This manual is the companion guide to Uniquely Normal: Tapping the Reservoir of Normalcy to Treat Autism. It is a guide you in using the Bernstein Cognitive Method for Autism (BCMA, or Bernstein Method for short). Rob teaches us the commonsense approach and uses everyday situations to help children with autism progress with language, socialization, and organization. You don't need a graduate school education to use this method; you have all the knowledge and skills you need. You already know how to do everything necessary to make a difference for your child.

The challenge of preventing and coping with violence and other psychosocial problems among youth is the inspiration for this work, which offers both a conceptual foundation and a practical guide for helping troubled youth in schools. The book is meant to be a guide for practicing school staff. It is intended to be either immediately useful, or to be a stimulus for longer-range plans. All chapters are written by veterans of school systems who are or have been principals, special education directors, directors of guidance, school counselors, school psychologists, teachers, and school social workers. The topics range from a call for socially critical leadership from school administrators to moment-to-moment suggestions for interactions with students.

Two sets of words echo throughout this book: "prevent" and "connect." Prevention, not only reaction, is necessary if schools are to assist troubled youth, and in order to do the best job possible, school staff members must connect not only with students, but with the students' families and the community at large, as well as other school colleagues. Part I presents the big pictures and helps readers to re-think current conceptions of the work of schools in the psychosocial development of youth. Part II provides complementary chapters with descriptions and illustrations of effective practices for meeting the learning needs of troubled youth. Armed with the inspiration and the applications of this book, school professionals will be able to get to work immediately on fulfilling all students' promise, as well as their own as professionals.

This book presents an emerging rehabilitation program for improving the reading abilities of individuals with low vision who undergo therapy for visual impairment. Its interdisciplinary framework for visual training through reading skills development aligns its goals with those of special education programs and features anatomical and psychological background chapters, diverse perspectives on rehabilitation, and empirical supporting data. Program details span theoretical bases, strategies and planning, pedagogical considerations, use of assistive technologies, and assessment of client progress and program efficacy. And by locating rehabilitation in the psychosocial experience of visual disability, the program can be used as a means of building confidence and motivation, contributing to improved quality of life. Included in the coverage: Visual impairment and its impact on development. Rehabilitation of individuals with visual impairment in the Czech Republic. Innovative vision rehabilitation system: theoretical postulates, meanings, and objectives. Reading as a main objective of vision rehabilitation. Verification of effectiveness of the reading performance experimental rehabilitation program. Reading Rehabilitation for Individuals with Low Vision is an essential resource for researchers, clinicians/practitioners, and graduate students in varied fields such as cognitive psychology, rehabilitation, literacy, special education, child and school psychology, visual therapy, and public health.

The authors have provided an extensive amount of data dealing with an educational program for hyperactive and brain-injured children. The goal of the authors is the better understanding of exceptional children and the development of a method of teaching and a system of education adequate to meet the needs of these children.

Levine shows us how to observe, question, and think about children's problem behaviors in school from the child's perspective so we can understand what is motivating children to act as they do before we intervene. Cases included in this book range from noncompliance and poor academic performance to disinhibition, suspected ADHD, PTSD, and injury-caused acting out. Understanding children's problem behaviors in school- seeing beyond the surface actions to reveal and name the root needs fueling those actions-is vital to helping the child. Yet, whether teachers in schools or parents at home, adults often make quick, cursory assessments, then an intervention is sprung. Explanations might be sought from the child, who often resists and becomes more distant. Punishment can occur and things are taken away, but the behavior worsens. These scenarios and similar occurrences frustrate parents, teachers, and other school professionals alike. In Learning from Behavior, Levine shows us how to observe, question, and think about problem behaviors in such a way that we can understand what is motivating the children to act as they do. Behavior, after all, often represents what the child cannot communicate, due to language limitations, level of psychological development, or traumatic experience. Children think differently; they are not small adults. We need to understand the behavior from the child's perspective before we can intervene to change the behavior. Author Levine shows us, incorporating illustrative vignettes, how to do that. Step by step, Levine, a clinical social worker experienced as a consultant to dozens of schools, helps us take the astute advice cited in one children's song we've all heard: stop, look and listen, to first understand the behavior. Question the causes. Cases included in this book range from noncompliance and poor academic performance to disinhibition, suspected ADHD, PTSD, and injury-caused acting out. We hear about the history of behavioral interventions, listen as children tell us how they perceive these interventions, and look over the social worker's shoulder as effective helping strategies are put into action. As Levine explains, Given the challenges we share communally in helping children, we should do everything possible to learn more about children's behavior, enhance our methods for reaching out to them, and refine our approaches to intervention. All of us-teachers, parents, clinicians, researchers, and administrators, along with the children we serve-must participate in this vital endeavor.

- This key book provides fresh strategies for school leaders to thrive, build resilience and reflect upon and manage their stress and wellbeing. - It provides both a big picture perspective of school leader stress around the world and a practical guide to addressing it. - It provides solutions at government, institutional and individual levels, including fresh approaches for school leaders to reflect upon and address their own wellbeing.

With the high prevalence of autism spectrum disorders among the younger generation, there is a shortage of adequate resources to deliver care for these individuals. Therefore, social media and online forums help create a sense of community and a sense of social network, where members provide support for each other. Assessing Social Support and Stress in Autism-Focused Virtual Communities: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a critical reference volume featuring the latest academic research on online communities and how using social media can provide stress relief for families and individuals diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Including coverage among a variety of applicable viewpoints and subjects such as social media concepts, stress relief, and healthcare communities, this book is ideally designed for academics and practitioners as well as healthcare professionals, researchers, students, academics, and practitioners looking for innovative research on autism spectrum disorders.

Rooted in the everyday reality of special and mainstream classrooms, this book aims to help teachers promote positive behavior by approaching challenging behavior as a learning difficulty. The author tackles the issue of how teachers can analyze and meet the range of individual learning needs, and considers the link between the management of teaching and learning and challenging behavior. In addition, he provides practical preventative and intervention strategies, and offers advice on observing behavior and a description of a system for teacher support. A strong commitment to the curriculum, particularly in EBD schools, is set within a framework of spiritual development for all children.

Having a positive understanding of yourself is empowering and boosts wellbeing. The young people's workbook is written with the young people at the forefront, so it is autism-friendly and has a positive focus on difference. When a young person receives an autism diagnosis, many parents and professionals do not know how to talk to them about this, and this book pairing gives them the tools and confidence to do that. There isn't currently a book on the market that enables a lead adult to feel skilled enough to have these conversations with a young person. Rebecca Duffus has years of experience using this format with young people, with positive outcomes, as well as 14 years of experience of working with young people, families and education settings.

Creative Response Activities for Children on the Spectrum is a clear, comprehensive and intuitive guide that offers a wide selection of hands-on interventions to be used in any therapeutic or educational setting with children who are 'on the spectrum'. From drawing and writing poetry to skiing and skateboarding, this book describes these and many other creative activities geared towards children with autistic features, attention deficits, hyperactivity, paediatric bipolar disorder and other related conditions. This new resource provides an innovative blend of theory and illustrative case examples designed to help therapists and educators assess children's needs, formulate therapeutic and aesthetic interventions, and analyze creative outcomes.

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.

Preparing Kids for the Real World and Their Best SelvesThe greatest gifts we can give a child are those that help them grow into their best self. Parents and professionals alike strive to guide youngsters in developing a sense of self-worth and functioning in line with their highest capabilities. No matter what specific challenges a child may face, success is reaching the level of independence and engagement in the world they are realistically capable of achieving. Since the 1st edition of our book, the prevalence rate of children diagnosed as autistic has continued to rise. Greater numbers of kids are transitioning into adulthood with a spectrum label than ever before. Researchers around the world churn out studies, many aimed at learning more about the factors that help autistic children learn and gain skills. Community awareness of autism has risen, and companies and colleges are taking notice.

Based on the Autism Works Now! (R) Workplace Readiness Workshop, this interactive resource shows how to help students aged 14-17 develop the necessary transition skills for getting and keeping a meaningful job, with accompanying worksheets available to download. Structured around 2-hour weekly sessions over an eight month period, the program is ideal for teaching to groups of students with autism. It covers essential topics such as organization and time management, interview skills, appropriate workplace attire, and networking. It advises on how to arrange a field trip to local businesses so students can gain experience of being in the workplace. Worksheets and questionnaires help to track progress and discover what types of job will be appropriate based on an individual's skills and interests, and the book also includes a template for creating effective resumes.

Optimizing Learning Outcomes provides answers for the most pressing questions that mental health professionals, teachers, and administrators are facing in today's schools. Chapters provide a wide array of evidence-based resources-including links to video segments-that promote understanding, discussion, and successful modeling. Accessible how-to trainings provide readers with multiple sensory-based practices that improve academic success and promote behavioral regulation. Clinicians and educators will come away from this book with a variety of tools for facilitating brain-based, trauma-sensitive learning for all, realizing improved learning outcomes, improving teacher satisfaction, and reducing disciplinary actions and suspensions.

This book will contribute to the improvement of educational work with children and young people who manifest various types of socio-pathological manifestations, as well as the theoretical study of socio-pathological manifestations and the methods and techniques of work on overcoming these conditions among children and youth. The theoretical elaboration of social problems and the introduction of their causes and consequences, as well as the search for methods for their alleviation and elimination, contributes to the development of a better educational system. Additionally, this book draws attention to the problems of social pathology and proposes a system of methods, measures, and procedures for resolving the problem of social pathology. It explains what social pathology education is, what its characteristics are, the significance of it, and the goals and tasks of raising children and youth with behavioral disorders. It explores the Social Pedagogy discipline and the types of socio-pathological phenomena along with problems in the theory and practice of it. Furthermore, it raises awareness among professionals and the public about the need and prevention of socio-pathological manifestations, and about the types, expansion, causes and consequences of their occurrence and the need for an organized social action to reduce and overcome them. Finally, this book will elaborate the characteristics of all types of children with disabilities and will present the goals and tasks established to prevent these behaviors and handle these competencies and personality traits in education. Both the prevention of these behaviors and the rehabilitation of those affected by socio-pathological manifestations is a key component to this book.

Relationship-Based Learning provides a helpful range of accessible strategies, approaches, practical ideas and guidance on how to implement 'behaviour for learning' for children with social, emotional and mental health issues, as well as those at risk of exclusion from school. This essential resource explores the conceptual framework of Ellis & Tod's highly effective 'behaviour for learning' conceptual framework, with each chapter featuring practical strategies and foundations that can be used at an organisational or whole-school level, as well as in the classroom. It includes tried-and-tested structures and strategies which have been proven to improve the learning and behaviour of children. The implementation of the 'behaviour for learning' framework has been evidenced to have a significant impact on the quality of teaching and learning with outstanding and, in some cases, exceptional outcomes for all learners. The strategies and approaches explored in this book are relevant for teaching children in any school or alternative provision, especially those with social, emotional and mental health needs. Relationship-Based Learning is a must-read for practitioners, senior leaders, teachers and support staff, outreach services and multi-agency staff who are committed to improving outcomes for children with social, emotional, and mental health needs.

Rather than approaching the art of precocious young artists with autism as enigmatic and symptomatic, their work is explored as having its origin in human physiology and in the intrinsic human need for meaning. The narrative images in these young artists' exceptional art serve as both evidence and focus, allowing us to see the commonalities of all art and image-making. No art has been considered more enigmatic than that of young children with autism, for their often extremely early drawings intrigue viewers with their vivid, visually-based, perspective emphasis. Such art, often spontaneously produced by artists frequently considered retarded, is difficult to understand within the usual constructs of drawing pedagogy that emphasizes the necessity of practice and experience for mastery. However, it is a useful means of expressing one's interior self and of sharing with others a tale of one's own creation. Finally, this expression forms enduring links with other people in the common human language of lines and forms.

In this unique and original book, Jamel Carly Campbell and Sonia Mainstone-Cotton come together to have an open and honest conversation about developing positive and responsive relationships in the early years. The book is divided into three main chapters - building positive relationships with children; with other professionals; and with families and the wider community - and each conversation explores a range of key themes, from building trust and listening to the voice of the child, to diversifying practice and creating a setting that represents the wider community. These discussions encourage the reader to consider the connections we make every day, to rethink and empower their practice, and to place a much higher value on their position as an early years advocate. With reflective questions included to allow the reader to think about their own practice, as well as suggested further reading to explore the themes in more depth, this engaging and accessible book is a must-read for all early years professionals - and, importantly, encourages every practitioner to begin new conversations of their own.

Autistic people are empirically and scientifically generalized as living in a fragmented, alternate reality, without a coherent continuous self. In Part I, this book presents recent neuropsychological research and its implications for existing theories of autism, selfhood, and identity, challenging common assumptions about the formation and structure of the autistic self and autism's relationship to neurotypicality. Through several case studies in Part II, the book explores the ways in which artists diagnosed with autism have constructed their identities through participation within art communities and cultures, and how the concept of self as 'story' can be utilized to better understand the neurological differences between autism and typical cognition. This book will be of particular interest to researchers and scholars within the fields of Disability Studies, Art Education, and Art Therapy.

This book is a key edition to the Working With... series. It contains practical information in an accessible format for speech and language therapists to draw on in this subject area. It draws on evidence based models/approaches well recognised in the field of Speech and Language therapy and specialist teaching, in a comprehensive way.

* Discusses how awareness of autism has evolved, beginning with a relatively homogenous group of patients with obvious symptoms and increasingly including a wider range of patients with less obvious symptoms and less need for support * Reviews the DSM and ICD diagnostic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder, teaching clinicians what each criterion encompasses, particularly in individuals who are less obviously autistic * Describes traits and challenges that are not part of the formal diagnostic criteria, but which commonly co-occur in autistic individuals with less obvious traits * Includes reflections from those with subtle autism who struggled to be diagnosed

Disability is an increasingly vital contemporary issue in British social policy and particularly so in the area of education. "Education, Disability and Social Policy" brings together for the first time unique perspectives from leading thinkers including senior academics, opinion formers, policy makers and school leaders to explore these issues. Key issues included are: the implications of the law and international human rights frameworks; what these developments in policy will mean for schools and school leaders; how Governments can ensure that disabled children and young people are benefiting from wider efforts to tackle inequalities in the education system, such as widening access to higher education; what changes are needed in the design of the curriculum and qualifications; and, what needs to be done for children who are being failed by the current education system, including those with uncertain futures or children with Autism. The book is a milestone in social policy studies, of enduring interest to students, academics, policy makers, parents and campaigners alike.