Avoiding Anxiety in Autistic Children: A Guide for Autistic Wellbeing

by Luke Beardon

One of the biggest challenges for the parent of any autistic child is how best to support and guide them through the situations in life which might cause them greater stress, anxiety and worry than if they were neurotypical.

Dr Luke Beardon has put together an optimistic, upbeat and readable guide that will be essential reading for any parent to an autistic child, whether they are of preschool age or teenagers. Emphasising that autism is not behaviour, but at the same time acknowledging that there are risks of increased anxiety specific to autism, this practical book gives insight into the nature of the anxiety experienced by autistic people, as well as covering every likely situation in which your child might feel anxious or worried. It will help you to prepare your child for school, to monitor their anxiety around school, and also to be informed about the educational choices available to your child. It will give you support to help make breaktimes less stressful for them and how to help them navigate things like eating at school and out of the house.

Educationally, this book will take you and your child right up to the point of taking exams and leaving school; socially and emotionally it will cover all the challenges from bullying, friendships, relationships, puberty and sex education. It will give suggestions for alternatives in the scenarios that might cause anxiety or confusion in your child; it will also give a full understanding of your child's sensory responses and such behaviours as masking, or echopraxia.

As the parent of an autistic child, you may find their path to adulthood different to the one you had expected to take, but as this book makes clear, autism should be celebrated and affirmed. Avoiding Anxiety in Autistic Children helps you to do just that, with practical strategies that will help happiness, not anxiety, remain the over-riding emotion that colours your child's memories of their early years.

Genres: Nonfiction, Parenting, Psychology, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Mental Health, Self Help, Essays

160 pages, Paperback

Published April 20, 2021

Reviews

[Abby]

This is an excellent read if you are new to understanding ASC and anxiety. However if you are already experienced and want to further extend your knowledge then it might not be as beneficial.

It does breakdown appropriately in chapters about understanding anxiety, in different environments and then success stories of methods to help ease anxiety. There is nothing ground breaking though.

For a teacher new to ASC, this would be an amazing read to understanding anxiety outside of school and how it can contribute to challenging behaviour during school. This does focus on a parents perspective, for instance the school chapter is about getting ready for school in preparation to reduce anxiety with a familiar routine.

[Leo]

TW: discription of ableism, panic and anxiety attacks, dispair, trauma, fat-shaming (not called out) mentioned in example story

Note: I'm autistic with an autistic child and spouse.
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A super important book for everyone to read, bust especially parents and teachers. Anxiety screwed me over so dang much, and having this book and the advice given in it would have helped sooo much. Great and supportive advice.

[Laura]

This has a couple of okay suggestions and lots of personal accounts from autistic people (I think? They may have been fictionalized but informed by interviews with autistic people). I think his book for adults was better. I found that there were too many quote passages and not enough evidence based interventions. I preferred Davida Hartman's book 'Little book of FAQ' as the suggestions are more practical and it includes interviews with autistic adults and children (for e.g. Sarah aged 8) which was really insightful.

[Y T]

An easy read for readers who are familiar with the topic. Somehow I couldn’t quite extract the exact handles to avoid anxiety in autistic children. There were a lot of little sharing along the book from the kids, which helps to give a little insight into what’s happening and how they feel.

I’ve learnt to see this through their lens and to in things from their angle more in order to understand how they feel.

[Matthew J. Winbow]

This is an excellent book with loads of great advice and helpful suggestions. Well worth a read.

[Coley]

The first book I have read on autism and I’ve passed it straight onto my partner and read so many passages out loud that made perfect sense to me as to why our daughter is struggling! I looked up Dr Luke and have already ordered the other book on autistic children so that I can get a more in depth understanding!! I would recommend this book to any one who has a child with autism or who is questioning if there child shows traits which you think could be autism because this book gives so many examples and helps you to understand how your child is feeling in simple terminology without all the jargon, we are already implementing new strategies in our house to reduce my baby’s anxiety and make life easier I recommend it massively!

[Charlotte Ryan]

I truly thought this book was amazing
I’m studying to work in childcare and that why this book interested me when I saw it on the shelf at the library.
I thought there was some amazing points that I fully agree with
I love how the book was set up as well because it made it more interesting and easier to read
All in all I’ve gain some great knowledge from this book that I feel could really help me with my future career 😁

[Tamar McAbee]

I found this a very helpful overview of autism related anxiety with some helpful tips to shift perspectives in order to see things more from your child's point of view. It certainly would be a great entry point to help start identifying what might be contributing to your child's anxiety and how to better support them to reduce it.

I also am glad it wasn't all redirection and deep breathing because we've all heard those before.

[Gergő Vámosi]

A very useful eye-opener about common ASD problems in many ways and an enjoyable read. Beardon is a bit idealistic tho - I think his way of thinking would be the optimal for autistic kids but many if not most of his concepts are really tough to implement in the everyday life. At least his work is here to justify what most ASD parents stand and fight for every day.

[Jeanne Dierkes]

Highly recommend!

This feels like it should be on everyone's reading list, especially anyone working with children like teachers, teaching assistants etc. Dr. Beardon explains in an amazingly eloquent way what might be causing anxieties in our and how we might be able to relieve them and help in other ways. Great read, will be keeping this one for future reference as well.

[Dx Lxm]

EXTREMELY neuroaffirming and helped bridge a mental gap between knowing intellectually what autistic children are going through and knowing it deeply enough to anticipate and support them. Can't recommend this enough. He's one of the good ones.

[The Twins]

4.5 stars - especially good for younger children but my anxiety increased reading it as a parent of an autistic child.

[Katrina]

Like his other book, I found this ok. I think it would be useful for someone who knew nothing about the subject but I feel like everything I read I already knew or was common sense.

[Annie Kenning]

This is a fantastic book. Wish everyone could read it!

[Laura Osborne]

Incredibly insightful and practical. Really appreciated the autistic children’s perspectives throughout, with the many examples. Listened on audio; read by the author.

[Sancie Graham]

Quick and comprehensive guide for supporting young people with autism.

[Rita]

Great book full of tips on what to do at home and at school, as well as generally understanding what is going on for these kids. Wish the adults around me had this when I was growing up!

[Emma Ioana]

Amazing book for any teacher and especially for parents and teachers of autistic children!

This is a very good example of a neurodiversity centered book.

[Jacqueline]

This is a pretty good book if you’re not as familiar with autism and just getting educated. It’s very neurodiversity affirming and speaks of autistic individuals in a respectful manner. However, if you’re like me and autism is one of your special interests lol, I don’t think you will learn anything new. I didn’t find any new strategies for managing anxiety but it’s not the fault of the author.

[Kyleigh Harwood]

so thought-provoking

Amazing book. It has taught me so much and more importantly given me hope and inspiration. Definitely recommend, especially to parents of autistic children.