Bill Nason - The Autism Discussion Page on the core challenges of autism: A toolbox for helping children with autism feel safe, accepted, and competent

THE AUTISM DISCUSSION PAGE ON THE CORE CHALLENGES OF AUTISM

by the same author

The Autism Discussion Page on anxiety, behavior, school, and parenting strategies

A toolbox for helping children with autism feel safe, accepted, and competent

Bill Nason

ISBN 978 1 84905 995 4

eISBN 978 0 85700 943 2

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ISBN 978 1 84905 960 2

eISBN 978 0 85700 818 3

Parenting without Panic

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ISBN 978 1 84905 967 1

eISBN 978 0 85700 882 4

Can I tell you about Autism?

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Illustrated by Jane Telford

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eISBN 978 0 85700 829 9

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eISBN 978 0 85700 647 9

THE AUTISM DISCUSSION PAGE

ON THE CORE CHALLENGES OF AUTISM

A toolbox for helping children with autism feel safe, accepted, and competent

BILL NASON

Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia

First published in 2014

by Jesscia Kingsley Publishers

73 Collier Street

London N1 9BE, UK

and

400 Market Street, Suite 400

Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

www.jkp.com

Copyright William Nason 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means, other than those marked with a and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owners written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

Warning: The doing of an unauthorized act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. All pages marked with a can be downloaded at www.jkp.com/catalogue/9781849059947/resources for personal use, but may not be reproduced for any other purposes without the permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 84905 994 7

eISBN 978 0 85700 942 5

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book and its companion, The Autism Discussion Page on anxiety, behavior, school, and parenting strategies: A toolbox for helping children with autism feel safe, accepted, and competent , were the result of ongoing support and encouragement from the members of the Facebook page I moderate, Autism Discussion Page. The outpouring of encouragement gave me the drive to put all these articles together in a two-volume set to provide a manual for the members as well as countless articles to share with friends, teachers, relatives, and caregivers. Special thanks go out to a handful of early members who have supported and shared my work across the world to spread awareness and understanding. For the early members who advertised and spread the word, without your support these books would never have happened. I owe you an endless debt of gratitude.

I wish to thank my wife and family for all their support and encouragement to enter this endeavor and stay with it through to completion. I am lucky enough to have a patient wife who has put up with me working countless hours to moderate the Facebook page and working endlessly to put these two books together. Thank you, LouAnne! Special thanks to my daughter, Carrie Aldrich, who has been a valuable sounding board for my ideas and has edited my manuscripts. Your support has been very dear to me.

Most importantly, there are many special families and friends with autism who have enriched my life over the years. For all the families who have allowed me into their lives, thank you so much for sharing this journey with me! And last, for all the adults on the spectrum who have shared with me all their comments, suggestions, recommendations, and experiences, thank you so much for providing me with the feedback and guidance to share your unique perspectives. Understanding your world allows me to communicate that awareness to the rest of the world. Thank you so much, and keep advocating your perspectives!

CONTENTS

Appendices

INTRODUCT ION

This is a unique book in that the material was never designed to be a book in the first place. It is a collection of articles that I post on my Facebook page, Autism Discussion Page. I am a mental health professional, with a masters degree in clinical psychology and more than 30 years of experience in treating individuals with developmental disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. Over the years I began to specialize in autism spectrum disorders and developed a strong compassion for these children. In May of 2011 I started this Facebook page to share more than 30 PowerPoint (slide) presentations that I had created over the years of different strategies for supporting children on the spectrum. These PowerPoint presentations consist of a toolbox of strategies for helping children on the spectrum feel safe, accepted, and competent. These strategies provide guidelines for supporting the sensory, cognitive, emotional, and social challenges the children experience, and include parenting and teaching strategies. For those of you who go to the page looking for further information, these PowerPoint presentations can be found in the Photo (albums) section of the page.

In addition to these slide presentations, I started posting a variety of text articles on important areas of interest for parents, teachers, caregivers, professionals, and individuals on the spectrum. Little did I realize that this page would take off and grow so rapidly. What I thought would be a membership of a few hundred people blossomed into its current membership of more than 50,000 people from all around the world. In addition to the slide presentations, the members found my daily articles to be very valuable in both enabling them to understand the inner experiences of their children and giving step-by-step how to guidelines for helping their children feel safe, accepted, and competent. On this page we have a very supportive group of parents, teachers, professionals, and other caregivers who expand on my articles by sharing their comments, suggestions, and valuable experiences. We continue to grow at a rate of about 2,000 members a month, and with the help of their sharing, we reach an average of 90,000 to 130,000 viewers a week.