Book recommendation

Post Reply New Topic

I am new to the forum and would like to start by giving you some background information.

I am a first year teacher at a private school for children with special needs. Out of ten children in my class (ages 12-14), there are six on the spectrum. While I do have several years of experience as an assistant teacher at the same school, I do still have difficulty understanding some of the behavior of my students. I have frequently visited this site over the past few months and found it extremely helpful in understanding the perspective of my students.

I was wondering if anyone would be willing to recommend some reading material that might further help me understand and therefore, more adequately conform my teaching style to meet the diverse needs of my students. There is so much material out there and it is a bit overwhelming trying to determine what is good and accurate information.

Thank you in advance,
Burns

Thank you for asking.

Do you have girls among this group? I recommend that you are careful to choose resources that include the gender divide.

I am a Tony Atwood fan. You can visit his website to find good resources.

A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
It is about a boy with an ASD told from his point of view. While all on the spectrum are widely different, I found this to be surprisingly relate-able (how I discovered I was an Aspie because it was revealed to me after I finished this type of thinking was "not-normal") and presents a fairly descent depiction into how the ASD mind works.

As the author has since repeatedly stressed, though, he didn't explicitly write it with any specific disorder in mind.

A film version of the book is in the works. I've never read it but I may now after reading these posts and the reviews at Amazon.

I really liked the OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome. It's one of the best intros to AS that I've read.

Thank you for all of your responses so far!

I do have one girl in my home room and at least two others that I work with throughout the day. Is there any book by Atwood that you particularly liked? I have also read the Curious case of the dog in the nighttime and while I was under the impression that it was written from the perspective of a boy with autism, I was also aware of statements that the author made about the the book.

I guess what I am really asking (and perhaps should have included in the OP), is a book from the perspective of people with autism in everyday life or interaction with NT's and more specifically in an educational setting. Perhaps if I gave an example of something that I have learned just through visiting this sight, it might better explain what I am looking for...

I have heard many teachers before me (and even found myself doing it), asking students to look them in the eye when they were in a conversation. After reading many posts on this sight about eye contact actually being distracting during social interaction, I have changed my perspective and expectations for students in my class. While I do want them to be aware of "social norms", I don't necessarily expect or demand them to follow them. I actually am starting to wonder if it is counter productive for teachers, or any one else for that matter to demand that everyone interact the same way, especially if goes against the very nature or hard wiring so to speak of the person it is being demanded of.

It is these types of situations that I would like to increase my awareness of to better understand my students.

Thanks again for all for all of your help and I will also look into the OASIS guide.....

The guide to Aspergers by Tony Attwood is my recommendation.

I don't know how you can teach your students to cope better. I don't know if I was diagnosed as a kid what I would have wanted to happen differently. At that age I would have wanted to be left alone with my interests.

For me it was really just a lack of social reasoning. As an adult I've learned to figure things out better.

The question in my mind is how do you get them to realise the other perspective when they are so absorbed in their own world?

Good luck and please be good to these little folks!

Aspergirls by Rudy Simone is a good book for gaining insight into how ASDs present in girls.

Oh, also, if you have facebook I recommend Karla's ASD page. If you look through her photos she gives a lot of useful insight into what it is like to have autism, and how non autistic people can adapt to people on the spectrum, rather than the other way round.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Karlas-A ... tos_stream

For example: