Hidden Brilliance: Unlocking the Intelligence of Autism

by Lynn Kern Koegel

A groundbreaking exploration of the ways in which the intelligence and abilities of children and young adults with autism are often overlooked and misjudged, with tried-and-true interventions that can be used to help them reach their full potential.

Our limited and often biased view of what's considered "normal" often prevents us from recognizing the gifts and brilliance of those who don't fit a specific mold. Too often we don't explore and take advantage of the far-reaching gifts and potential of those diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum or neurodiverse. Dr. Lynn Kern Koegel has had vast experience researching Autism Spectrum Disorders--ASD--and working with autistic people of all ages. She has repeatedly witnessed firsthand evidence of great intelligence that hasn't yet been nurtured or realized.In Hidden Brilliance, Dr. Koegel and writer Claire LaZebnik explore the ways in which the brilliance and talents of children and young adults diagnosed with ASD are commonly overlooked or misjudged, even by trained professionals. This book isn't about changing people, but about bringing out their best, by focusing on and nurturing their strengths. The authors examine the forces at play--including outdated attitudes, a lack of sufficient training, and an overreliance on standardized testing--that complicate and confuse the effort to see the remarkable capabilities of these kids. The authors argue that behaviors often described as disruptive or interfering are actually brilliant attempts at communication and point the reader toward interventions that can encourage people to effectively communicate their needs and thoughts. Hidden Brilliance helps us see how and why parents--who often feel alone in their ability to see past their children's struggles to the incredible capabilities underneath --are often dismissed or ignored.

This long overdue book explains ways to identify your child's strengths and abilities and then use them as a tool for social communication, improved learning, and overall growth. While no one can predict a child's future, a positive and supportive attitude combined with the right goals and interventions that consider the child's strengths can lead to extraordinary growth and connection. Warm and hopeful, Hidden Brilliance opens the door to a new way of looking at people diagnosed with ASD--those who deserve to have their brilliance shine brightly for all to see.

Genres: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Parenting, Nonfiction, Psychology

1 pages, Audio CD

Published April 4, 2023

Reviews

[Kerri · Rating 1 out of 5]

As an autistic adult, I've been looking through all of the autism books I can find lately, but just skimming through this book made me want to kick it across the room. There's so much in here that frustrated me and that was just in looking through it for five minutes.

[Audrey Wood · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is more for caregivers/parents rather than educators. Some good information about focusing on strengths based learning and using a child’s interest to engage in effective learning.

However, I was a little disappointed in the communication chapter in regards to the use of AAC and language acquisition. This books encourages verbal communication over everything rather than functional communication. As an SLP, who works with autistic students, AAC has been a wonderful tool and there’s lots of research to back it. There also wasn’t anything about autistic kids often times being gestalt language processors. This is important information for families to learn about how language can be acquired differently.

I also didn’t love the section about special education…. It suggests that parents/caregivers should teach sped teachers how to teach. I totally agree that families are the experts on their child, but I think it is a team effort to do what is best for the child. You don’t get into special education for any other reason than to help others.

Overall, I think there’s some good information for families with autistic kiddos. It could be a good place to start with further readings as well.

[Kathryn Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure who the audience is supposed to be for this book. It felt like it was put together awkwardly using a variety of things that the authors had previously written. I stopped to check the publication date again because some of the things in it felt very late 90s to me. I was particularly disappointed in the sections about AAC use. It felt like there was conflicting information. Some of the information is outdated and inaccurate according to numerous more recent studies.

The book did give me some things to think about. I will have to further explore a few ideas. In general, if you already know a lot about autism this book won’t be helpful. If you don’t, then it will be hard to know what the more current ideas are. Better off looking for things written by autistic people.

[Nat · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is just ABA as far as I can tell. It’s all about rewarding kids for neurotypical behaviors like “quiet sitting.” While there was some helpful context, like how to handle testing and assessments, it’s pretty clear that this was put together by allistic people to make autistic kids easier to control. Alfie Kohn’s work has already established why rewards aren’t good for neurotypical kids; I’m sure they’re even more harmful for autistic kids when used in this way. The book seems to have some fundamental respect for autistic kids, but it’s all about changing them to fit in instead of ACTUALLY building on their “hidden brilliance.”

[Rachael Caskey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a teacher of children with autism and also a parent of a child with autism. This book held lots of helpful strategies of how to work with my students and also how to write useful IEP goals. However, I felt like there are a lot of unrealistic and/or unreasonable expectations for teachers in this book. I would love to do everything they suggested for my students but in reality I'm responsible for two classrooms this year, I have 19 students with IEPs and 10 without. I know many other teachers are in similar situations so we need to set reasonable expectations rather than setting the parents up to battle the school.

[Vicki · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had really good points. However, I don't fully support the chapter about communication. Verbal communication is important but there is research that says verbal speech and AAC can help students speak verbally. I felt AAC in this book was looked down on and not fully accurate information was shared related to AAC.

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

The areas that were most helpful to me in this book were the sections that dealt with ways to help your child socialize. I will be talking with teachers about how school can help facilitate more opportunities for social interaction. This has always been part of my child’s IEP, but it is very hard to administer and monitor. There were some good ideas for that in this book.

This book probably would have been more useful if I had an already struggled with most of these Autism issues for so many years now. Perhaps if I had read this when my family member was first diagnosed, it would’ve been much more useful because more of the information would have been new to me.

I do wish that more people in this world would pick up a book like this or educate themselves about neuro-diversity. The book makes a great point about how our community judges and stigmatizes those of us who are trying to do the best we can with the challenges we have been given. I hope this book helps spread the word so that instead of dirty looks, we get understanding in public situations .

I read this book for the 2023 ATY Challenge: a book with four or more colors on the cover

[Daphne Muñiz · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a mom with an autistic son that's either a two or three level, plus another son that is in the process of an educational evaluation, I was hoping to gain more of an insight as their mother to better help them in life. I myself have ADHD, with me thinking I may have ASD, but have yet to get that diagnosis. This book just didn't have what I needed I guess. Something about it I couldn't vibe with. I only made it mid-way into chapter 2, and I decided to DNF. I kept trying to get past chapter 2, but I just couldn't do it.

We've done ECI (early childhood intervention), and TBRI (trust based ? intervention), so what I did read and glanced in other parts was stuff I already kind of knew.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

My daughter was diagnosed with ASD level 1 at around 2.5 years old, she's now 5 years old. So a lot of what is talked about in this book was a refresher or reconfirming what we already know and experience. This may be a helpful tool for those who are new to getting a diagnosis or help but it was still beneficial. Glad I took the time to listen as I'm always trying to learn more to help our girl grow and thrive.

[Emily Treweek · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very glad i borrowed this from the library. The Australian title is Hidden Strengths. The book is simply another deficits focused take on what to “fix”. While sometimes supports are needed there is nothing in here that truly celebrates the strengths of autistic people. (Actually autistic adult with 2 autistic children).

[Maria Rubatino · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot, but I felt this book was unnecessarily anti-teacher.

[Filipa Lopes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I expected it to be at all.