Inclusion and Autism Spectrum Disorder demonstrates specific user-friendly and evidence-based strategies that classroom teachers can implement to proactively set up and deliver classroom instruction that will maximize the chances of success for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Teachers in inclusive environments are facing increasing pressure to meet the needs of diverse classrooms that include more students with ASD. This easy-to-use, research-based professional guide provides teachers with the activities and specific strategies they need, along with detailed descriptions that support immediate implementation.

This book examines real life reflections on Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), current practices and issues related to assessing, instructing and life-long planning for individuals with autism and developmental disabilities. School systems, mental health facilities, and society are being challenged to deal effectively with the growing number of people with autism and developmental disabilities. This is partly due to the inclusive philosophy of educating, training and treating individuals. This book provides regular, special educators, mental health professionals, clinicians and parents with information on best practices and research based findings related to: identification, characteristics, diagnosis; special, general, early and post-secondary education; and quality of life concerns. The book's chapters are topical, comprehensive and diverse. Chapters on assessment examine the emerging field of infant mental health, testing protocols, barriers to diagnosing diverse students, and recent developments in the diagnosing and assessment of autism spectrum disorders i.e. genetic testing, home movies and robots. A number of chapters on instructional aspects delineate curriculum innovations, procedures to implement social skills, assistive technology use and planning for postsecondary education. Life long planning, provides unique content on self-determination, social competence, sibling aspects, and employment and retirement considerations.

Autism is in the public spotlight now more than ever as new research and information appears almost daily. Although in many ways this is a positive development it also presents challenges to families and practitioners who want to keep up with the latest developments and are left to sift through new information by themselves to see what is credible and relevant for them.Each of us needs a personal research assistant who can determine which information we need to pay attention to and let us know how it might affect our daily work and the children we are living with or serve.

Since we each don't have our own research assistants on staff, I am delighted to recommend this wonderful book by Fred Volkmar and Lisa Wiesner. Both of these talented professional leaders have combined their scientific skills and understanding of the field with great practical experience and ideas about how research can be translated into clinical practice. The result is a book that provides the best and most comprehensive information about recent scientific developments and a splendid practical guide for how they are being implemented and what we are learning in the process. The issues are presented in all of their complexity but translated into language that is clear, direct, and easy to follow. The format also lends itself to understanding the complex issues and their implications through excellent charts, question and answer sections, and chapters that vary from describing diagnostic issues to stating very specifically how to expand and evaluate the services one is receiving. The comprehensive references and lists of additional resources also add greatly to the overall package.

As a professional dedicated to understanding scientific advances and helping families and teachers to utilize them most effectively, I am very pleased to have an ally like this book available. I am very grateful to the authors for providing a very credible, practical, and relevant addition to our field to help the many advocates and family practitioners to better understand the exciting new developments and how they can be implemented in our day to day work. Those taking the time to read through this superb volume will find it time well spent that pays back dividends in many different ways.
--FOREWORD by Gary B. Mesibov, Ph.D., Professor and Director of TEACCH, Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Fun and engaging for kids ages 3-8, Songames are musical activities for improving fine-and gross-motor skills, muscle strength, and rhythmicity. These 25 therapist-created Songames offer a world of developmental play activities. Plus, the 53-page companion booklet explains how to use music to enhance specific skills, provides a comprehensive list of resources, and triples the number of therapeutic ways to use the games! Includes a 2 disc CD set.

Visual supports have been proven to be a highly effective way to communicate with, and teach, a student with an autism spectrum disorder or other learning difficulty. This book is packed with simple, effective tools to assist in the education of students with special education needs. They can be adapted to be used with young children and older learners with a range of educational needs, including nonverbal learners. Based on the author's years of teaching experience, the book covers how the classroom environment is laid out, how to use schedules and time planning aids, different education approaches and the teaching of social rules and appropriate behavior. All the visual supports are clearly explained alongside examples and photos showing them in use in the classroom. The supports are also included with the accompanying online downloadable content as blank templates. This will be a welcome resource of easy-to-use ideas for mainstream and special education teachers. Therapists, parents and anyone working with students with learning difficulties will also find many of the ideas useful.

Squirmy Wormy is a wonderful little children's book about a boy named Tyler, who has autism and SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder).  Together with Tyler, the reader learns about SPD, and what everyday easy therapys he can do by himself feel better.  For instance:   ""I feel like running really fast, run run run! Maybe I just need a s-q-u-e-e-z-e between the couch cushions like a hot dog.  Whew!  I feel better.""

Endorsed by Dr. Temple Grandin, this book is sure to help many children, who perhaps previously did not even know they had SPD, lead calmer, richer lives.

Developed for individuals on the autism spectrum with a developmental age of approximately 1-4 years, this comprehensive ABA curriculum contains everything needed to teach foundational level skills such as appropriate sitting, attention, eye contact, motor skills, basic receptive and expressive language skills, play, and foundational skills of daily living. Evidence-based, the resource guides instructors step-by-step through using ABA to teach over 140 foundational skills. The program can be individualized to meet the needs and interests of the individual, and instructions are given on how to do this. Online downloadable content contains the teaching materials needed to implement the program, including over 1000 color picture cards, handy printable copies of the curriculum programs, data forms and checklists. The authors also provide guidance on creating an effective ABA teaching environment, as well as a wealth of practical teaching strategies for ensuring therapy success. This is an unparalleled resource for professionals working with children with ASDs who are looking for a robust and ready-to-implement ABA curriculum. It will be a valuable tool for behaviour analysts, teachers, psychologists, occupational therapists and students in these fields, as well as to parents working with professionals to implement an ABA program.

This book examines current trends and practices in social skills instruction for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), focusing on empirical support of current practices and for which populations such practices have been most frequently evaluated (e.g., ages, levels of functioning). It details key practices that may be implemented as social skills teaching strategies as well as the theoretical underpinnings of the teaching strategies, relevant empirical support, and a guide to utilization supported by the empirical evaluations. These guides to utilization are a practical tool for implementation of commonly evaluated social skills teaching strategies. In addition, the book describes limitations of social skills teaching and offers recommendations for future research and intervention strategies that may overcome its current limitations. Key topics featured include: Video modeling and social skills training for individuals with ASD. Behavioral skills training for ASD. Peer-mediated teaching of persons with autism. Social narratives of individuals with ASD. Social Skills Teaching for Individuals with Autism is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as clinicians, therapists, and other professionals in clinical child and school psychology, behavioral therapy/rehabilitation, social work, public health, and all interrelated disciplines.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) begins in early childhood and is characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication, restricted interests and repetitive behavior. As many as half of children with ASD between the ages of 3 and 8 also exhibit disruptive behaviors that interfere with their overall development and family functioning. This Therapist Guide, Parent Training for Disruptive Behavior, is designed for therapists to use with parents of children with ASD and challenging behaviors, such as tantrums, noncompliance, and aggression. Based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis and developed over more than a decade of research, the intervention consists of 11 core sessions as well as supplemental sessions, a home visit, and follow-up visits. Each session includes a therapist script, activity sheets, parent handouts, and checklists. Video vignettes are available online to illustrate concepts. The treatment manual is designed to be used in conjunction with the companion Workbook for parents. Each session is delivered individually in weekly outpatient visits. Homework assignments between sessions focus on implementing behavior change strategies collaboratively chosen by the therapist and parent.

This ground-breaking book gives an accessible overview and synthesis of current knowledge of relevance to the development of excellence in autism education. By situating understandings of autism within a 'bio-psycho-social-insider' framework, the book offers fresh insights and new ways of thinking that bring together global pedagogic practice, research, policy, and the insider perspective. Guldberg critiques current notions of Evidence-Based Practice and suggests ways of bridging the research-practice gap. She explores the interrelationship between inclusive principles, distinctive group learning needs and the individual needs of the child or young person. Eight principles of good autism practice provide a helpful framework for how education settings and practitioners can adapt classroom environments and teaching so that autistic children and young people can thrive. Written for anyone who wants to make a difference to the lives of autistic pupils, Developing Excellence in Autism Practice provides practitioners and students on education courses with tools for best practices, and shows how to draw on these to implement true positive change in the classroom.

Dr. Tony Attwood and Craig Evans are proud to introduce their first book together. Previously, they brought you "Autism Hangout", a question-and-answer style video series in which Dr. Tony directly addresses the most pressing questions of those touched by autism. Now, this unstoppable duo has refreshed these conversations and converted them into book form, creating an invaluable resource to keep helpful information present and available to the public. Their goal? Thriving with autism!

This is a research-based guide that provides a framework for effective training around autism for teachers. An edited collection of short chapters, the book is full of practical activities and discussion points ideally suited for time-stretched trainee teachers, those leading training courses and busy teachers continuing to learn on the job. Focusing on the myriad ways that autism affects pupils and their education, it covers key training strategies around autism including maths, physical education, sex and relationships, behaviour management and more. Each contains the material for a session to be delivered to trainee teachers or to provide a unit of self-study. Combining research into the needs of trainee teachers, parents, and students with autism, this book offers an effective roadmap for teacher training and a better understanding of how to meet the needs of autistic pupils.

Psychoanalytic Work with Autistic Features in Adults deals with the diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties of working with patients with autistic residuals, formed in early life experiences that have remained dormant in the unconscious mind. Laura Tremelloni traces the process of identifying them in adult patients, and stresses the need to develop a treatment plan suitable for this kind of pathology. This book uses clinical cases to examine the difficulties of work with hard to reach adults with 'gaps' in their sense of Self and symptoms related to primitive experiences of "non-being". Tremelloni presents new, adaptive therapeutic intervention methods for overcoming such obstacles and identifies the personification and permanence of undeveloped parts of the Self, in hard to reach adults who have otherwise developed satisfactorily and would not be diagnosed as autistic. In such cases, the author suggests the need for clinicians to adapt classic psychoanalytic approaches to the alternating levels of development of the separate parts which the Self has broken into. Psychoanalytic Work with Autistic Features in Adults will help clinicians in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy to more effectively reach such patients, whilst attempting to address the problematic limitations of therapeutic techniques in very difficult clinical cases.

This work is concerned with the study of children and adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The book provides theoretical, educational and clinical perspectives related to this disorder. The perspectives discussed are based upon past and present theories of autism, educational practices since the 1970s and recent clinical innovations. The term ASD recognizes that this is a very heterogeneous disorder that encompasses the classic autistic disorder and milder variants such as Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. Presently, there exists a growing need for information to understand the complex educational and mental health needs of individuals with ASD. The content of this book is directed at meeting this need. For example, Section I of this book provides the reader with information concerned with theoretical foundations on the disorder and includes chapters on cognitive theories and symptomology of autism and neurological implications of autism to the ageing process. Section II provides the reader with educational best practices and includes chapters on pre-service and in-service training of teachers, successful curriculum innovations, and multicultural concerns. Section III of the book provides the reader with recent effective clinical practices and includes chapters on assessment, counselling techniques for individuals with ASD, a model of how to work with parents of children with ASD, psychotropic medication management concerns, and a comprehensive interview with an adult with ASD. The book also contains a new theoretical model to ASD which is entitled "The Control Theory of Autism".

Autism can exist with any level of general ability, but it often occurs with additional severe learning difficulties. Rita Jordan has a lifetime of experience of working with individuals with autism and in this practical guide she uses techniques from a variety of programmes to outline how to develop the strengths of individual children while reducing problem behaviour. Covering topics such as the implications of the dual diagnosis, characteristic behaviour and development, fostering social interaction, understanding, preventing and managing challenging behaviour as well as how to support parents and how to deal with sexuality and the transition to adulthood this is a complete guide. This book will be invaluable to parents and key workers.

Forest School's innovative outdoor approach offers specific benefits to learners with autism, including increased social skills, raised self-esteem and improved sensory function. This guide raises autism awareness amongst practitioners by providing practical and easy-to-follow advice for adapting Forest School activities for those with autism. For those coming from a mainstream Forest School background, the author offers an introduction to autism and shows what Forest School can offer people with autism - both children and adults - with first-person accounts that highlight its success with this group. The guide gives advice on the social and sensory benefits, offers practical advice on safety and on how to set up a Forest School and finally presents specific activities to be incorporated into practitioners' routines.

For professionals who work with students on the autism spectrum in inclusive classroom settings, supporting emotional regulation is key. This practical guide outlines cognitive and language strategies that support emotional regulation, which the authors have found successful with their students with autism, supported by research that shows why they work. The focus in this book is on the emotional state of the child as opposed to controlling behaviours. The guidelines and strategies provided help students with prediction and make the expectations of them clear, empowering children by giving them choices. Examples of how to use each strategy are given, alongside tips for application. The book also includes sample goals for regulation, information on therapy techniques that work and a 'cheat sheet' overview of the strategies, creating a clear and concise guide to engaging and enhancing learning in the classroom.

Young children with autism have particular difficulty in understanding and controlling their emotions, especially when those emotions are negative. This practical manual for professionals provides a set of simple strategies to help children with high-functioning autism or Asperger's syndrome who suffer from mood difficulties to decrease negative feelings and increase positive feelings in daily life. Using a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy approach, The Stress and Anger Management Program (STAMP) is designed specifically for young children in their pre-school and early school years. The book outlines a 9-session group program using methods, games and activities that are developmentally appropriate. Treatment components include affective education, cognitive restructuring, social and group stories, and the emotional toolbox. The group therapy can be tailored for individual therapy when needed. A parental component is also included to support practice at home and promote generalization outside of the classroom or therapy setting. This is a dynamic and effective resource for professionals working with young children with autism spectrum disorders including teachers, guidance counselors, psychologists, speech therapists, behavioral therapists, occupational therapists, and social workers.

Many teenagers with Asperger's Syndrome leave school feeling unsure of how to take the next steps in their lives. Leaving the comforts of home and facing the unknown can be daunting, but with the right support and advice these young adults can adapt and enjoy their newly-acquired independence. Filled with useful advice, easy-to-apply techniques, and insights from both the author's own experiences of Asperger's Syndrome and those of his students, this book is a practical guide for helping young adults on the spectrum achieve independence and learn life-long skills of self-knowledge, self-sufficiency, and self-advocacy. With chapters on social skills, handling finances, keeping healthy, and succeeding in higher education or first employment, Dr. McManmon provides the encouragement that any young Aspie needs to make the transition from an adolescent into a happy, confident and engaged adult. This book will be essential reading for parents, young adults with Asperger's Syndrome, high-functioning autism or learning differences, and any professionals who work with them.

Anxiety, meltdowns and emotional regulation can be hugely challenging for autistic people. This book is full of proactive strategies for understanding, accepting and respecting the processing differences in autism. It contains tools for reducing sensory, social and mental drain, and offers strategies to protect from ongoing stress and anxiety. These help minimize shutdowns and burnout, while maximizing self-esteem, autistic identity and mental health. Learn strategies for matching environmental demands to the person's processing needs, how to support vulnerabilities, and how to prevent and manage meltdowns while protecting the identify and self-esteem of the individual with autism.

Jam-packed with creative theme-based group lessons, this resource follows a developmental sequence with seven activities related to each theme. For maximum flexibility, suggestions for adaptation and modification for individual students are included, along with instructions for how to develop additional lessons. The companion DVD, Learn to Move, Move to Learn: Dinosaurs, gives a first-hand view of real children engaged in a dinosaur theme-based sensory motor lesson and thus sparks ideas for other similar activities.

This book discusses critical issues concerning autism and education, and what constitutes effective pedagogy for this group of learners. Autism is a high-profile area within the discipline of special education, and the issue of how to teach autistic learners remains a contested one: recent theorising has questioned a techno-rationalist approach that places the burden of change on the autistic pupil. The author explores the values that underpin educational approaches within existing pedagogical practice: while these approaches have their individual merits and shortcomings, this book introduces and expands upon a strengths-based approach. This book will appeal to students and scholars of autism and education, with particular regard to teaching autistic learners.

Savant and splinter skills are seen in memory, art, music or spatial skill amongst others. They can appear remarkable, but tend to be seen as 'obsessive' behaviors. Exploring Giftedness and Autism is based on a unique study which introduces and explores a differentiated curriculum and presents a combination of strategies employed in the education of gifted children and autistic children. Providing insights on the obsessive nature of savant skills, the challenging behaviors of savants and the familial link between the subject child's savant abilities and giftedness, the author highlights how the inclusion of this curriculum is critical in promoting better school performance and post-school employment opportunities. The study has demonstrated the importance of using a 'strengths' rather than a 'deficits' approach in the education of students with a disability, and regards autistic savants as gifted students with disabilities, or as 'twice-exceptional' students with autism. With a practical section dedicated to putting the research into practice this book is an incredibly important read for anyone working with gifted young people with disabilities in the classroom.

The 'Fun with Feelings' programme is designed to help parents support their children with emotional regulation and decrease anxiety. This two-book set includes 10 Steps to Reducing Your Child's Anxiety on the Autism Spectrum: The CBT-Based 'Fun With Feelings' Parent Manual, and Having Fun with Feelings on the Autism Spectrum: The CBT Activity Book for Kids age 4-8. The Having Fun with Feelings activity book is designed to be used by children on the autism spectrum. The workbook introduces them to six 'feelings' characters who guide them to recognise and express different emotions to reduce anxiety. The accompanying parents' guide is structured around 10 stages which set up parents to understand their child's anxiety whilst setting out practical strategies to alleviate it. These stages are designed to be implemented in conjunction with the children's activity book, allowing parents to support their child through this process.

Recognising, expressing and understanding emotions helps young children make sense of their life experiences. Children diagnosed with autism can have significant difficulties with recognising and processing emotions which can lead to high levels of anxiety as they struggle to make sense of the unpredictable world around them. The 'Fun with Feelings' programme is designed to help parents support their children with emotional regulation and to decrease anxiety. This guide is structured around 10 stages. The initial four stages prepare parents to implement the programme with their child. These stages help parents understand the causes of anxiety and provide practical strategies for creating a toolbox to reduce anxiety. The final six stages are used in conjunction with Having Fun with Feelings on the Autism Spectrum: A CBT Activity Book for Kids Age 4-8, allowing parents to support their child while working through the activity book. Written by world-leading experts in the field, 10 Steps to Reducing Your Child's Anxiety on the Autism Spectrum provides the steppingstones for parents of young children with autism to better understand their child's emotional skill set and empower them to understand and articulate their feelings.