FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Helping Children with Autism
Learn: A Guide to Treatment Approaches For Parents and Professionals
By
Bryna Siegel, Ph.D.
Published by Oxford
June 2003; $30.00US; 0-19-513811-2
Bryna Siegel gives parents
of autistic children what they need most: hope. Her first book,
The World of the Autistic Child,
became an instant classic, illuminating the inaccessible
minds of afflicted
children.
Now she offers an equally insightful, thoroughly practical guide to treating the
learning disabilities associated with this heartbreaking disorder.
The trouble with treating
autism, Siegel writes, is that it is a spectrum disorder -- a combination of a
number of symptoms and causes. To one extent or another, it robs the child of
social bonds, language, and intimacy -- but the extent varies dramatically in
each case. The key is to understand each case of autism as a discrete set of
learning disabilities, each of which must be treated individually. Siegel
explains how to take an inventory of a child's particular disabilities, breaks
down the various kinds unique to autism, discusses our current knowledge about
each, and reviews the existing strategies for treating them. There is no simple
cure for this multifarious disorder, she writes; instead, an individual program,
with a unique array of specific treatments, must be constructed for each child.
She gives practical guidance for fashioning such a program, empowering parents
to take the lead in their child's treatment. At the same time, she cautions
against the proliferating, but questionable, treatments hawked to afflicted
families. She knows the panic to do something, anything, to help an autistic
child, and she offers parents reassurance and support as well as sensible
advice, combining knowledge from experience, theory, and research.
For parents, autism in a
child is heartbreaking. But it need not be overwhelming. Bryna Siegel offers a
new understanding, and a practical, thoughtful approach, that will give parents
new hope.
Author
Dr. Bryna
Siegel
is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco and
Director of its Autism Clinic. As a developmental psychologist specializing in
developmental disabilities, she has worked with families of children with autism
for the past 25 years. She has closely studied early diagnosis for autism,
diagnostic methods, and the effect of autism on the family. Her books include
The World of the Autistic Child: Understanding
and Treating Autistic Spectrum Disorders (OUP, 1996) and
What About Me?: Siblings of Developmentally
Disabled Children. She lectures frequently to parents and
professionals, comparing and contrasting treatments for autism and focusing on
how to design and tailor treatment programs for the individual child.
To Buy
Some
are the melody, some are the rhythm, some are the harmony