Developing Resilience in Young People with Autism using Social Stories™

Excellent !

As a parent of 2 daughters with Autism I’m always on the lookout for information that will help them use the gifts their autism has provided to become the amazing women I know they will be someday; after all they are already beautiful little girls who bring incalculable joy to my life.

Another thing I look for is information that will help them embrace their autism while finding ways to function in a largely neurotypical society. I enjoyed reading this book because right away Dr. Timmins shows that she understands and accepts that the brain for a person with autism works differently than a neurotypical so often those on the spectrum get labelled as being difficult because they are judged according to the same standards used for those not on the spectrum.

It’s a huge pet peeve of mine when people act like someone with autism has a disease that needs to be cured rather than understanding they just see the world differently. I’m a huge fan of social stories and have used them with success with my own daughters. When they’ve had to be in the hospital even the staff used social stories at our request to explain what was going to happen, how they might feel and how to communicate with the staff which greatly helped.

For those not familiar with Social Stories, Dr. Timmins does a fabulous job explaining what they are, how they can help and even provides recommendations on how to write your own. I also loved how she focuses so much on the positive and building up the self-esteem of someone on the spectrum rather than constantly focus on what they’re doing wrong – the negative which in my experience will only hinder progress if they aren’t given the chance to see their triumphs.

Dr. Timmins actually has 2 other books which focus on younger children and college age students. If you have a child on the spectrum or know someone who does I cannot stress highly enough that you MUST look into her series. Her methods work, are safe and if used correctly can help create a positive environment to allow someone with autism to learn how to function in a neurotypical world while embracing their unique gifts.

As any parent who is raising a autistic child, we are in constant search of material that will help us interact and teach our children who need more help and direction than other children. I'm glad I was able to read this book. It's very intriguing and helps you understand the vast differences our children face and how we as parents can find ways to compensate in teaching and helping them learn. I think this is a good book to have for referencing and learning different approaches when one way fails. It's definitely one to consider.

As someone who works daily with young adults with autism I found this book extremely useful as it helped me evaluate what I was currently doing and what I practice I could develop to increase the resilience of the young people I support.

This book not only gives examples of social stories but practical advice on how you can help the young person develop resilience in their lives, using simple techniques we may not think of like ensuring that we have a backup plan if an activity does not occur or letting the young people know that it's ok not to get things straight away.

Through reading this book I have started asking the young people at the end of the day what something they have enjoyed or something good that happened that day so they know that even if one thing didn't go to plan it still was a good day.

I would highly recommend this book for a parent/caregiver or a professional working with young people with autism.

*ARC received from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review*