The animal scientist describes how she and other victims of autism perceive the world, and relates the ways in which she has been able to adapt and have a successful career.
AUDIBLE EDITOR'S PICK
A paradigm-shifting study of neurodivergent women--those with ADHD, autism, synesthesia, high sensitivity, and sensory processing disorder--exploring why these traits are overlooked in women and how society benefits from allowing their unique strengths to flourish.
As a successful Harvard and Berkeley-educated writer, entrepreneur, and devoted mother, Jenara Nerenberg was shocked to discover that her "symptoms"--only ever labeled as anxiety-- were considered autistic and ADHD. Being a journalist, she dove into the research and uncovered neurodiversity--a framework that moves away from pathologizing "abnormal" versus "normal" brains and instead recognizes the vast diversity of our mental makeups.
When it comes to women, sensory processing differences are often overlooked, masked, or mistaken for something else entirely. Between a flawed system that focuses on diagnosing younger, male populations, and the fact that girls are conditioned from a young age to blend in and conform to gender expectations, women often don't learn about their neurological differences until they are adults, if at all. As a result, potentially millions live with undiagnosed or misdiagnosed neurodivergences, and the misidentification leads to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and shame. Meanwhile, we all miss out on the gifts their neurodivergent minds have to offer.
Divergent Mind is a long-overdue, much-needed answer for women who have a deep sense that they are "different." Sharing real stories from women with high sensitivity, ADHD, autism, misophonia, dyslexia, SPD and more, Nerenberg explores how these brain variances present differently in women and dispels widely-held misconceptions (for example, it's not that autistic people lack sensitivity and empathy, they have an overwhelming excess of it).
Nerenberg also offers us a path forward, describing practical changes in how we communicate, how we design our surroundings, and how we can better support divergent minds. When we allow our wide variety of brain makeups to flourish, we create a better tomorrow for us all.
The author describes her struggle to overcome autism and lead a normal life, and discusses her feelings of anxiety and isolation
Parents all over the world are suddenly homeschooling. Are you one of them? If you have children on the autism spectrum, the prospect may seem even more daunting. Homeschooling, Autism Style: Reset for Success will give you what you need to step up. You'll plan out the best way for your kids to learn at home, according to their own strengths and rhythms, find varied and fun activities to create teachable moments, and integrate learning into everyday life. You'll also meet three fictional characters you may recognize from your own family: Distractible Dory, Hyper-focused Hermione, and Creative Calvin. Learn how personalizing a homeschooling experience works for each of them.
Homeschooling, Autism Style: Reset for Success is written by a mother-daughter team. Wendela is an autism consultant, author, and speaker. Siobhan, also a writer, grew up in an autism-majority family and successfully homeschooled herself for several years. Siobhan's Strategies appear throughout the book.
Although the book was written primarily for homeschooling families with children on the autism spectrum, the tips and tools are equally effective for your kids with ADHD, OCD, sensory integration or processing problems, learning difficulties, and even for typically-developing children. Whoever you are, and wherever you are on your homeschooling journey, you'll find something here for your family.
The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, schedule changes, safety protocols, and school closings have added unique challenges to everyone's lives. But even more so for individuals on the autism spectrum and their families.
Autism in Lockdown includes the most needed tips and insights from 34 of the world's leading autism experts, including:
Dr. Temple Grandin - Temple in LockdownCarol Stock Kranowitz - In-Sync Activities to Help Kids Cope with Being Cooped Up
Dr. Tony Attwood - COVID-19 and Autism
Carol Gray - Social StoriesTM for the Pandemic
Ellen Notbohm - When Leaders Fall Short
Sheila Wagner - Homeschooling and Homework
Dr. Raun Melmed - Tools for Stress Management
Dr. Jed Baker - Dealing with the New Normal
Dr. Jim Ball - Build Structure for Better Behavior
Bobbi Sheahan - Everyone Go to their Rooms
... And many more
A journey into one of the most fascinating minds alive today--guided by the owner himself.
Bestselling author Daniel Tammet (Thinking in Numbers) is virtually unique among people who have severe autistic disorders in that he is capable of living a fully independent life and able to explain what is happening inside his head. He sees numbers as shapes, colors, and textures, and he can perform extraordinary calculations in his head. He can learn to speak new languages fluently, from scratch, in a week. In 2004, he memorized and recited more than 22,000 digits of pi, setting a record. He has savant syndrome, an extremely rare condition that gives him the most unimaginable mental powers, much like those portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the film Rain Man. Fascinating and inspiring, Born on a Blue Day explores what it's like to be special and gives us an insight into what makes us all human--our minds.
Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is a gifted animal scientist who has designed one-third of all the livestock-handling facilities in the United States. She also lectures widely on autism--because Temple Grandin is autistic, a woman who thinks, feels, and experiences the world in ways that are incomprehensible to the rest of us.
In this unprecedented book, Grandin delivers a report from the country of autism. Writing from the dual perspectivies of a scientist and an autistic person, she tells us how that country is experienced by its inhabitants and how she managed to breach its boundaries to function in the outside world. What emerges in "Thinking in Pictures" is the document of an extraordinary human being, one who, in gracefully and lucidly bridging the gulf between her condition and our own, sheds light on the riddle of our common identity.
Editor Jill Mullin is the recipient of the inaugural Felix in Art Award, presented by Extreme Kids & Crew
Drawing Autism highlights an 'area where individuals with autism can have great abilities.'...Jill Mullin, a clinical therapist, explores the recurring themes in art made by people with autism.--New York Times Book Review One of Brain Picking's Best Art, Design, and Photography Books of 2014 This book is a testament to the power of art to reveal the inner world of people living with ASD.
--Publishers Weekly A jaw-droppingly beautiful book.
--Library Journal Included in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's 96 Books For Your Summer Reading List under 7 Visually Appealing Books Drawing Autism is not just a book about autism and art--it's a book about being human and expressing selfhood in all its beautiful, messy, complex forms. Add Drawing Autism to your wish list, tell your friends about it, and show it to your kids on the spectrum.
--Autism/Asperger's Digest Mullin, a behavior analyst, brings together fascinating works by 40 artists on the spectrum with their answers to her questions about their process.
--The Boston Globe Editor Jill Mullin has collected artwork from a host of painters and other graphic artists who are all somewhere on the spectrum. The fascinating and often lovely reprints in Drawing Autism help provide another perspective on the capabilities of people with autism.
--Time Out New York Mullin's clinical background in Applied Behavior Analysis, combined with more than a decade helping individuals with ASD, serve her well as the book's curator.
--The Portland Phoenix Editor Jill Mullin] has put together a beautiful and stimulating exhibition-in-a-book.
--Story Circle Book Reviews Drawing Autism is absolutely wonderful in its entirety.
--Brain Pickings Jill Mullin embraces the full range and spectrum of autism and artistic expression...Rich and varied images.
--BookTrib This book is like a key to opening doors across educational and medical landscapes. But perhaps even more importantly, the fact that many of the artists are able to explain what they were feeling at the time of their drawings will surely help this book find solid footing among parents, caregivers, and extended family members who have, up to this point, struggled to understand the inner workings of their precious loved one's autistic mind.
--New York Journal of Books A book of astonishing beauty.
--BOOKS (France) What is the actual experience of living with autism in a deep-felt sense, beyond the social stereotypes and headline-worthy superskills? Drawing Autism, a celebration of the artistry and self-expression found in artwork by people diagnosed with autism, explores just that. The stunning volume features works by more fifty international contributors, from children to established artists, that illustrate the rich multiplicity of the condition.
--The Atlantic Over the last decade autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has become an international topic of conversation, knowing no racial, ethnic, or social barriers. Behavior analyst and educator Jill Mullin has assembled a staggering array of work from established artists like Gregory Blackstock and Jessica Park to the unknown but no less talented. Their creations, coupled with artist interviews, comprise a fascinating and compelling book that serves to educate and inspire anyone who knows someone diagnosed with ASD. Mullin's introduction and the foreword by best-selling author Temple Grandin provide an overview of autism and advocate for nurturing the talents, artistic and otherwise, of autistic individuals.
Updated for a new era, the 25th anniversary edition of this seminal work on autism and neurodiversity provides "a uniquely fascinating view" (Deborah Tannen, author of You Just Don't Understand) of the differences in our brains.
Originally published in 1995 as an unprecedented look at autism, Grandin writes from the dual perspectives of a scientist and an autistic person to give a report from "the country of autism." Introducing a groundbreaking model which analyzes people based on their patterns of thought, Grandin "charts the differences between her life and the lives of those who think in words" (The Philadelphia Inquirer). For the new edition, Grandin has written a new afterword addressing recent developments in the study of autism, including new diagnostic criteria, advancements in genetic research, updated tips, insights into working with children and young people with autism, and more.
