1. Dr. Ross Greene - The Explosive Child
So here we go, the top resource that has
made such a huge difference in our lives is the book The Explosive Child by Dr.
Ross Greene. This book is not only helpful to children with Aspergers but many
other neuro diverse kids including children with Sensory Processing Disorder,
Dyspraxia, ADHD, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder just to name a few. The
title of the book is a bit of a misnomer because it also offers help for
children who are inwardly hurting and misunderstood or behaviorally
challenging. Dr. Greene says that children do well if they can. Many children
have lagging skills and haven't caught up developmentally with children their age.
This book teaches a form of parenting called collaborative problem
solving. It helps you better understand your child before jumping to
conclusions. Then you collaborate together to come up with an acceptable
solution to a problem.
This book is amazing and the methods that
Dr. Greene teaches will make a huge difference in your families lives. I grew
up in a strict authoritative family so when it came time to discipline my son
that's all I knew and it failed miserably. I'm so glad I found this book because
it helped me realize how horribly I was misunderstanding my son. So at
first for me, the methods were a little hard to implement, but once you get the
hang of it they will stick with you for a lifetime. I also recommend checking out his website at www.livesinthebalance.org. On his website he has a plethora of resources
including podcasts, videos and worksheets explaining his methods. The podcasts
definitely helped me understand how to implement collaborative problem solving
in various situations.
My most important bit of advise is truly
learn to understand your child from their perspective. Misunderstandings run
rampant in an Asperger's childs life. The people that will make a huge
difference in your children's lives are people that take the time to get to
know and honestly understand your child - they make all the difference in the
world.
2. Michelle Garcia Winner - Social Thinking
Another good resource for Aspergers parents
is Michelle Garcia Winner's "Social Thinking". Ms. Garcia Winner has
a huge selection of books and research on Social Thinking and Self Regulation
for a wide variety of ages. A majority of this information can be found on her
website at www.socialthinking.com. Ms. Garcia Winner's books really hit home
for us with her use of "Expected and Unexpected" social thinking and
her fun use of comic book characters from "The Incredible Flexible
You." Expected /Unexpected is such a great way to talk to kids about
social situations and has helped our son learn acceptable coping mechanisms to
navigate everyday social situations. 3. Autism Discussion Page - Facebook
Finally the last resource that has helped us
tremendously is the Facebook group called the "Autism Discussion
Page" at www.facebook.com/autismdiscussionpage. This page is such a great
resource for understanding the key concepts of autism. It has helped me feel a
sense of community and allows me to intelligently discuss Autism with teachers
and other professionals that are involved in my sons life. Extra Credit - The Incredible 5 Point Scale
Just a side note that I didn't want to leave
out is The Incredible 5 Point Scale by Keri Dunn. This has been such a useful
tool in our sons life. We use it on a daily basis to talk about our feelings
and have even created a customized scale using Minecraft characters - If your
interested check it out at one of my previous posts - The Minecraft Incredible5 Point Scale.
Note: This is not
professional advice - I'm just a Mom trying to help her son make it in this
world. I wanted to put this information out there in hopes that other parents
will not have to struggle as much to help their children.
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