Activity Schedules for Children With Autism: Teaching Independent Behavior (Topics in Autism)
Aarons and Gittens are London speech therapists who have taught autistic children for 25 years. Their book is a thorough introduction to autism, covering diagnosis, assessments, history, prognosis, and methods of education. Still, while the background and history are helpful, the intended readership is British. Sections on educational alternatives, British sign language, British education acts, and therapy options in Britain will be of little use to U.S. readers, who need immediate, close-at-hand help. Temple Grandin's Thinking in Pictures (LJ 1/96) and Emergence might be better choices. The McClannahan/Krantz book covers one method of helping autistic children learn: using activity schedules. These schedules teach autistic youngsters to follow words, pictures, or other nonverbal prompts to complete all varieties of tasks. Autistic children, often seen as antisocial, can benefit from a self-motivated plan to complete jobs at home, enjoy leisure time, or simply perform the daily activities of dressing and preparing for school. The book details how to set up activities, relate prompts to action, and follow through so that autistic children can become independent of verbal commands that parents or teachers might give. Illustrated with charts, photos of children, and examples of visual prompts; for larger public libraries.ALinda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, PACopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.