Autism Acceptance Book: Being a Friend to Someone with Autism

by Ellen Sabin

The Autism Acceptance Being A Friend to Someone with Autism is an interactive, educational and character-building book that introduces children to the challenges faced by people with autism while also supporting their personal journey toward appreciating and respecting people's differences. The book offers information, conversation-starters, and engaging exercises that invite children to “walk in someone else's shoes” as they learn to treat others the same ways they would like to be treated themselves.

While focusing on autism, ultimately, this book teaches broad life lessons about accepting and embracing people’s differences. This is a great book to help family members, peers, and classmates better understand autism.

Genres: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Childrens, Parenting, Nonfiction

64 pages, Spiral-bound

First published January 30, 2006

Reviews

[Remy]

Great book for brothers, sisters, friends and classmates of a person who has autism. I read this for work and there are some good exercises, so they can learn about autism and what they can do for the person with autism. It is easy to read for children around 4 to 12 years old. I would recommend this to teachers or parents who want to teach their children a bit of acceptance towards someone with autism. If someone has any questions about this book, you can always leave an comment! (:

[Ettina · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book, but one thing concerns me - at several points in the book, they suggest raising money for an autism charity, without any mention of the problems with many autism charities or the importance of talking to the autistic person about how they feel about a particular charity. Some charities, such as Autism Speaks, do more harm than good to the public view of autism, and most autistic people would rather you not give them any money. Unfortunately, I have heard many stories of well-meaning people who didn't check a charity's history with autistic self-advocates before raising money for them, so if you are going to recommend raising money, you really should warn them to be careful which charity they donate to.

[Aleisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

ALL should read this book! Especially young children. Knowledge brings acceptance and acceptance brings love ... And the world needs more if that.

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting I enjoyed it a lot.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Consider sharing this important book/resource with your elementary school aged kids.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a great book and I suggest all teachers read it to their students, especially those in the elementary and middle school age range.

[Shilo Quetchenbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good book to introduce kids to characteristics of autism and how they can treat friends with autism kindly and respectfully. The information about different ways people with autism experience the world differently and different characteristics and behaviors they have was pretty accurate and explained in a way that's easy for kids to understand.

I have two criticisms. First, several times it suggests raising money for autism charities without mentioning that some do more harm than good and many autistic people would prefer people not give money to them. It's an easy way for people to mean well but actually cause harm.

Second, the book is constantly going on about how all these characteristics make the person with autism different than the reader. Which is fine if they're not autistic, but how many undiagnosed kids on the spectrum are going to feel like they're being shut down to be told they don't have these experiences? I was reading to my kiddo who *is* autistic, and so there were some verbal gymnastics involved in reading it aloud.

I would say it's still valuable to kiddos who are autistic though because it does a great job clearly explaining a lot of what it's like to be autistic. And knowing yourself is one of the most important steps to being comfortable with yourself.

Kiddo (almost 10) found it really interesting and related to it a lot. And the information about being kind and understanding to friends works both ways.

[Rosie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in an easy-to-understand format and with colorful illustrations, this guidebook gives simple ways children, siblings, and classmates can be a friend to another child with autism. Readers are encouraged to "put themselves in another person's shoes" in order to understand what it is like to have autism. There are also spaces for readers to write out ideas and thoughts on being a supportive friend. This book is targeted for younger readers, about ages 6-11, and can be utilized in school, at home, or other group settings.

[Carolyn, Ur Local Carrot Stick · Rating 5 out of 5]

My twin is autistic, and I try my hardest to be nice and help her out, because she gets bullied, I find this book helpful in making her feel better :)

[Sally]

http://wateringcanpress.com/html/auti...

[Purl Scout · Rating 5 out of 5]

buy this for your kid