1001 tips. I wonder if I began to write down tips how long I would need in order to pen 1001 of them?Author Tony Lyons (he co-authored Cutting Edge Therapies) has indeed come up with 1001 tips with the help of professionals and other parents.
The 459 page book is priced at $17.95 and contains, literally, one numbered tip after another, arranged in chapters by topic, through tip 1001.
This is a book that, if you're like me, you'll read through once without remembering everything, but knowing you can return to when needed. This book is helpful as you face a new developmental stage or challenge, where you can zoom in on a chapter/topic and read tips from experienced parents and professionals about that topic when needed.
The book begins with Section 1: Pre-Diagnosis; moves to Section 2: Diagnosis and Evaluation, then Section 3: Education. Section 4 offers tips about Therapy Implementation (I had a different experience with ABA than described in Chapter 14 in this section); Section 5 covers Medical Nd Nutritional Treatment. Section 6 covers Supporting the Family Unit to include self care, marriage tips, counseling, sibs, friends, family, help at home. Section 7 overs tips on Daily Life. Section 8 covers parenting. Section 9 covers Personal Care, including puberty and periods. Section 10 offers safety tips. Section 11 covers Venturing Out, including vacations and travel, and as we contemplate our first flight with the children, I'm focusing on this section at the moment. Section 12 covers holidays, very timely, with Thanksgiving and Christmas upon us. Section 13 covers The Future (after the 18th birthday), and Section 14 covers Finances.
1001 Tips for the Parents of Autistic Girls is one that I would purchase. It's a book that I would want to be able to put my hands on and read at the moment I needed it, and not have to wait to get it from the library. Having a copy at home as a reference is handy; I can begin to research advice on my own right away, ask my doctor about medical tips (I always recommend you take medical advice to your doctor!), or I can implement an internet search to find the people who helped with tips, to see what other articles or books they may have written/published.
What's it missing? I don't see homeopathy mentioned; no rec therapy; the section on developmental and relationship therapies, where we've seen absolutely positively the most success, is skimpy, at best (especially compared to the amount of behavioral info in the book) and does not include some of our biggest helps, including Judith Bluestone's HANDLE; reflex integration; Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment; Communicating Partners. I'd like to see some information about sports, too. Figure skating is a wonderful sport for girls on the spectrum.
Overall, it's a solid resource and research starter with some great tips and hints - I suspect Lyons and his contributors will help us all think outside the box when we need to.
A late addition to this blog post: Age of Autism mentions a blog tour (which I knew nothing about until Monday morning; I must not be included in their definition of "key bloggers in the autism community". Oh well.) and a link to read several chaptes online (link isn't working in the dark a.m., Monday; I assume they'll repair that soon) on their mention of this book and the version for parents of boys.
Tony Lyons occasionally blogs here.
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