Asperger Syndrome and Your Child: A Parent's Guide

by Michael D. Powers, Janet Poland (Contributor)

Whether your child has been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome or displays symptoms of the condition, all parents surely want answers and reassurance from a qualified professional. What traits are most common in a child with AS? Where should I take my child to get diagnosed? How do I tell family members and peers about the condition? What can I expect for my child's future? Asperger Syndrome and Your Child, an informative, empathetic, and comprehensive guide to this elusive condition, answers the most common questions parents have and offers an encouraging outlook for your child’s future.

A nationally known expert on the sub-ject, Dr. Michael Powers weaves together an extremely compassionate and easy-to-read account of everything related to AS, offering such practical advice as detecting early signs of the condition to getting the right diagnosis to helping your child develop social skills. He also describes many of the feelings a child with AS may have and outlines encouraging ways to involve both family and child in a supportive community. Dr. Powers also demonstrates how a person with Asperger Syndrome can adapt to real-world problems and make the most of the talents he or she possesses, unlocking the child’s potential to become a successful, independent adult.

Infused with fascinating case studies and voices of real children who give insights about their own conditions, the book offers a personal look into how children live day by day with the disorder. With wise and thoughtful guidance, Asperger Syndrome and Your Child is an indispensable book for parents as well as teachers and other professionals who have someone with Asperger Syndrome in their lives.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Psychology

320 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2002

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for professional reasons, but it was very readable. Solid with current research, but not so solid you can't read it. The book discusses children from early childhood through adulthood. I especially liked that it gave very specific suggestions about what parents can do to help develop social skills. I had been looking for a little more information about what other professionals do to support the family. Probably wasn't the ideal book for that.

[Nhu Luong · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very inspiring and helpful;however, the repetition of content happens several times through out the books. After reading this book, I fully understand what Asperger Syndrome is and they give you specific examples of how to improve your child's condition. I recommend the parents or teachers to read this book even though I personally have a neutral feeling about it.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

A teacher's guide for my purposes.

[Wendy Gorringe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and easy to read. Much easier to understand than Temple Grandin's books. I liked that it gave specific suggestions of things that parents can do to help their child.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was helpful. Insightful and informative.

[Marilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been my Asperger Bible. It relates to my son more than any book that I have read so far.

[Donald Broussard]

Having been diagnosed with what would have been considered Asperger's (now folded into Autism per the DSM-V), I found a free copy of this book being given away at the local public library. Which tells you how out of date it is -- it's coming before Asperger's had been folded into autism diagnosis; the DSM-IV is still the latest criteria on which this book rests. It's old enough to not have anyone check it out for years, as later books have come along about the spectrum. And of course the technical point of not having a separate diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome anymore means all of this is now due for a refit.

It's not a bad read, and it reads very easily and empathically. It may not be the most current book out there but it's not a bad resource for parents having questions to start with. And it comes with a forward from an author of an even earlier groundbreaking book. Taken with the expertise of this author, a Psy. D. who runs a practice dedicated to children with special needs, and it is clear that this is at least written by a qualified author who knows well what he's talking about. Not all of that changes just because of the reclassification of the topic.