms with her limitations in a culture that says anything is possible. She finds that we need one another if we're going to tell the truth: Life is beautiful and terrible, full of hope and despair and everything in between--and there's no cure for being human.

The Eden Express: A Memoir of Insanity


Mark Vonnegut - 1975
    That he emerged to write this funny and true book and then moved on to find the meaningful life that for a while had seemed beyond reach is what ultimately happens in The Eden Express. But the real story here is that throughout his harrowing experience his sense of humor let him see the humanity of what he was going through, and his gift of language let him describe it in such a moving way that others could begin to imagine both its utter ordinariness as well as the madness we all share.

Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia


Marya Hornbacher - 1997
    A vivid, honest, and emotionally wrenching memoir, Wasted is the story of one woman's travels to reality's darker side—and her decision to find her way back on her own terms.

Where Is the Mango Princess?: A Journey Back from Brain Injury


Cathy Crimmins - 2000
    No longer the man who loved obscure Japanese cinema and wry humor, Crimmins' husband has emerged from the accident a childlike and unpredictable replica of his former self with a short attention span and a penchant for inane cartoons. Where Is the Mango Princess? is a breathtaking account that explores the very nature of personality-and the complexities of the heart.

Sometimes Amazing Things Happen: Heartbreak and Hope on the Bellevue Hospital Psychiatric Prison Ward


Elizabeth Ford - 2017
    Elizabeth Ford went through medical school unsure of where she belonged. It wasn’t until she did her psychiatry rotation that she found her calling—to care for one of the most vulnerable populations of mentally ill people, the inmates of New York's jails, including Rikers Island, who are so sick that they are sent to the Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward for care.These men were broken, unloved, without resources or support, and very ill. They could be violent, unpredictable, but they could also be funny and tender and needy. Mostly, they were human and they awakened in Ford a boundless compassion. Her patients made her a great doctor and a better person and, as she treated these men, she learned about doctoring, about nurturing, about parenting, and about love. While Ford was a psychiatrist at Bellevue she becomes a wife and a mother. In her book she shares her struggles to balance her life and her work, to care for her children and her patients, and to maintain the empathy that is essential to her practice—all in the face of a jaded institution, an exhausting workload, and the deeply emotionally taxing nature of her work. Ford brings humor, grace, and humanity to the lives of the patients in her care and in beautifully rendered prose illuminates the inner workings (and failings) of our mental health system, our justice system, and the prison system.

Girls Growing Up on the Autism Spectrum: What Parents and Professionals Should Know About the Pre-Teen and Teenage Years


Shana Nichols - 2008
    This book covers all the concerns commonly faced by girls with ASDs and their parents, from periods and puberty to worries over friendships and "fitting in".1000Guide on what to expect and how to help girls on the spectrum as they grow up0600The authors unflinchingly address the most challenging issues of girls and puberty with grace and matter-of-fact discussions of pelvic exams, periods, eating disorders, healthy sexuality, and self-perception. The discussions range from choosing undergarments to the difference in boys' and girls' aggression in adolescence. Full of hints from other parents, research results, and suggestions from professionals, this book is an essential guide to adolescence for parents of girls on the spectrum (and it's also great for parents of boys!).the Spectrum, The Newsletter of The Autism Society of North Carolina, US0600This book provides a valuable insight into the concerns commonly faced by girls with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), and their parents. It offers advice and coping strategies on a host of areas, including approaching adolescence, navigating puberty, self-perception and self-confidence, understanding friendships, looking at healthy sexuality, promoting personal safety and many more...The book has a warm and engaging reading style, and the may case studies of experiences from families, daughters and educators provide brave testimonies and excellent recommendations for support; a useful reference list is also provided. This book is a must have read for those interested in helping females on the autistic spectrum.Youth in Mind0600It gives me great pleasure to introduce ASQ readers to this terrific book!...Girls Growing Up on the Autism Spectrum is an A+ read!Liane Holliday Willey, EdD, Autism Spectrum Quarterly0600This book is not only reassuring; it is inspiring, and bursting with ideas and achievable strategies. The authors write with authority and conviction, and tackle even the most difficult and delicate of topics. If ever you needed to be convinced that girls with ASD can overcome the difficulties and challenges of puberty and adolescence, have successful friendships and relationships and enjoy a healthy sexuality, then take the time to read this book - it is a must-have for families, teachers and therapists alike.Sarah Attwood, author of Making Sense of Sex: A Forthright Guide to Puberty, Sex and Relationships for People with Asperger's Syndrome0600The authors tackle an important and sensitive issue for young people with ASC. The information presented is based in research and presented clearly in a most usable format. I would not hesitate to recommend this book to young people (it might even help a few boys!) with ASC and their parents.E. Veronica Bliss, psychologist and Director of Missing Link Support Services, Ltd0600Shana Nichols, Gina Marie Moravcik, and Samara Pulver Tetenbaum provide solid, specific advice on teen issues - social life, changing bodies, friendships, diet and nutrition, self-reliance, anxiety, and more. This is an excellent beginning, with resources listed (books, articles, Web sites, blogs) in every chapter and short case studies that break up the text throughout. The authors tackle the bigger issues of socialization and friendships, plus the nitty-gritty of raising an adolescent girl - periods, ob-gyn exams, weight, privacy, and hygiene.ForeWord0600There's really only one way to say this: If you have a daughter anywhere on the autism spectrum, or even with unexplainable quirky behaviour, this book is a must. While there are hundreds of good books about autism, girls have their own unique issues when it comes to this puzzling disorder. Dr. Nichols' book is a standout. Addressing girls on their own, and in such an insightful, scholarly and reader-friendly way, what 'Girls...' has done is invaluable. You'll be shocked at how easy it is to have a girl on the spectrum misdiagnosed or not therapeutically treated correctly, but you're not left on your own. Nichols provides great counsel. 'Girls...' offers not only important information about the child, but it also provides necessary strategies for parents (and medical professionals) to help improve the child's life, and not a single subject goes untouched. The teen years are tough enough for any girl, but for one who has spectrum challenges, it can be devastating. Nichols, the clinical director of the Fay J. Lindner Center for Autism and Developmental Disorders, provides expert advice that is practical and necessary, on topics ranging from cognitive concerns and everyday behaviours to sexuality and just fitting in, which for a teenaged girl can be the most important issue of all--on the spectrum or not. Nichols draws from many wells here - vast research, conversations and interviews with parents, teachers and medical experts, and most importantly, these young girls. This is one of those hallelujah books for which parents search high and low.Long Island Press0600Rather than constructing a "how-to" book, in which pre-planned lessons have been created focusing on puberty or sexuality issues, the authors provide a broad conceptual treatment of the relevant sociological and cultural issues. That is, not only do they address the social, communication, and behavioural vulnerabilities that these girls may display, but they place these vulnerabilities in the context of a girl's social world. From this vantage point, the authors describe concrete steps and processes which may be useful for working with girls on the spectrum to help them cope with the issues they confront as they mature...This volume continually reminds the reader to think about the challenges typically developing girls and young women face throughout the pre-teen and teenage years as the context for their understanding of a girl with an ASD.Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders0200This book covers the concerns faced by girls with ASDs and their parents, from periods and puberty to friendships and "fitting in". Looking at these issues within the context of specific areas of difficulty for girls with ASDs, the authors provide families with the knowledge and advice they need to help the whole family through the teenage years.0400Foreword. Acknowledgements. Author’s Notes. 1. What Do We Currently Know About Girls and Women with Autism Spectrum Disorders? 2. Approaching Adolescence: Anticipation, Anxiety, Adaptation and Acceptance? 3. Puberty or ‘Do My Parents Know You’re Here?’ 4. The Red Spot: Periods, Pads and Pelvic Exams. 5. Feeling Good Inside and Out: Self-perception and Self-confidence. 6. The Social Landscape of Adolescence: Friendships and Social Status. 7. Healthy Sexuality for Girls with ASDs. 8. Keeping Girls Safe: Promoting Personal Safety in the Real World. 9. Our Journey: A Mother and her Daughter with Asperger's Syndrome. Conclusion: Embracing Change. References. Index.01000301http://www.biblioimages.com/jkp/getim...

Anatomy of an Illness: As Perceived by the Patient


Norman Cousins - 1979
    It started the revolution in patients working with their doctors and using humor to boost their bodies' capacity for healing. When Norman Cousins was diagnosed with a crippling and irreversible disease, he forged an unusual collaboration with his physician, and together they were able to beat the odds. The doctor's genius was in helping his patient to use his own powers: laughter, courage, and tenacity. The patient's talent was in mobilizing his body's own natural resources, proving what an effective healing tool the mind can be. This remarkable story of the triumph of the human spirit is truly inspirational reading.

Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity


Andrew Solomon - 2012
    He writes about families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down's syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, or multiple severe disabilities; with children who are prodigies, who are conceived in rape, who become criminals, who are transgender. While each of these characteristics is potentially isolating, the experience of difference within families is universal, and Solomon documents triumphs of love over prejudice in every chapter.All parenting turns on a crucial question: to what extent should parents accept their children for who they are, and to what extent they should help them become their best selves. Drawing on ten years of research and interviews with more than three hundred families, Solomon mines the eloquence of ordinary people facing extreme challenges.Elegantly reported by a spectacularly original and compassionate thinker, Far from the Tree explores how people who love each other must struggle to accept each other—a theme in every family’s life.

Aspergirls: Empowering Females with Asperger Syndrome


Rudy Simone - 2010
    The image of coping well presented by AS females can often mask difficulties, deficits, challenges, & loneliness.