I was really interested in reading this book. I have a degree in psychology and I’m almost finished with a masters as well so I wanted learn more about Asperger’s and about the autism spectrum. This book was really interesting and I learned a lot from it.
Although this is not directly my field I always think it’s important to understand as much as possible about things like these.
I would prefer this book as a physical book mainly because I like to go back to my textbooks, but still this was a good book.

This book is a great tool for anyone looking for a layman's terms guide to understanding Asperger's and Autism as a whole. Reitman did a great job of sharing his story as well as presenting a betting way of understanding autism and how to help those with the diagnosis.

Aspertools: The Practical Guide for Understanding and Embracing Asperger's, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Neurodiversity
By Harold Reitman, M.D. with Pati Fizzano and Rebecca Reitman

April 2015

Non-fiction

Although this book was published in 2015, I received a complimentary digital copy from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
December 2017

Honestly, it was interesting for me to read the mixed reviews when the book was first published. Many comments expressed frustration that there are no “tools” in Aspertools. I think the rest of the title explains more precisely the purpose of the book: “The Practical Guide for Understanding and Embracing Asperger's, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Neurodiversity”. It’s more of a guide written from a father’s perspective of the journey he experienced with his daughter.

“In other words, don’t view the Aspertools in this book as designed to help someone who has Asperger’s; view them as designed to help an individual who has many special qualities and who also happens to have a few Asperger’s traits, or even the whole enchilada we call Asperger’s syndrome.”

It is often difficult for people to understand and embrace the challenges that both the child and parent experience life with “neurodiversity”. I also found comments in other reviews interesting regarding the author’s reference to his own self importance. As a parent with a child possessing such unique individual qualities, I can understand how one can feel “lost or forgotten” while immersed in the care of a gifted child. I am also a well educated medical professional who often feels inept with the overwhelming responsibility to ensure my child succeeds.

Helped a lot personally and professionally. Use these tool with my son as well as my clients. Definately glad i snagged this book

Aspertools: The Practical Guide for Understanding and Embracing Aspergers, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Neurodiversity
by Harold Reitman
2015
HCI Books

Many parents, siblings and caretakers have, at one time, had a child with autism and have struggled to reach that child. This is a concise and thorough guide, written by a parent of a child with Aspergers, not as a professional authority, to share what he has learned from working with his amazing daughter, Rebecca.
Rebecca has Aspergers, had 23 brain tumors and underwent 2 major brain surgeries at the Mayo Clinic as a toddler. She went on to be accepted to the prestigious University of Georgia where she earned a degree in Discrete Mathematics. She then decided she wanted to work with others with Aspergers, and has been working with them since.
This gives you a complete understanding of how the person with Aspergers feels as well as suggestions of how to help them deal with it, and help you to deal with it as well.
One of the biggest problems in education is that we divide children into classrooms not based on their abilities or strengths but by the year of their birth. The one size fits all approach does not work and is especially obvious when working with Autism.
Enlightening and positive, this is a must have guide. Its clear, no-nonsense approach could work with many children.
Thank you to HCI Books for sending this for review.

In this book written by Dr Reitman he talks about life with neurotypical and neuro diverse people in our lives. He believes that labels aren't needed because all brains really are different. With his daughter Rebecca and her coach Pati Fizzano they talk about ways to help get through all kinds of situations with love and patience.
For me this book was very well written, each chapter dealing with different aspects of situations you might encounter with someone on the spectrum. Each chapter is broken into 3 parts; the first part is Dr. Reitman explaining the character trait and examples of how he did not deal well with it when Rebecca was younger. The second section is from Pati Fizzano as a special needs teacher and how best to deal with the situations from her perspective; and the last part is from Rebecca. Rebecca explains from her perspective as a neurodiverse woman and child what she was dealing with and how to handle those situations.
As a mother of someone on the spectrum it was very helpful to see all sides. As Rebecca and Pati point out it is not always easy for people to explain why they react to certain things the way they do. Throughout the book patience and love are stronger encouraged.
This book is very insightful and reassuring. I believe I have taken away a better understanding of neurodiverse characteristics, and in the end no matter whether someone you love is on the spectrum of not love a nd patience is most important.

Was initially very excited to read this book, but unfortunately i could not finish it, Its written about neurotypical people and I was so hoping this book would explore further. Its good for explaining to others how the nt may feel but not for the person with aspergers. I found it a bit frustrating which is why I didnt finish it.

I would recommend Aspertools for anyone that has, works with or knows someone with Asperger's Syndrome.

Having a preteen with Asperger's diagnosed several years ago, this book is an asset to us as parents. It has very easily put into place tips and tools for living life with an Aspie. It includes different perspectives and gives us a glimpse into the world of an individual with Asperger's.

Highly recommend for parents and educators!

Special thanks to Netgalley and HCI Books for an opportunity to read and review this book.

This book is a great resource for anyone who has Aspergers, who lives or works with someone who does, or simply wants to be acquainted with it to better understand it since everyone likely knows at least one person who has Aspergers.

My brother has Aspergers and there was a lot of things growing up that we knew were different about him, yet since it is high functioning, he wasn't obviously autistic, and was sometimes prone to teasing. Many people do not realize that certain eccentricities are tell tell signs of it and just call a person "weird". The greater awareness of the general public is a great thing not only because it can help in diagnosis, but it can also help those with it avoid teasing as others understand what they are going through and that is, in large part, beyond their control.

This book does just that! It explains things from different perspectives and explains how those with Aspergers typically get along in school and work and public in general. It also explains the nuances of their personality that others may not understand.

This is a great read that I will be referring back to as needed!

Aspertools (which doesn't contain any tools) is really a memoir of one father's experience with his daughter who has Aspergers. I thought, from the title and blurb, it would be helpful for a person with Aspergers to adapt to the neurotypical world. Instead, it's more geared toward teaching neurotypical individuals what it's like to experience life with Aspergers. It might be helpful to give to grandparents and others who are learning to adapt themselves.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Very practical book that explains well about Asperger's without the complicated medical therms. Easy to read, short chapters about each trait of Asperger's.

I hope that my review finds Dr Reitman. My son has aspergers so this book really hits home for me. I really appreciate this novel and its content of advice and tips etc. NO one child is the same. This novel prompted me to search for Dr Reitman on youtube and I found this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVnDnO9WhMI
I totally and completely relate and I am just glad to have come across this novel on here.
I love this book and appreciate Dr Reitman. Thank you sir , for offering me some insight into my sons disorder. I ask everyone to remember this " There is ABILITY in DISABILITY". These children and individuals are wonderful human beings.

This was a super simple and easy to read book that had a lot of good tips on helping anyone who's not completely neurotypical. The author seems to have the best of intentions and does a great job of keeping everything positive. I will put some of the tips to use in my own life.

The only negative was the weird paragraph about single mothers in chapter 22. Not sure what that was all about.

I'm going to make sure we have this one on the shelf if we don't already.

This book is an important read. Who hasn’t encountered someone who has Asperger’s traits or syndrome or who falls on the autism spectrum disorder? Kudos to author Harold Reitman for advancing understanding and advocacy for everyone! Each chapter tackles a new topic relevant to Asperger’s traits. The book is clear, concise, practical, pragmatic and easy to read. I recommend it to parents, teachers, family and friends of anyone considered atypical. I took off one star because I felt like the author may have concluded that all introverts are Aspies too. He reminisces frequently about several people he has met that are not extroverted or are passionate about something and concludes their lack of extroversion means they had Asperger’s. I feel that over-diagnosing has become a bit of a problem in modern day society.

This book is helpful in understanding what some of the students in a classroom experience. Even gifted students can have other issues affecting learning -- the 2E (twice exceptional) students. As a teacher, I have seen these issues and think that this book is helpful.

I like that this book offers three different perspectives on living with autism spectrum disorders and other types of neurological differences. While the author is a medical doctor, he is writing from the perspective of the parent of an adult child with what used to be called Asperger's syndrome. The book also features tips from an exceptional student education (ESE) teacher and from his daughter, who is on the spectrum.

The book offers practical tools, at least some of which are likely to be helpful for a wide audience. I like that it emphasized individual differences and that neurodiversity is becoming more the rule than the exception. I also really like the way the author helped readers understand what life might be like for people on the spectrum with frequent "Imagine you're an Aspie" thought experiments. Those were, for me, probably the most useful part of the book.

I did find the text somewhat repetitive, and it didn't go into as much detail on some topics as I would have preferred.

I was provided an advanced reader's copy (ARC) through Net Galley that I volunteered to review. Because I have not seen the final published version, I cannot comment on the final formatting or how well edited the book is. The ARC I reviewed had significant editing and formatting problems that may or may not be resolved. Assuming all of these problems have been satisfactorily cleaned up, this might actually be a 4-star book.

I was interested I viewing this book for several reasons.

It is the fruit of a collaboration between father and daughter, The daughter is a teacher who works with children with special needs. ' She had had her difficulties as a child herself though many of these were not recognised as having something to do with asperger's until she was diagnosed owed as an adult. Both father and daughter appear to wish to make up for lost time......

This is a very practical and pragmatic approach to the whole issue of five ding solutions to whatever problems are preventing the aspie from getting on with life.
Can't stand the sensation of water in your eyes in the shower? Then get some goggles. Problem solved. Can't follow some basic instructions? Then break them down I to manageable chunks and make them more specific. And so on.

There are chapters on teaching metaphorical expressions such as 'raining cats and dogs' which are often a challenge for the literary-minded aspie alongside others on managing meltdowns (which are not the same as tantrums) and teaching streets arts a d Internet savvy in a world where predators do exist.

The pragmatism here includes an 'if the cap fits approach to this problem solving. It may not be a case of asperger's, but....

Stigma and shame can be powerful deterrents indeed for either parent or offspring to seek help. The difficulties the aspire may face are real and obdurate indeed. Also, my experience now says that children are a whole lot more savvy about not just the autism spectrum, but about every other kind of learning difficulty and any kind d of label is a label! The teacher wishing to do good must tread carefully in large classes where one size is still supposed to fit all....

As a teacher I might in time get the odd light bulb idea after reading this - time will tell.

There is a vein of a vigorously healthy socialisation and work ethic ethos that I was keen in, in a world where the question of what we will do when the robots take over rears its head. Unspoken is the concern of what may happen if an angry unsocialised young person may get up to if there isn't strong intervention to go out and meet the big bad world head on. There is the creative type of person who may well ways desire a good deal of personal space and autonomy.

Overall though, this is is another very useful addition to the many books that exist to help any individual for whom the cap fits to find a successful niche in society.

This is a helpful book with lots of information and support for parents and children who have Autism. As a practitioner, I am concerned that the author is not a trained professional in this field, and while I find the information authentic from a parent's perspective, I wish it was more driven as a parent's experience and perspective rather than as a resource book for practitioners (children and parents, too). There is a wealth of information available in this book, and I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water, so I gave it four stars overall. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. It was a great experience, and I do plan to spend more time with the information presented.

It was a decent read and I think a lot of people will be able to take something away from this book either for themselves if they have aspergers, or if they know, love, or interact with people who have it. However I think it's still focused more on those who are care-givers than those who have aspergers.

As someone who has high-functioning Aspergers, I myself was able to implement two tools to help with my executive functioning to reduce my anxiety and I also learnt a few more things about myself (why I get so anxious about giving and receiving change).

It is a decent book with some general information on Autism. I Don't think it goes in depth enough but for a beginning in the area I think it provides a lot of general information.