A Mind Apart Understanding Children with Autism and Asperger Syndrome

by Szatmari, Peter

• ISBN13: 9781593850302
• ISBN10: 1593850301
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-03-11
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

How do you know if your child is happy or sad, tired or hungry, when all he wants to talk about is wasps--or the color of subway train doors? What can you do to reassure a nine-year-old who asks questions about death hundreds of times in a day? And how can you build a nurturing relationship when your little girl hates to be touched? Questions like these make parenting a child with autism or Asperger syndrome (AS) a journey through uncharted terrain. That's why understanding how kids with these disorders actually think and feel--and the striking ways in which their minds work differently from those of typical children--is so important. Through moving stories of children he has worked with, Dr. Peter Szatmari helps you see the world through your child's eyes. Revealed is what lies behind the intense preoccupations, communication problems, and seeming lack of affection that often accompany autism and AS, and what your child's mystifying behavior might really be trying to

Author Biography

Peter Szatmari is currently Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Vice-Chair of Research, and Head of the Division of Child Psychiatry at McMaster University in Canada.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	xii
1 Stephen: The Eccentric Entomologist	1	(15)
2 Heather: A World That Revolves around a Different Axis	16	(11)
3 Justin: Listening to the Architecture of the World	27	(17)
4 Zachary: An Obsession with Death	44	(15)
5 Sharon: Seeing Other Minds Darkly	59	(20)
6 William: A World without Metaphor	79	(17)
7 Teddy: Incongruous Time, Incongruous Development	96	(18)
8 Sally, Ann, and Danny: Accepting the Enigma, Moving Beyond the Cause	114	(19)
9 Trevor: Mobiles and "Miracles"	133	(15)
10 Ernest: The View from the Bridge	148	(12)
11 Frankie: Learning and Forgetting at School	160	(14)
12 Sophie: Acceptance without Resignation	174	(15)
Bibliography	189	(10)
Resources	199	(5)
Index	204	(6)
About the Author	210