Spectrum Disorder

Clem Bastow grew up feeling like she’d missed a key memo on human behaviour. She found the unspoken rules of social engagement confusing, arbitrary and often stressful. Friendships were hard, relationships harder and the office was a fluorescent-lit nightmare of anxiety. It wasn’t until Clem was diagnosed as autistic, at age 36, that things clicked into focus. Clem reflects as an autistic adult on her formative experiences as an undiagnosed young person, from the asphalt playground of St Joseph's Primary School in Melbourne to working as an entertainment journalist in Hollywood.

An incisive and deeply candid account that explores autistic women in culture, myth, and society through the prism of the author's own diagnosis.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological disorder (a "brain" condition) characterized by poor behavioral and social difficulties. This is a developmental condition that starts early in infancy and lasts for life. Autism spectrum disorder affects most facets of life. Cognitive (thinking and language) and social skills are usually impaired by growth relative to their disorder-free peers.

In How to End the Autism Epidemic, Generation Rescue’s cofounder J.B. Handley offers a compelling, science-based explanation of what’s causing the autism epidemic, the lies that enable its perpetuation, and the steps we must take as parents and as a society in order to end it.

When it comes to parenting a child with a hidden disability, everyone seems to have an opinion. Here, Naomi Simmons writes from experience, offering new solutions for when conventional parenting strategies just don't work. Whether it be high functioning autism, ADHD, OCD, a mood or anxiety disorder with or without a diagnosis, if you have a child with any hidden disability, this is the audiobook for you.

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.

In What I Want to Talk About, popular autism advocate Pete Wharmby takes listeners on a journey through his special interests, illuminating the challenges of autistic experience along the way. Funny, revealing, celebratory and powerful in equal measure, this is an audiobook that will resonate with many, and which should be required listening for anyone who wants to understand autism with more accuracy and empathy.

Early childhood development and learning disability expert Richard Bass brings another insightful book detailing the unique experiences of teenagers with ASD. Inside Beyond the Spectrum: A Guide to Parenting Autistic Adolescents, he shows parents how to adjust their parenting styles to accommodate the changing needs of their teenage children.

In the late 1940s, the minor league Milwaukee Brewers are foundering yet again and manager Arthur Murphy is desperate. When he sees 17-year-old Mickey Tussler throwing apples into a barrel, he knows he has found the next pitching phenom. But not everyone is so hopeful. Mickey’s autism - a disorder still not truly understood even today - has alienated the boy from the world, and he is berated by other players and fans. Mickey faces immense trials in the harsh and competitive world of baseball while coping with the challenges inherent to his disorder.

In this book, the author offers a raw and unfiltered glimpse into her own experience with autism, sharing her thoughts and emotions in real time. With pain, agitation, humor, and solution as her guiding principles, she bares her soul and takes listeners on a journey through the often-turbulent waters of neurodivergence.

I Have Been Buried Under Years of Dust is a remarkable memoir by a mother and her autistic daughter who’d long been unable to communicate - until a miraculous breakthrough revealed a young woman with a rich and creative interior life, a poet, who’d been trapped inside for more than two decades.

Autism shakes up your world. It has changed my life and I wasn't even the one diagnosed with it. My brother's name is Ethan Wolfgang, but we call him Deets. He is one of the greatest gifts my family has ever received. And one of the most challenging.

Puberty is a confusing time for autistic people, leaving those who love and support them baffled by their actions. This book explains some of the reasons for aggressive behaviors during puberty and talks about how to sooth and comfort the autistic teen as their body changes, along with their emotions. The author shares tips for how to prepare autistic teens in advance for puberty and the best ways to help them understand their ever changing feelings and mood swings.

What is Asperger’s Syndrome? How is it different from autism, or is it even different? How does it differ from ADHD? These basic questions, as well as others, will be answered in this quick guide. Aside from that, topics such as managing temper tantrums, depression, and occupational therapy for autistic people will be discussed.

Named president and CEO of NBC at the age of 43, he faced a two-headed dragon: on one hand, distrust from the network people deeply skeptical of the "suit" from GE, their new corporate parent; and on the other, fiscal oversight demands from a cautious, conservative institution reluctant to invest heavily in a media business they didn't understand. For the next 20 years, he managed to navigate the fine line between the two and in the process completely reinvent - and save - the network.

Julia’s nine-year-old son George was autistic. Quiet and withdrawn, he appeared lost in his own world. Then one day a small black-and-white stray cat appeared in her garden and George’s face lit up. George bonded with Ben and began to open up to his mother as well. For three happy years, the trio was inseparable and George made remarkable progress. But then disaster struck—Ben went missing and George regressed. The weeks turned into months, and Christmas was fast approaching, but on December 21, Julia got a call from a family more than fifty miles away.

It’s 1949 and 18-year-old pitching phenom Mickey Tussler is back with the rejuvenated minor league Brewers in the sequel to The Legend of Mickey Tussler (the basis for the television movie A Mile in His Shoes). Despite Mickey’s proclamation that he will never play baseball again after last season’s violent conclusion, his manager - and now surrogate father - Arthur Murphy cajoles the emotionally fragile, socially awkward boy with autism into giving it another shot.

This book masterfully blends what you must know, what you need to know, and what you should know, all the while gently walking you down the path towards a more neuro-affirming and inclusive approach to home and school life. You will finish listening with a better understanding of autistic identity, culture and how you can help shape a better future for the ladybug in your life.

To make this groundbreaking audiobook, Dr. James Lyons-Weiler combed through the past fifty years of published research on autism, exploring subjects such as genetic variation, mechanisms of neurotoxicity of metals and pesticides, and the central and combined roles of each in causing autism.

After living through an emotionally turbulent journey of infertility and the birth of one son, Fabiana was thrilled to discover that she was pregnant again, this time with twins. She did not expect to encounter a tumultuous road until she was told that one of her twins had no chance of survival. Then, only weeks later, she gave birth prematurely. Her surviving twin spent months in a neonatal intensive care unit and later became a child with special needs. From Surviving to Thriving is about finding the joy; making the choice to see hope where others only see despair, pain, loss, and sorrow.