The Autistic Spectrum: A Guide for Parents & Professionals

by Lorna Wing

Despite their disabilities, children and adults with these disorders can be helped to cope better with life if the nature of their problems is understood. This guide explains how people with autism experience the world, the reasons for their disturbed behaviour and resistance to change, why they need an organised, structured environment with a daily routine, and the changes that occur with increasing age. Ways of teaching basic skills, improving communication, developing potential abilities and enlarging social experience are fully described. Sound advice is offered on coping with stress within the family and information given on the various services, state and voluntary, that are available. The latest developments in the field have been included to make this the most up-to-date and comprehensive guide to dealing with autism.
Lorna Wing's lucid, sensitive, practical advice will be valued not only by parents but also by the many interested professional groups including teachers, psychologists, doctors, language therapist and social workers.

Genres: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Nonfiction, Psychology, Education

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Lorna Wing, MD, FRCPsych, (born 7 October 1928) is an English psychiatrist and physician.

As a result of having an autistic daughter, she became involved in researching developmental disorders, particularly autism spectrum disorders. She joined with other parents of autistic children to found the National Autistic Society (NAS) in the United Kingdom in 1962. She currently works part-time as a consultant psychiatrist at the NAS Centre for Social and Communication Disorders at Elliot House.

Wing is the author of many books and academic papers, including Asperger's Syndrome: a Clinical Account, a 1981 academic paper that popularised the research of Hans Asperger and introduced the term "Asperger's syndrome". Although groundbreaking and influential, Wing herself cautioned in her 1981 paper that "It must be pointed out that the people described by the present author all had problems of adjustment or superimposed psychiatric illnesses severe enough to necessitate referral to a psychiatric clinic ... (and) the series described here is probably biased towards those with more severe handicaps."

She lives in Sussex, England.

Reviews

[Robbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an autistic guy, I feel that this book did have a number of misconceptions in it, e.g. the idea that all autistics have no imagination (I have hyperphantasia, so I have a very good imagination, hence the love of reading and daydreaming) and the idea that we have no innate ability to love or desire to socialise (I do want to connect to others, I just find it more difficult than the general population, and while I sometimes struggle with empathy, I consider myself a compassionate person because I definitely care about other humans as well as animals). That being said, I acknowledge that this book was published before I was born, and I'm 18 now, so I know we've made significant progress in autism research, awareness and acceptance since then.
I did find this book an interesting read, it's always insightful to see how neurotypicals think about us. I particularly enjoyed the chapter involving music therapy, because I and a lot of other autistic people do appreciate music and enjoy making and/or listening to it. I appreciate the fact that this book at least focused on some of the positive aspects of autism, and also the fact that we autistic people vary so much, hence the saying: 'If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism'.
If anyone would like anymore insight into autism, I'd suggest watching some YouTube videos by autistics/featuring autistic people; there are plenty of creators who make videos about autism, e.g. Purple Ella, Yo Samdy Sam, Indie Andy, Kevin Chapman, Aspergers from the Inside, The Aspie World, Connor Ward, invisible i etc.

[Rebekah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m sure this book was helpful back in the day but I found its message horrific! Basically your child has autism, deal with it, this is how you minimise embarrassing behaviour in public!
Autistic like behaviour can be developed and grown, there are treatments out there such as DIR floor time that help, I’m astounded that this is still recommended when we know so much more about the condition now

[Vic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have already recommended this to both sets of grandparents. On the basis that if they think "oh well, ordinary children do that" this will give them a better idea of where there are differences.

I'm not sure why there seems to be a sort of resistance from neurotypicals to the existence of High Functioning Autism/Aspergers. It seems fine to say that someone is a but "weird" or "not quite right" and mark them down in performance reviews for lacking social skills and understanding. And yet to deny those individuals the respect of having their condition aided, and their barriers to understanding lowered and eased. We would offer some respect to a person who was without a limb, or who lacked sight or hearing. Although they would still have a disability, we would not deny them the right to experience the world differently, and to request assistance. We would not treat their disability as a character flaw, or as some sort of omission on the part of the education system, or the parents, or respond with removing the problem from society if they were really not up to our exacting expectations.

[Libby Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author of this book is nearly 90 years old, and this book was written more than a decade ago. Even so, it is warm, thorough, and accessible, and I found it helpful and encouraging. Lorna Wing has been a pioneer in working with children with autism.

[Hazel Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some parts are outdated now but much is still relevant and useful.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This gives a brilliant overview of the Autistic Spectrum whether you are a parent, sibling, professional, student, or just want to learn more about Autism then I highly recommend you pick up this book.

I found it in my local library and couldn't put it down.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I live and work with a man who has autism, and I knew very little about the condition prior to this read. I found myself wanting this book to go more in depth than it did, but I did learn the rationale behind certain procedures in my house that seemed arbitrary before. Overall a good introduction for parents and those who know little about autism.

[Melissa Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned more from other books (see my reviews).

[Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Really clear and a very useful guide.