Autism Psychology

One of the world's 50 living autistic savants is the first and only to tell his compelling and inspiring life story and explain how his incredible mind works. Worldwide, there are fewer than 50 living savants, those autistic individuals who can perform miraculous mental calculations or artistic feats. (Think Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man.) None of them has been able to discuss his or her thought processes, much less write a book. Until now.

Science doesn't speak for itself. Neck-deep in work that can be messy and confounding and naïve in the ways of public communication, scientists are often unable to package their insights into the neat narratives that the public requires. Enter celebrities, advocates, lobbyists, and the funders behind them, who take advantage of scientists' reluctance to provide easy answers, flooding the media with misleading or incorrect claims about health risks. In Bad Advice, Paul A. Offit shares hard-earned wisdom on the dos and don'ts of battling misinformation.

"Rainbow Beginnings: Embracing Autism in Early Childhood" is a beacon of hope and understanding in the journey of autism. Authored with compassion and insight, this book unveils the intricacies of autism spectrum disorder in young children. It's an essential guide for parents, educators, and caregivers seeking to navigate the early years with empathy and knowledge.

There's no such thing as an inevitable midlife crisis, Barbara Bradley Hagerty writes in this provocative, hopeful book. It's a myth, an illusion. New scientific research explodes the fable that midlife is a time when things start to go downhill for everybody. In fact, midlife can be a great new adventure, when you can embrace fresh possibilities, purposes, and pleasures. In Life Reimagined, Hagerty explains that midlife is about renewal.

You got the diagnosis. You knew that the other person was different or eccentric in many ways, but you didn’t know why or how. Now you know that you are living with something called obsessive compulsive personality disorder, Asperger syndrome, Asperger's disorder, autism spectrum disorder, schizoid personality disorder, or narcissistic personality disorder.

What causes autism? Is it a genetic disorder, or due to some unknown environmental hazard? Are we facing an autism epidemic? What are the main symptoms, and how does it relate to Asperger syndrome? Everyone has heard of autism, but the disorder itself is little understood. It has captured the public imagination through films and novels portraying individuals with baffling combinations of disability and extraordinary talent, and yet the reality is that it often places a heavy burden on sufferers and their families.

Growing up unknowingly autistic, Livia spent the majority of her young life seeking worth and validation in external achievements. She excelled in her honors classes, competitive sports, and eventually, an eating disorder. Until the control she so desperately sought nearly killed her, Livia made the hardest decision anyone with an eating disorder can make: to trust and surrender to the recovery process.

Autism is defined as neuro-developmental disorder that is characterized by repetitive and restricted behavior, verbal and non-verbal communication, and impaired social interaction. Based on data from 2010, the number of people with autism was estimated to be about 1-2 for every 1,000 people globally.

Adulthood is complicated for anyone, though it can be especially overwhelming for someone living with Asperger's. Thankfully, Asperger's and Adulthood presents targeted strategies from learning specialist Blythe Grossberg to help young adults with Asperger's kick-start careers, cultivate healthy relationships, and create independent paths as maturing adults. Grossberg lends her expertise by providing an Asperger's road map - pointing out potential obstacles and offering valuable how-tos for thriving in the world.

Dr. Joseph Jordan offers a thorough investigation into the complicated world of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in 39 Common Traits of People with Asperger's Syndrome, High Functioning Autism, and Autism Spectrum Disorders. Dr. Jordan expertly goes into the many components of ASD, giving listeners a clearer grasp of the characteristics that make up this spectrum by utilizing both his vast clinical experience with neurodiverse people and his profound professional competence in psychology.

It seemed to me that many of the moments when my autism had caused problems, or at least marked me out as different, were those moments when I had come up against some unspoken law about how a girl or a woman should be, and failed to meet it. An autism diagnosis in midlife enabled Joanne Limburg to finally make sense of why her emotional expression, social discomfort and presentation had always marked her as an outsider.

In 1938, Donald Triplett of Forest, Mississippi, became the first child diagnosed with autism. Beginning with his family’s odyssey, In a Different Key tells the extraordinary story of this often misunderstood condition, from the civil rights battles waged by the families of those who have it to the fierce debates among scientists over how to define and treat it.

Autism is one of three diagnoses that the DSM-5 includes in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While our understanding of this condition has grown exponentially, research has been fraught with controversy. Autism appears to be on the rise, depending on how you define it, and its causes more complex than imagined.

Dr Luke Beardon has put together an optimistic and upbeat guide that will be essential listening not just for any autistic adult, but for anyone who loves, lives with or works with an autistic person. Emphasising that autism is not behaviour, but at the same time acknowledging that there are risks of increased anxiety specific to autism, this practical audiobook gives clear strategies that the autistic person can adopt to minimise their anxiety and live comfortably in a world full of what may seem to be noise and chaos.

How can I best support the needs of my neurodivergent clients in therapy? With so much information, and so many different perspectives, it can be difficult to know where to start. Further, the mental health field has only recently begun moving away from "treating autism" to working with autistic and neurodivergent individuals in a more affirming way. That's why Dr. Amy Marschall created A Clinician's Guide to Supporting Autistic Clients. As an expert psychologist and a member of the autism community herself, she recognized the need to move away from treatments that pathologize differences.

Neurodiversity is the fact that neurological differences like autism, ADHD, dyslexia, etc., are natural human variations that have real benefits. The neurodiversity movement which values such human differences that were traditionally pathologized is gaining speed. Co-author Barb is a non-verbal autistic who is disguised as a poor thinker, because her body does not reliably respond to what her brilliant mind tells it. She needs round-the-clock assistance to help her do basic things, so people make all kinds of assumptions about her intelligence.

A compassionate and captivating examination of evolving attitudes toward mental illness throughout history and the fight to end the stigma. For centuries, scientists and society cast moral judgments on anyone deemed mentally ill, confining many to asylums. In Nobody’s Normal, anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker chronicles the progress and setbacks in the struggle against mental-illness stigma - from the 18th century, through America’s major wars, and into today’s high-tech economy.

Navigating life as a young autistic person with ADHD isn't always easy. Luckily, Sarah Boon is here to share her own experiences, helping you to explore how autism and ADHD overlap and identify the strategies that will make day-to-day life easier. With chapters focused on adulting, relationships and communication, emotional wellbeing, and mental health, navigating the workplace and more, this book offers practical, tried-and-tested guidance to help you understand your autism and ADHD and overcome some of the hurdles that adulthood may throw your way.

Dr. Temple Grandin gets to the real issues of autism, the ones parents, teachers, and individuals on the spectrum face every day. Temple offers helpful dos and don'ts, practical strategies, and try-it-now tips, all based on her insider perspective and a great deal of research.

A veteran clinical psychologist exposes why doctors, teachers, and parents incorrectly diagnose healthy American children with serious psychiatric conditions. In recent years there has been an alarming rise in the number of American children and youth assigned a mental health diagnosis. Current data from the Centers for Disease Control reveal a 41 percent increase in rates of ADHD diagnoses over the past decade and a forty-fold spike in bipolar disorder diagnoses. Similarly, diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder has increased by 78 percent since 2002.