Some Kids Have Autism

by Martha E.H. Rustad

Encourage appreciation for differences with this revised and updated set. Colorful photos show children with disabilities interacting with others in positive ways. Up-to-date, sensitive presentations give basic overviews for children who have or know children with disabilities.

Genres: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Childrens

24 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Martha E. H. Rustad is the author of more than one hundred nonfiction children's books, on topics ranging from snowflakes to termites to Ancient Babylon. She lives with her family in Brainerd, Minnesota.

Reviews

[NTE · Rating 1 out of 5]

As for Some Kids Have Autism, we’re going to start with the title, and remember, again, that things move really fast in disability discourse. This book was published in 2008, and the prevailing thought among providers of care (doctors, teachers, specialists and the like), as well as parents of disabled/Autistic kids was that we should be using “person first” language. A person wasn’t Autistic, or disabled, or blind, they had autism, or a disability, or blindness. I know, since I was trained as a teacher, that the thought behind these labels was positive – that the goal was to make sure people saw disabled people as PEOPLE first and foremost. But the thing is… nobody asked disabled people if that’s how we wanted to be referred to? And it turns out? We prefer the acknowledgement that we are disabled/Autistic/Blind/etc, and also kind of feel like if you need reminding that we are people, that says a lot more about you than it does about us? So we tend to prefer identity first language.

[Again: I do not speak for all disabled/neurodivergent people. I can only tell you about my own preferences and the preferences of those I know and advocate for/with. This is our current prevailing preference, for the most part. If an individual disabled person tells you that they would prefer that you refer to them as a person with X or Y, please respect their preferences and use that way of referring to them.]

So the book starts off with an out of date title, and immediately continues with it’s use of language that is now problematic, but wasn’t then. (Terms like ‘special needs’ are also outdated, and used here liberally.) And unfortunately, the rest of the text felt very stereotypical, which I know might be hard to avoid in a book where you are trying to introduce the traits of a group of people with a certain neurodivergence, but a lot of the things they say are Autistic ‘traits’ have since been proven untrue/are considered a stereotype (“Might be better at music or math” “Might not know what a smile means.”) There’s just a lot of ‘facts’ that don’t seem to hold up, all these years later.



And that’s ok: I can’t hold a book from 2008 to today’s standards and expect them to meet them. These books were probably good and helpful resources for when they were written. My issue comes in with the fact that these books are routinely recommended as resources for Autistic people and Autistic-adjacent people (teachers, parents, siblings, etc) NOW. That’s the point of this whole review, to point out that when a book is written really matters, when you’re addressing certain subjects. Disability just happens to be one of those topics where the language and the learning evolve so quickly, and that means books from eight years ago can be advocating for a practice that many see now as abuse, and a book from thirteen years ago contains so many stereotypes and mislabeling that it’s inappropriate to use as a resource for anybody.

It’s a good place to start, the Disability Pride Month – Double check that the books you’re using to introduce your kids to things aren’t actively harmful, out of date, or just plain wrong. The neurodivergent, Autistic, and/or disabled kids and adults in our lives deserve better from us.

[Melissa Morgal]

Explains to readers how students with Autism may act or what they find comfort in. This is a good book to have in a class library. Book is small and only has one to two sentences on a page but it is complex and the reader will need an adult to read it with them for better understanding.

[Dianne J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Age of readership: Ages 5-7

Genre: Picture Book

Diversity: Autism

Illustrations: Crisp color photos

My response to the book: I found this book to be too short. The explanations were simple and on the level of the intended audience, however, I think many of the characteristics noted in children with autism can be found in many other children, so it may be confusing to the book’s audience. The book contains a short glossary and list of more books and Internet sites to read for further information on the subject of autism.

Curricular/Programming connections: This book can be used when explaining differences among students, especially when the classroom or story time group has differently-abled members.

[Austin Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book designed to introduce young children to disabilities and autism.