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Aspertools

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Member Reviews

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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EVERY TEACHER< IN EVERY SCHOOL< AT EVERY GRADE LEVEL SHOULD HAVE THIS BOOK AS REQUIRED READING. I have said many times that children are not a crowd to be controlled and fed education like a mass produced human. Everyone regardless of any shade of neuro-diversity should be treated as an individual with gifts. Dr. Reitman, Pati Fizzano and Rebecca Reitman should look into doing school programs in our area. No one would ever say "special education" the same way again.

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Some good tidbits, but mostly, this book was a bit confusing to follow (not fleshed our enough and kind of jumped all over the place) and lacking in substance. I did like that the point of view of the author, father of an autistic adult, teacher and mentor to said autistic adult(s), and the daughter of the author, who is autistic, an adult, and a teacher herself, are all included, yet, it felt condescending to autistic people at times.

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I want to buy this for everyone I know!

I thought the book would provide tools for Aspies, as per the title, but it's written for friends and family of Aspies instead. This is why it has 4 stars instead of 5.

That aside, this is a really great guide to how your aspie feels, why they behave the way they do, how to help them learn and achieve their best and how to get the most out of your relationship with them.

I genuinely want to buy this book for everyone I know, because it verbalises my thoughts and feelings and behaviours far better than I ever could!

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