A 5 Is Against the Law! Social Boundaries: Straight Up!

by Kari Dunn Buron

Kari Dunn Buron has done it again. Building on her popular 5-Point Scale, A 5 Is Against the Law! takes a narrower look at challenging behavior with a particular focus on behaviors that can spell trouble for adolescents and young adults who have difficulty understanding and maintaining social boundaries. Using a direct and simple style with lots of examples and hands-on activities, A 5 Is Against the Law! speaks directly to adolescents and young adults. The idea behind the 5-point scale is to take an idea or behavior and break it into five parts to make it easier to understand the different degrees of behavior and, eventually, the consequences of one's behavior. A section is also devoted to anxiety and how to cope with this emotion before it begins to escalate, often leading to impulsive and unacceptable behavior. Throughout the book, the reader is encouraged to think about and create his own behavior and anxiety scale that applies to his particular emotions and situations.

Genres: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Nonfiction, Social Work, Education, How To

47 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Kari Dunn Buron is an autism educational specialist who has worked with children and young adults on the autism spectrum for more than 25 years. Kari was one of the founding members of the Minnesota Autism Project and developed the ASD certificate program for educators at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Kari currently teaches in the Hamline program and coordinates a summer camp for teens with Asperger Syndrome. She is the author of When My Worries Get Too Big! A Relaxation Book for Children Who Live with Anxiety and the co-author of The Incredible 5-Point Scale: Assisting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Understanding Social Interactions and Controlling Their Emotional Responses and A 5 Is Against the Law! Social Boundaries: Straight Up! An honest guide for teens and young adults

Reviews

[Alissa Peanasky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really short and easy to follow curriculum. It would probably work best for students who are mid to high functioning ASD. These types of lessons could be modified for EBD, but I could see students with EBD viewing this book as belittling or childish because of some of the examples used and how it's phrased.
(Borrowed this book from a coworker - may be helpful to purchase my own)

[Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too short to really be good or bad but it didn’t say anything outright harmful so yay! I’m sure the strategies offered here could work pretty well but they weren’t ideal for me who was just reading it without any activities

[Alnmo6 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful if you work or have someone on the autism spectrum. It is good resource for teachers, therapist, job coaches and families.

[Eve · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible book and tool for those with teens and young adult children on the spectrum. The visual of the steps was, and is, an incredible help with teaching my son acceptable expressions of behavior in the big world.

It's also an easy thing, once learned, to say in public 'this is a 3' and know my son has that ability to 'sort' the behavior in a way he can remember and have a 'visual' way to decide if it's appropriate or not for the next time.

You can modify any social situation and behaviors to fit this scale. I find there's a lack of support for teens and young adults on the spectrum and was very happy to find this.

[Leiloni Schulz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for young adults and teens who have autism or other social differences. It shows them how behaviors that may feel normal to them can seem weird or even scary to others. It also shows how to de-escalate frustrarions and overwhelming emotions.

[Pamela Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book changed how my student's think about their behavior