No! Don’t read, Mommy!

Around the time we received the diagnosis

of PDD-NOS for my son (aged two),

I sat down to read

But Not the Hippopotamus

with him, and he said "no!"

and moved away from me.

I cannot recall whether this happened

before or after the diagnosis although I think he said “no!”

reading after we started to notice regression (18 months).

My mother and husband don’t recall the incident at all.

Odd, because my mother told me what to do.

“Stop saying you’re reading to him,”

she advised,

“say: ‘Mommy reads to mommy’ and read out loud to yourself.”

I did, and my blessedly curious curly haired tot

soon cuddled up close to me again for book time.

He still would not look at But Not the Hippopotamus,

(perhaps we read that too much too early?)

but The Going to Bed Book and Good Night Moon

came back into our lives.

The Rosemary Wells illustrated Nursery rhyme

board books also pleased him mightily.

Do any readers have children with autism who love rhymes?

The predictability of rhymes make them so appealing to an

orderly mind set - a natural fit for children (with or

without a diagnosis) who like patterns and

predictability.

Just as threatened in my previous post, I’ve signed up with

Amazon. Alas, I do not think I will get much filthy lucre by

my crass commercialism, but my main goal is to get

good book pictures for the site. We’ll see how that works out.

Supposedly, there's also a way to post a link that

lets you buy the book.

Full disclosure: If you click thru and buy the featured book,

they do credit me with some %, I think 4%, for

the sale. I’m not being cagey here, Amazon doesn’t list

what % you get for a book! So if I ever figure

out how to add the link and if that 4% ever equals

$10 and if I ever figure out how to fill out the payment

form . . . You get the picture. At least the one at the

top of the post. I hope. Maybe.

Books for Children on the Autism Spectrum is a participant

in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate

advertising program designed to provide a means for sites

to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to

amazon.com

"They rock, and rock, and rock to sleep"

-Boynton

One Shoe Blues

Yesterday I brought home One Shoe Blues from the library.

So cheap on Amazon $7.88, but not nearly as cheap as I am.

(Amazon isn’t paying me . . . yet. Mwahaha mwahaha
(evil laugh(sp?(I love Spring, when the parentheses build their nests))))

I am planning to put a link to Amazon on here so if you want instant

gratification, you can click through and get the book. This should improve

my graphics and may even earn me a few cents (though I will believe that

when I see it).

As you may be able to see from the graphic, One Shoe Blues
is a story book with a song, and includes a dvd with

B. B. King

and

sock puppets

This is typical Boynton zaniness,

and while not the toddler magic of her early board books,

the tale is light years beyond the somewhat perfunctory
song to book transformation of Your Personal Penguin.

The theme is great for all kids, and may lighten up

the search for the elusive shoe/shirt/backpack.

My son deals in absolutes and sobs

"Will we ever find the _____?

We're never going to find it."

when something is missing. But here's

our fix for shoes-we have a shoe shelf

near the door. And because my boy

likes routines, he quickly learned to take his shoes off

the moment he enters.

I doubt I could stop him now.

The book weds film and song to create something new,

and the film showcases not only B. B. King’s musical talent

but his charm too.
Why the man out-cutes the sock puppets!

What interested me about the book/movie combo

and my older son was how he skipped all the pictures in the book

to focus on the music section with
the lyrics in back while we watched the movie.

Many children with autism
seem to have musical gifts, and also a tendency

to play by ear instead of reading music.

My spectrum boy loves to look at lyrics, and music,

but what he's seeing, I'm not sure.

Still, both boys liked this pick. My nine year old

was more interested in the book than breakfast

(the wrong kind of wheat free waffle-the right

kind has disappeared).

"Well, I woke up this morning. Couldn't find my shoe . . ."

-Boynton

Drop Everything and Read Day

Today's my new favorite holiday and
I didn't even know it existed before
Leisa emailed me:

“Today is National Drop Everything and Read Day. Participate by spending 30 minutes reading -- to yourself, or to a child in your life.”

Leisa A. Hammett
Writer-Speaker-
Arts & Systemic Disability/Autism Advocate
Blog: www.leisahammett.com


So read King Bidgood's in the Bathtub/Wood
with your child or to yourself, or best of all, have your child read it to you!



Audrey Wood wrote this gem of
phrase repetition and problem solving.
Don Wood provided glowing pictures
that exactly illustrate the words and
yet have surprises galore.

Other delights by this pair include
The Napping House and Quick as a Cricket.


I do not usually drop everything and read.
I read and drop everything (plates, toothbrush, the laundry . . .)

Word Perfect

At church Sunday our minister started a prayer
"Gracious God"
"No!" yelled my nine year old son
"Almighty God" our minister corrected himself.

Our minister is smart and he's used to my son.
You do the service as printed, or my boy will
correct you (or have a fit-depends on the day).

The doctor who gave us the PDD diagnosis
For my son said my boy might start reading
very early, at age three. That didn't happen.
But he started correcting our reading by age four.
Part of that was probably word counting, no
abridging allowed. But soon he was aware of
every word on the page, with no variation permitted.

Like most kids, he started reading in Kindergarten.
Unlike most, he remembers what day he read
what book. His favorite for January, 2006?

"Who Took the Farmer's Hat.
We talked about it driving from RIP [Regional Intervention Program]
on January 26, 2006."

So here are a few favorites he remembers
(one each from Kindergarten, First Grade,
and Second Grade):

Who Took the Farmer's Hat/Nodset (Harper & Row)

First Tomato/Rosemary Wells

Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant

(a book of poetry about odd combo beasts)

Odd and Even Reading

Ask my boy to tell you about the book he just read,
and he may struggle to remember the story.
Ask him which page chapter nine started on, and he
responds instantly. Numbers often matter more to him
than words or meaning.

All parents want to share their views on the important things of life
with their children. And children frequently disagree with
parental priorities-what makes dinner more important
than dessert?

But parents of children with autism sometimes find that the child
doesn’t even notice what the parents consider important. And
what the child finds important may utterly baffle the parent.

Children diagnosed with Aspergers famously become experts
on subjects that interest them, like cars, trains, elevators.
For the vehicle/machine minded child I suggest

The Way Things Work/ Macauley (Houghton Mifflin)
The New Way Things Work/ Macauley (Houghton Mifflin)

These wonderful books may add some science to the child's
preoccupation. There's even a pop-up version
available.

Some parents report guiding their child with Asperger's
to socially acceptable preoccupations like Pokemon or
Nintendo and actually expanding their child's friendship
circle that way.

Others have a child interested in a scholastically
valued topic. Their problem is limiting the number
of books read and the amount of information given.

I confess I have had no luck in trying to guide my
boy's interests. I do not know if that is just because
every child is different or because he has PDD.
I would love to hear from other
parents of children diagnosed with PDD-NOS.

My boy likes rhyming poetry and calendars.
He has what is sometimes called "calendar
ability." Give him a date and he can
give you the day of the week.

This can be very useful for scheduling,
but it's not exactly a school or job skill.

Some people think this makes my son
a savant - a child with autism who
has uncanny Rainman-like
powers. He's not. I do not see any
Vegas trips in his future unless he
deliberately decides to learn card
counting.

In fact, my husband insists that our
boy learned calendar ability, and the
facts bear him out. My son studies calendars,
reads them like books, and (again
according to his dad) the way he
knows the day of the week is a
simple mathematical operation.

My boy also tells us sometimes how
many penguins arrived today (how
many days have passed since the
year started). He read
365 Penguins/Fromental (Abrams)
two years ago and it made a lasting
impression.

No expert or parent I know suggests
squashing numerical or other preoccupations
unless the preoccupation is totally unacceptable
or leads to unacceptable behavior.

Limiting and guiding preoccupations
may be very helpful and also well
nigh impossible sometimes.

Since I don't recommend giving your child
a pile of old calendars (unless s/he asks
for them), here's a poetry reading idea

The Penny Fiddle/Robert Graves (Doubleday)

This is a book published in 1960
with pleasant simple poems and
illustrations, still rural in subject.
There's even a parish priest on
a horse!

Or, published about the same time, but
reissued by scholastic and with a
more contemporary feel:

A Child's Calendar/Updike

I have tried books about numbers and
math, all have failed to interest my
son. He wants numbers on his own
terms, and I still don't understand
those terms very well.

But if anyone wants me to list those
options, let me know and I'll do so.

I do have abject failures
in book picking. How delightful if
they could become someone else's
bright stars.

Easy Readers for Children with Autism

"I like books with pictures" my four year old told me, "this book [his brother's] doesn't have enough pictures."

He's onto a great truth there. Alice long ago declared "What is the use of a book without pictures or conversation?"
And for many children, especially children with an autism diagnosis, the answer is often-"no use at all"

So here are a few easy readers with very good pictures that my older son
liked from about age four. He could read all of these on his own by age
six or seven. Indeed, all of them are also great picture book read alouds.


The Golly Sisters series/Byars
Go, Dog, Go/P. D. Eastman
Are You My Mother/P.D. Eastman
Put Me in the Zoo
Frog and Toad series/Lobel

The illustrations are color, a must for my child in his first years of reading.

And The Golly Sisters and Frog and Toad
series are short chapter books, great for helping beginning
readers take that step without the child saying "too many words"
- a frequent comment from my boy about other less illustrated
books with smaller print.

If you haven't met Frog and Toad, you'll be charmed to make their acquaintance.
These sweet amphibians are classic, and even had their own Broadway musical
(A Year with Frog and Toad)
that I recommend.

Thank you sweet sister for sending me the Broadway cast
recording!

"This is truth you can't refute, Toad looks funny in a
bathing suit!"

Do you find the word autistic offensive?

I asked a friend of mine who is a superb writer, an extraordinary disability advocate, a wonderful mother and does much else
besides, to comment on this blog.

She pointed out that many people find the word "autistic" extremely offensive. In People-First language you never
describe someone as autistic, but as having a diagnosis of autism.

Obviously, that's a problem for this blog since the word is in the address. I've also used it several other times.

Let me clarify that by autistic, I mean someone with a diagnosis of autism. That's all. It doesn't define my son, or any other child with that diagnosis.

When I first heard the word applied to my son, it was devastating. For at least a year I wouldn't allow anyone to use it.
I did not want my son's pediatrician to see the diagnosis. I did not want him labelled.
Of course, I couldn't bear the words "diagnosis of autism" either.

At the time all I knew of autism were stereotypes and generalizations. And some of the
physicians and specialists I encountered did little to help with that.
They too, have their stereotypes and generalizations that they foist
on the overwhelmed parents of the newly diagnosed.

I want to respect the wishes of my readers.
So I need to know what those wishes are.
Here's a quote from Wikipedia suggesting how tricky this question is:

"Person-first terminology is rejected by some people with disabilities,
most commonly the deaf and autistic communities.
The National Federation of the Blind has also officially rejected
person-first terminology. People who reject person-first terminology
generally see their condition as an important part of their identity,
and so prefer to be described as "deaf people" and "blind people"
and "autistics" or "autistic people" rather than "people with
deafness" and "people with blindness" and "people with autism".
In a reversal of the rationale for person-first terminology,
these people see person-first terminology as devaluing
an important part of their identity and falsely suggesting
that there is, somewhere in them, a person distinct from their
condition.

Notably, these two conditions have extensive effects on language use,
leading to significant subcultures, the deaf community and the autistic community.
These features are not shared with most other conditions that are commonly
considered disabilities. Some people with these conditions do not
consider them disabilities, but rather traits." -Wikipedia, March 29, 2010

So what to do?

Tell me what you think-I really want your comments.

Okay, I won't close without a book recommendation in case you're a regular reader (do I have any of those?).

Super Silly Sayings that are Over Your Head/Snodgrass
tries to help kids with an autism diagnosis and other literal thinkers
understand what odd expressions like "over your head" and "ants in your pants" really mean.
It's amply illustrated with both the literal and figurative meanings.

My boy liked the book well enough, but I have never heard him use a colloquial expression,
even though his speech therapist works on that skill specifically.
Yesterday she asked what he might say if she told him
"It's snowing outside."
"I'm pulling my leg." he replied

So am I in a sticky situation? Have I opened a can of worms? Walked into a hornet's nest?
Please tell me.*

*thanks to my two commenters! Click "comments" to read their great remarks