« Vindication? | Main | 4-A Healing Foundation »
Grownups With Autism
By Richard | March 7, 2008
Autism: The Next Generation
New Book Explores the Transition of Individuals with Autism to Adulthood
Press Release
“Think of me as your future. I am where you will be many years from now, when you know how it all plays out and ‘what will be’ has turned into ‘what was,’” writes Eustacia Cutler, the mother of Temple Grandin, a noted author who has autism.
Today’s parents of adults with autism, like Cutler, are the generation who rebelled against the ‘refrigerator mother’ theory of autism and later battled for their children’s right to public education. But they are also the parents who blazed the trail for adult issues such as living arrangements, employment and recreation. And given the increase in the incidence of autism over the past 20 years, more and more parents will be confronting these issues in the very near future.
Families of Adults with Autism: Stories and Advice for the Next Generation [Jessica Kingsley Publishers, March 2008, 176 pages, paperback, 978-1-84310-885-6, $19.95] addresses these issues in an inspiring collection of real-life stories of people on the autism spectrum growing up, as told by their family members.
“In varying ways, all the contributors to this book have been movers and shakers in the autism world,” writes Stephen M. Edelson, director of the Autism Research Institute, in the book’s foreword. “Many parents of children with autism invest an enormous amount of time in planning for the future. The parents of today’s autistic adults have already dealt with these issues, and offer invaluable guidance to younger parents.”
Edited by Jane Johnson and Anne Van Rensselaer, the accounts explore the challenges that families of people with autism have faced and the techniques they have used to improve the quality of their children’s lives. The contributors relate how they have worked with their children or siblings to help them to function at their highest possible level, be it showing an awareness of their environment, holding down a full-time job, competing in the Special Olympics or achieving international recognition as an artist.
“Their courage in contending with so many challenges and roadblocks is a testimonial to the strength, determination and love within every one of us,” concludes Edelson.
This book offers practical and heart-warming advice to families affected by autism spectrum disorders. “You will have come to terms with it, not perhaps in the way you thought you would, but you’ll no longer feel trapped in a morass of angst and guilt,” writes Cutler. “You will have resolved your child’s future and your own. You’ll know you’ve given full measure and the measure you’ve given has never been pointless.”
About the Editors: Jane Johnson is Co-Managing Director of the Board of Directors of Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin, Texas, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Autism Research Institute. She is the co-author, with Bryan Jepson, MD, of Changing the Course of Autism: A Scientific Approach for Parents and Physicians. She lives in New York City with her husband and three children. Anne Van Rensselaer has worked as a freelance editor and as a book packager with Jane Lahr Enterprises in New York, and has also worked for 25 years with alcoholics in recovery. Her true calling in life was to be a grandmother of three.
###
For further information or for a review copy, please contact:
Teresa Finnegan, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 400 Market Street, Suite 400, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA.
Tel: (215) 922-1161; Fax: (215) 922-1474; email: teresa.finnegan@jkp.com
Topics: Books |