Supporting Spectacular Girls: A Practical Guide to Developing Girls' Well-Being and Self-Esteem

by Helen Clarke

Autistic girls can be frequently misunderstood, underestimated and therefore anxious in a school environment. This practical book offers an innovative life skills curriculum for autistic girls aged 11 to 15, based on the author's successful workshops and training, which show how to support girls' wellbeing and boost their self-esteem.

Including an adapted PSHE curriculum, this is a straightforward guide to educating autistic children on the issues that matter most to them. It covers all essential areas of wellbeing, including communication, identity, self-regulation and triggers, safety, and physical and mental health, and offers the reader strategies to help the autistic girls in their lives enhance and develop these.

Genres: Autistic Spectrum Disorder

279 pages, Paperback

Published October 21, 2021

Reviews

[Sarah Carr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could have been amazing, and there were amazing parts; but it just fell short.

The worst part was the sections that were repeated. Not the same topic, but the exact same paragraphs. At first I thought I was losing my marbles, but there were so many editing errors, I honestly don't know who was editing this book but they need to be sacked!

Also parts of the book were really great, parts were quite condescending and some autistic girls might need the help they have mentioned in the book due to a learning disability, not because of the autism.

[Rebecca B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this from my perspective as a mother of an autistic tween girl, but also as a teaching assistant working in upper key stage 2. This book has a lot of good information about autistic girls and the strengths, challenges and needs they may have. However, the chapters are very unevenly weighted, so in some areas there is a sense of information overload whereas in others there doesn't seem to be enough coverage. Practical ideas for support felt lacking, and it was quite a difficult read, partly because of the number of typos in the edition I read. Hopefully future editions will iron this out. A useful book for anyone who doesn't know much about autism in girls but if you've already read around the subject a lot it might be less useful.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book to read, question your own understanding and help you develop your knowledge, skills and understanding further for professionals, parent/carers and people who have been diagnosed as well as any body interested in understanding autism. The book is accessible to all and it is a pleasure to read about the positives instead of usually all the so called negative ( which actually may not be negatives at all).
It is an absolute pleasure to read an up to date book that does not just harp on about people being autistic if they can not give eye contact. I will definitely be using the strategies to develop and continually question my own teaching practice and I can not wait for any follow on books. Big thank you.

[Emily Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Final book of 2024 just squeezed in. This contains some valuable advice for people working with autistic girls, but probably more geared towards those who are new to working with them. I felt that there could have been more strategies and practical tips as there was lot of ‘they could learn about’ without talking about how they could. There were also quite a few editing errors which is unfortunate.

[Alec · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book won't provide a miracle answer to every problem you may encounter on your journey as a parent of a daughter on the autistic spectrum but if you are a 60 year old bloke like me it's a very good primer for understanding how your daughter may see the world and the difficulties and opportunities she may face.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The basic jist of the book: Everyone is different and everyone copes differently.

The editing in this book was atrocious. Words are missing. Letters are missing. There are repeated sections that have the same info but worded differently.