Here's a delightful book explaining the traits of Asperger's Syndrome, with short, simple text over illustrative and cute pics of kittens and cats. It's obviously aimed at children but it wouldn't be a bad first place to start learning as an adult and it only takes a few minutes to read cover to cover. The idea probably came from the quote "Cats are autistic dogs," which is quite apt...

 

Quibbles:
1. The convention is "Asperger's Syndrome," not "Asperger Syndrome."
2. A small number of the traits mentioned do not apply to all but the phrasing suggests they do.
3. The gendered language, "His..." throughout is frustrating because Aspergirls exist and this could give the impression that they don't. It's avoidable just by rephrasing to refer to plural Aspies.

Books are my escapism. I love them. They are life. Except...

 

 

I've been currently reading the same book for what feels like ages, well for the whole of December, so really only a couple weeks. It isn't as if I don't like the book. I have no idea why I procrastinate something I love so much! I go through spurts of reading 20+ books in a month, and then reading like 2 and sometimes nothing at all!

 

I recently found out some of my "quirks" come down to autism. Shocker. 33 and I'm only now finding out who I really am, or at least understanding more why I do things the way I do them. The more correct term would be ASD or Asperger Syndrome Disorder.

 

People can call me a special snowflake all they want. I finally have a term, or label (if you will) that helps me understand my head a little better. I did not get it officially told to me by a doctor, either.

 

First I got advice from a friend who has it and she gently told me to look more into it, because apparently aspies are really good at recognizing each other. What she did not know was that I had already been wondering about it and when she gave me this long message talking about her experiences and relating them to what she has seen me do, I just couldn't control the melt down I had while reading it.

 

Like I feel ashamed and broken, but rationally, I know there is nothing to be ashamed of and I'm not broken. It is just another part of me. One that 90% of people won't take seriously because I'm a grown woman, and I didn't get a "Doctor's Note."

 

This hardly has anything to do with books. I was wondering if non bookish blogs are fine, considering this blog site is called "booklikes"

 

Anyone else share non bookish stuff? Is that frowned on here? I sometimes have things I want to blurt to people and nobody to blurt them to.

 

Oh, I wanted to share my current saving grace is the La La Land soundtrack. I put that music on full blast when I am having "moments" where I want to ignore the world. Go see the movie and make the music your life!! All music is my saving grace, but I really love this soundtrack. I'm really into the music I grew up with, the 90s/early 00s, plus a few more modern things. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that some people are calling the 90s the oldies now.

 

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season!

Leigha~

Tony Attwood is a therapist rather than a researcher and that is reflected in this somewhat incomplete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome. If you want a comprehensive description of the Syndrome, the ever-changing diagnostic guidelines and the individual symptoms, this is the book for you. If you want an extremely thorough over-view of all available therapies/interventions/support services and their efficacy this is most certainly the book for you. If you want a summary of the current state of research into causes of autistic behaviour, you will need to look elsewhere as there's a total of less than two pages on the subject.

 

The book focuses heavily on childhood and adolescence but does not completely ignore adulthood; I think this just reflects where the effort has been put with regard to helping Aspies - there's just much less support for adults available. Because of the focus on ways of helping Aspies with their social problems, there is comparatively little discussion of their strengths, but Attwood is clearly aware of these strengths, appreciative of the positive things Aspies can offer society and sympathetic to their cause. Nevertheless, particularly early on he does make quite a few value-judgements that I feel are entirely subjective and out of place. He also use "empathy" in a technical sense that is not what non-psychologists would generally assume it means - but doesn't explain this specialised usage for several more chapters. This potentially helps fuel an incorrect and very negative stereotype about Aspies - that they have no empathy - which is completely without foundation.

 

The tone is quite dry, somewhat academic, but not excruciatingly dull. It is heavily referenced for those who wish to dive into the research literature. Various case histories and anecdotes leaven the text and for the most part I think it's readily accessible to the general reader. The book will be of most use to parents of Aspies and I believe Attwood had that readership in mind when he wrote it.

Tony Attwood is a therapist rather than a researcher and that is reflected in this somewhat incomplete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome. If you want a comprehensive description of the Syndrome, the ever-changing diagnostic guidelines and the individual symptoms, this is the book for you. If you want an extremely thorough over-view of all available therapies/interventions/support services and their efficacy this is most certainly the book for you. If you want a summary of the current state of research into causes of autistic behaviour, you will need to look elsewhere as there's a total of less than two pages on the subject.

The book focuses heavily on childhood and adolescence but does not completely ignore adulthood; I think this just reflects where the effort has been put with regard to helping Aspies - there's just much less support for adults available. Because of the focus on ways of helping Aspies with their social problems, there is comparatively little discussion of their strengths, but Attwood is clearly aware of these strengths, appreciative of the positive things Aspies can offer society and sympathetic to their cause. Nevertheless, particularly early on he does make quite a few value-judgements that I feel are entirely subjective and out of place. He also use "empathy" in a technical sense that is not what non-psychologists would generally assume it means - but doesn't explain this specialised usage for several more chapters. This potentially helps fuel an incorrect and very negative stereotype about Aspies - that they have no empathy - which is completely without foundation.

The tone is quite dry, somewhat academic, but not excruciatingly dull. It is heavily referenced for those who wish to dive into the research literature. Various case histories and anecdotes leaven the text and for the most part I think it's readily accessible to the general reader. The book will be of most use to parents of Aspies and I believe Attwood had that readership in mind when he wrote it.

The section on higher education and employment is disappointingly brief - but most likely because there's been little focus on it by society or researchers.