This book offers a comprehensive overview of clinical, research and personal perspectives on Asperger Syndrome, including contributions from parents and experts in the fields of psychology, social work, psychiatry, genetics, sexology and vocational counselling. It includes first-hand accounts from adults with AS, highlighting their difficulties in areas such as social competence and education. Specialist perspectives on AS, including sexuality and relationships, finding and keeping employment and anxiety and depression are sensitively addressed. The viewpoints of parents explore experiences of parenting AS individuals. These varied approaches to living with AS complement the emerging literature on theory, research and practice in this area. The broad scope of Children, Youth and Adults with Asperger Syndrome guarantees a wide readership among practitioners, students, parents, young people and adults with AS, educates service providers how to assist people with AS and suggests a model of interdisciplinary collaboration for administrators and funders.

Meet Jamie, a young boy with ADHD and a tic disorder called Tourette Syndrome. He's not being fidgety or naughty - he really can't help it! Jamie explains how he was diagnosed and what having tics and ADHD is like for him. He also shares how he has learnt to relieve his ADHD symptoms, minimise his tics, and how friends and adults can help at home and school. This illustrated book comes in two parts - one with interactive activities and heaps of useful information about having both ADHD and tics. Jamie explains how it can be really tricky to tell whether your fidgeting comes from having ADHD, tics, or both! The second part tells the story of how Jamie's Grandfather encouraged him to learn more about his tics. Jamie and his friends who attend the after-school tic club learn about each other by sharing their experiences of ADHD and tics at home and at school. This book is ideal for children aged 7+ as well as friends, teachers and professionals working with children with ADHD and tic disorders, and a great starting point for family and classroom discussions too!

Communication is one of the biggest challenges faced by people with Asperger's Syndrome (AS), yet an Asperger marriage requires communication more than any other relationship. Thousands of people live in Asperger marriages without knowing the answers to important questions such as `What behaviours indicate that my spouse has AS?' `Is it worthwhile to get a diagnosis?' `Is there hope for improvement?' Katrin Bentley has been married for 18 years. Since receiving her husband's diagnosis of AS, their marriage has improved substantially. They learnt to accept each other's different approaches to life and found ways to overcome problems and misunderstandings. Today they are happily married and able to communicate effectively. Alone Together shares the struggle of one couple to rescue their marriage. It is uplifting and humorous, and includes plenty of tips to making an Asperger marriage succeed. This book offers couples hope, encouragement and strategies for their own marriages.

In the competitive world of post high school athletics, conditioning is everything. From muscle mass to lung capacity to endurance to speed, athletes who can get an edge have a better chance of moving up the ladder to more and more elite levels of play.

But one aspect of conditioning that is often overlooked is vision. Ignored or undetected problems in the visual system have stopped many athletes' progress before making it to the professional--or even college--levels and has even ended otherwise promising professional athletic careers. But one cannot control vision, right? Wrong

Vision can be conditioned just like any other physical attribute, and the earlier this conditioning starts, the better. In See to Play, eminent optometrist Michael Peters, who works with many professional athletes and sports teams, addresses every aspect of this vital component of elite athletics. Included are in-depth discussions of all facets of vision accompanied by myriad exercises to help athletes hon

Rate your pain on a scale of one to ten. What about on a scale of spicy to citrus? Is it more like a lava lamp or a mosaic? Pain, though a universal element of human experience, is dimly understood and sometimes barely managed. Pain Woman Takes Your Keys, and Other Essays from a Nervous System is a collection of literary and experimental essays about living with chronic pain. Sonya Huber moves away from a linear narrative to step through the doorway into pain itself, into that strange, unbounded reality. Although the essays are personal in nature, this collection is not a record of the author's specific condition but an exploration that transcends pain's airless and constraining world and focuses on its edges from wild and widely ranging angles. Huber addresses the nature and experience of invisible disability, including the challenges of gender bias in our health care system, the search for effective treatment options, and the difficulty of articulating chronic pain. She makes pain a lens of inquiry and lyricism, finds its humor and complexity, describes its irascible character, and explores its temperature, taste, and even its beauty.

This collection of narratives from autistic adults is structured around their decades of experience of life, covering 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60 and 70s+. These are varied and diverse, spanning different continents, genders, sexualities and ethnicities, yet the author highlights the common themes that unite them and skilfully draws out these threads. Each chapter is based on accounts from one age group and includes accounts from people of that age, giving an insight into the history of autism and signifying how gaining a diagnosis (or not) has changed people's lives over time. The book is about ageing with an autistic mind, and helping the reader find connections between neurotypical and neurodiverse people by acknowledging the challenges we all face in our past, present and futures.

This hands-on practical guide provides dyslexic young people with techniques to improve their observational drawing skills, showing them how they can work around the issues commonly reported by students with SLDs. Many creative and talented individuals with neurological differences report difficulties with short-term memory, co-ordination and planning ahead within a project, and a lack of specialised teaching may even dissuade them from pursuing art at school. This book addresses those challenges. The authors, who have many years' experience of teaching art to dyslexic and dyspraxic students, also include examples not just of the techniques described, but also of the creative ideas other neurodiverse students have come up with. Fully illustrated, with clear explanations, and space to draw and sketch, this much needed book will provide dyslexic art students with the tools and confidence to achieve their goals and become the creative professionals of the future.

It isn't easy being eight years old and having an older brother whom other children often misunderstand. They don't realize that when he doesn't laugh at their jokes it's because he doesn't understand them. They don't know that when he doesn't speak to them or look at them it's because he doesn't know what to say or how to make eye contact. They don't realize that he behaves this way because he has something called Asperger's Syndrome. Sam knows that his brother Eric is different from him because his brain works differently. So, when the other children bully Eric, it makes Sam feel protective of him. But sometimes, when Eric behaves oddly, Sam feels embarrassed too. Sometimes, when Eric gets lots of attention, it makes Sam feel resentful - then, when he considers that Eric needs a lot of help and attention, it makes Sam feel guilty for feeling resentful. There are so many different feelings Sam experiences! Brotherly Feelings explores the emotions that siblings of children with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) commonly experience. With illustrations throughout, this book will help siblings to understand that their emotional responses - whatever they are - are natural and OK. It is the ideal book for parents and professionals to use with siblings to discuss their emotional experiences, and will also help children with AS to form an understanding of the feelings of other family members.

Haben grew up spending summers with her family in the enchanting Eritrean city of Asmara. There, she discovered courage as she faced off against a bull she couldn't see, and found in herself an abiding strength as she absorbed her parents' harrowing experiences during Eritrea's thirty-year war with Ethiopia. Their refugee story inspired her to embark on a quest for knowledge, traveling the world in search of the secret to belonging. She explored numerous fascinating places, including Mali, where she helped build a school under the scorching Saharan sun. Her many adventures over the years range from the hair-raising to the hilarious. Haben defines disability as an opportunity for innovation. She learned non-visual techniques for everything from dancing salsa to handling an electric saw. She developed a text-to-braille communication system that created an exciting new way to connect with people. Haben pioneered her way through obstacles, graduated from Harvard Law, and now uses her talents to advocate for people with disabilities. HABEN takes readers through a thrilling game of blind hide-and-seek in Louisiana, a treacherous climb up an iceberg in Alaska, and a magical moment with President Obama at The White House. Warm, funny, thoughtful, and uplifting, this captivating memoir is a testament to one woman's determination to find the keys to connection.

'A great and inspiring book from Doncaster's bravest son. Read it in a day' - Jeremy Clarkson 'Ben is the embodiment of positive thinking. What he has achieved, in large part through willpower, is nothing short of miraculous. An inspiration to us all' - Ant Middleton The story of Ben Parkinson MBE, the most injured soldier to have survived Afghanistan --- What were you doing when you were 22? Where were you in the world? What did you want to do with your life? Ben Parkinson was a 6'4" Paratrooper. He was in Afghanistan fighting for his country. He wanted to always be a soldier, to be a father and to get home in one piece. But we don't always get what we want. So the question is: how do we react when that happens? Easy: You find something new to fight for. Ben Parkinson MBE is an inspiration to everyone. He suffered 37 injuries when his Land Rover hit a mine in Helmand in 2006, including brain damage, breaking his back and losing both his legs. This book follows the story of what led him to that moment his life changed forever - and what happened next. Doctors didn't think Ben could survive the trauma - then they didn't think he would wake up, or talk again, or walk again. Time after time, Ben pushed the ceiling on what was possible, going on to carry the Olympic flame in 2012 and receiving an MBE for the enormous feats he has undertaken for charity. What he has achieved in the face of adversity - for others as well as for himself - is nothing short of a miracle. Nerve-wracking, heart-warming and full of classic soldier's humour, Losing the Battle, Winning the War is a book you'll be thinking about long after the last page. 'Ben Parkinson is my hero. His story is one of immeasurable courage and character, a testament to the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit' Dan Jarvis MP, author of Long Way Home

The trauma of brain injury affects many people besides the injured one, and this book offers hope to all of them. A guide to psychological recovery after the loss and upheaval that follow such an event, this book is full of new ideas and experience -- something many survivors and their caregivers have run out of. In clear language and with easy-to-follow exercises, the authors lead the reader through the four stages of psychological recovery: becoming more self-aware, recovering emotionally, thinking in new ways, and changing behaviour.

Will Attwood was finishing a three-year sentence in prison when he was formally diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome for the first time. After his diagnosis he recognised just how much it had been affecting his life behind bars. This book is a practical advice guide for people with autism who have been sentenced to time in prison. Will shares his first-hand knowledge of what to expect and how to behave within the penal system. He sheds light on topics that are important for people with autism, answering questions such as: How should you act with inmates and guards? How do you avoid trouble? What about a prison's environmental stimuli may cause you anxiety? His thoughtful, measured writing debunks rumours about daily life in prison, and the useful tips and observations he offers will help anyone with autism prepare for the realities of spending time incarcerated, and be enormously helpful to those working with offenders on the autism spectrum.

This insightful book investigates the experiences of seven women with autism as they transition from childhood to adulthood, and how they make sense of that journey. Taken from the autobiographies of women including Liane Holliday-Willey and Temple Grandin, these accounts shine a light on issues unique to women with autism. Heather Stone Wodis provides a detailed and thoughtful exploration of their common experiences, and each story offers a new perspective that illuminates the diagnosis from a different angle. This is a fascinating look at how generational differences, such as access to the internet, can provide more avenues toward self-expression, political mobilization, and advocacy. It also explores the idea that, no matter the era, the unyielding support of family and a diagnosis in childhood can help girls with autism transition toward adulthood.

'A beautiful and important book that is both deeply engaging and usefully practical. I loved it.' CATHY RENTZENBRINK 'An insightful and well-timed book ... forces us to confront the stereotypes - and prejudices - we hold.' SUNDAY TIMES 'profoundly important...full of wisdom and bright insights on what it really means to love someone, by a fearless and generous writer. ' CLOVER STROUD 'A beautiful and timely reminder that each and every one of us has the ability to care, the capacity for empathy, and the potential to grow.' ANDY PUDDICOMBE, FOUNDER OF HEADSPACE 'A wonderful book: compassionate, honest, carefully-reasoned and genuinely helpful... This will benefit many people.' KATHERINE MAY, author of WINTERING 'An invaluable tool for any invisible carers or anyone who wants to learn how to better support their loved ones... we ALL have many, many things to learn from Penny's beautiful, wise, charming, thoughtful words' SCARLETT CURTIS, Sunday Times bestselling author 'Moving and beautifully written, nuanced and wise, alert to every paradox at the heart of love. A hugely important book not only for current or future carers, but anyone learning to accept that life tends to resist our control.' OLIVIA SUDJIC, author of EXPOSURE 'Tender captures the powerful capacity of people to care for others, and all the heartbreaking and heartwarming complexity that this involves. Penny brings the crucial, yet often overlooked, role of caring into our collective consciousness and, in doing so, demonstrates what it means to be human.' -DR EMMA HEPBURN, author of A TOOLKIT FOR MODERN LIFE 'Penny Wincer's TENDER manages to combine both unromanticised honesty about the realities of care with a genuine uplifting hopefulness... is a must-read.' RUTH WHIPPMAN, author of THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS We are all likely - at some point in our lives - to face the prospect of caring for another, whether it's a parent, child or partner. It is estimated that there are 7 million people in the UK caring for loved ones. And yet these are the unpaid, unsung people whose number is rising all the time. In Tender: the imperfect art of caring, Penny Wincer combines her own experiences as a carer with the experiences of others to offer real and transformative tools and insights for navigating a situation that many of us are either facing or will face at some time. Penny Wincer has twice been a carer: first to her mother, and now as a single parent to her autistic son. Tender shows how looking after oneself is a fundamental part of caring for another, and describes the qualities that we can look to cultivate in ourselves through what may otherwise feel to be an exhausting task. Weaving her lived experience with research into resilience, perfectionism and self-compassion, Penny combines the stories of other carers alongside those who receive support - offering an often surprising and hopeful perspective. Penny hosts a podcast Not Too Busy To Write.

Head injury affects approximately 1 in 300 families in England and Wales. It happens 'out of the blue' - without warning and therefore can be a bewildering and frightening experience, and frequently has a dramatic and sometimes devastating effect on the lives of the people involved. The sudden onset and the uncertainty surrounding recovery means that head injury often presents families with a wide array of emotions such as fear, guilt and sadness. With no previous experiences to guide them, people with head injury and their families can feel overwhelmed.
This book begins with essential information about head injury including basic knowledge about the brain and how it is damaged. The book goes on to explore typical problems associated with a head injury and how to cope with specific issues. The third section provides support and guidance about how to deal with the long term consequences of a head injury, including information on where to find further support. Head Injury: The Facts is a family guide to understanding and coping with the practical and emotional problems that head injury brings.