Beth Cato's Reviews > School Success for Kids With High-Functioning Autism

I received this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program.

My son is nine and about to enter the 4th grade. He's high-functioning autistic. We've been blessed so far that our local public school has been 100% supportive, that his teachers have been fair, and that we've had no problems with Individual Education Programs (IEPs) or modifications to help him cope. This coming year will be a major transition, though--he moves to a new building at his same school, he loses the beloved aide he's had since kindergarten, and of course, he has a new teacher to adapt to.

The book is addressed to both parents and teachers. It is heavy on lingo at some points, though the terminology is necessary for parents to know as they work through the system. Emphasis is on success at school, but extends to everyday behavior (by both the child and parents) at home toward the ultimate goal of graduating school and moving into the work force. I really like how they address the balance of won't or can't behaviors, such as in lists like this:
- Is it oppositional, stubborn OR difficulty with flexibility?
- Is it lazy OR difficulty initiating and shifting?
- Is it self-centered OR poor social interactions?
- Is it work refusal OR motor and organization problems?
- Is it insensitivity OR difficulty reading social cues?

Likewise, they look to involuntary responses to the environment. If the student can't focus, it is because of a noise that no one else would notice? Placement in the room? The authors make it clear that adaptations should be made, but also that the student should be continually challenged so that they can progress.

Many books on autism focus on younger ages. This book does go into old and basic stuff, for my family, like facing the diagnosis or doing an IEP for the first time, but it also spends a great deal of time on the school years and on the progression to occupational training as a teenager and what comes after high school graduation.

Citations fill the book and there's an extensive bibliography at the back along with support network information and forms that can be copied.

This is a book I'll be keeping on my shelf and likely will reference throughout the coming years.