Autistic Logistics: A Parent's Guide to Tackling Bedtime, Toilet Training, Meltdowns, Hitting, and Other Everyday Challenges

by Kate Wilde

Have you ever wished there was a manual for parenting children on the autism spectrum? This book provides just that, offering clear, precise, step-by-step advice on everything you want to know,
- How to toilet train your child without pushing or pressuring
- How to get your child to sleep in their own bed and through the night
- What to do when your child misbehaves/ lashes out, hits or bites
- How to introduce new foods without a fight
This updated edition is based on Kate Wilde's decades of experience and the latest autism research. Tackling a wide range of common parenting milestones, the book offers tried-and-tested techniques to help you transform the challenges of home life and create harmony. Catering to all age ranges and points on the spectrum, this book will be invaluable to parents, caregivers, teachers and teaching assistants.

332 pages, Paperback

Published September 21, 2021

About the author

Kate works in non-profit development.

She lives in New England with her husband and two children.

DANCE LESSONS & ANOTHER DANCE are the first two books in the Dance Lessons series.

Reviews

[Laura C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many books on the topic of autism and for me to give 5 stars the book needs to tick each of the following:

* leave me feeling positive
* easy to understand and enjoyable to read
* have new and useful information

Autistic Logistics deserves a huge tick for all of the above. This is the revised edition which was released in September 2021.

I recommend watching the movie Son-Rise: A Miracle of Love before reading this book. Think of it as a prequel to the book, explaining how and why the program created.

The author, Kate C.Wilde, has worked with over 1500 children on the spectrum and knew this was her passion at the age of 13 after having watched the movie I mentioned. She began her career at 17 and has had over 20 years experience.



You will need to read the first 8 chapters and then may jump to chapters that interest you but I read it from cover to cover. I admit I was skeptical, especially with how quickly she claimed some techniques worked. I mean from the first try? A few days? Well I tried a couple of things and I had positive results from the very first attempt. So far I’ve had good results with brushing teeth and trying new foods. My main reason for wanting to read this book was toilet training. I had wanted a way to train without the use of training pants but unfortunately it seems they need to feel wet and there’s no other way around that. I’ve ordered my supplies and hope to try next week. I’ll be tackling more in the future. This book has been so helpful to me so far and I’m feeling positive to try more.

We have all heard the saying “if you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism” suggesting they are all different but there’s characteristics that are assumed the same for all. One is that they learn by visuals. All therapists recommend and implement them. I’ve had no results. Yet my son understands verbal commands. This book does not mention a single visual which amazes me. It mentions a lot of verbal commands and explanations. Obviously you’ll have the item or you’ll do the action while saying the word so they learn but soon they’ll know. An example is I would say “banana” many times while my son ate one. Now I can say “want a banana?” and he will take my hand to go and get a banana from the fruit bowl.

The only other book I would recommend is Uniquely Human which I also gave 5 stars to and was my favourite up until I read Autistic Logistics.

Kate also wrote The Autism Language Launcher which I’ve just started reading. I’m hoping it’s another 5 star book…

[Morag Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had to recommend just one book to parents of neurodiverse children this would be it! An utterly fantastic book, that manages to both convey empathy with the struggles that will resonate with many parents, while helping us to enter the world of our special children and offer real practical strategies.

Tackling topics such as sleep, nutrition, transitions and how to talk to your child (to name just a few), each chapter finishes with a summary 'checklist' to refer back to that can be used as an action plan.

I 100% recommend this book, and as a reader I found it both accessible pleasurable to read, recognising the joy and celebrating the uniqueness of our neurodiverse children.

My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an advance copy

[Nette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first introduction to the idea of the Son-Rise program, I had not heard of it before but my opinions on it from Kate Wilde's views and experiences have led me to think of it as a positive program for Autistic children. I think all children to be honest can benefit from this loving program because it just creates a level of understanding in support and strengthens communications with each other. I cannot wait to recommend it because I do think if you are taking your child to early intervention, as a parent you may feel left out because the early intervention, in some places, does not include the families, so based on Kate Wilde's Autistic Logistics book this is very useful and will help those families create benefits when experiencing life with their child.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really clear, informative, and optimistic book. I personally was glad that some chapters acknowledged the specific challenges of working with teens and larger/older children with autism, and have a lot to think about and discuss with my family.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic resource! I was enjoying it so much, I bought a copy.