Playing, Laughing and Learning With Children on the Autism Spectrum. A Practical Resource of Play Ideas for Parents and Carers

Customer Reviews

great book

2007-12-11
I thought that this was a great book. it really focuses on younger children, most other books that I have read are geared towards older kids. There were a lot of practical ideas and simple things that you could do with your child.

Excellent reference

2007-09-30
I found this book to be a great resource. It's a very gentle, child-centered way to promote interactive play with children on the spectrum. The examples are creative and easy to follow and most of the materials you can make yourself. Highly recommended!

A great resource!

2007-09-24
Great resource with lots of practical and usable ideas. I would highly recommend for young children on the spectrum.

Good resource for parents and professionals

2007-06-26
I am a speech-language pathologist who works with autistic children and the mother of an autistic child. I found this book to have good information. It isn't too clinical, so a parent without specialized training could easily follow the advice offered. Play is so important for children with autism, but it is hard to know what to do when a child isn't interested in interacting with you. This book gives excellent advice on how to get a child to want to play with you.

Wonderful book

2007-01-09
This book is about learning how to work, act, and play with a child on the spectrum. The book is written in plain english, which makes it very easy to understand and incoperate the play ideas. I enjoyed this book. However my few critisms are that some of the links and references in the back of the book are mostly UK sites. Also, if you want to learn more about behavioral modification programs like ABA or TEACCH techniques, this is not the book for you. Basically, this book gives the reader creative ideas of how to interact with an autistic child. This book is great for parents and therapists. Its a book i think everyone should read, whether you have an autistic child or not. There are several useful ideas, even working with "typical" children.

A great book for preschool teachers

2006-11-05
Parents of young children on the autism spectrum are often at a loss for ideas about how best to help their child. Playing, Laughing and Learning with Children on the Autism Spectrum shows how to break down activities into manageable stages and looks at ways to gain a child's attention. Case studies illustrate how obsession and ritual can be redirected positively and how to build on small achievements. Each chapter centers on a theme: music, art, reading, physical activities, puzzles, playing outdoors and turn taking and can be used for toddlers and older children who struggle with play.

Great book for 2 and up

2006-03-09
Our son started showing autistic tendencies at 12 months. He's now 16 months and I've had a hard time coming up with ways to play with him and teach him. I thought this book would help, and it had a few ideas that would work for a younger child, but most of them are for at the very least a 2 year old. It will be a great tool to have in the future, but I was hoping for more workable ideas for a younger child.

Very Helpful

2005-09-20
Anyone with a child on the autism spectrum knows why this book was written! I found it while surfing Amazon and was hoping it would contain the answers I was looking for -- and it really does! The book offers parents very specific suggestions of how to involve and motivate their child in interactive play and it's easy for the parents/caregivers to understand how to adjust for their child's specific spectrum disorder. My son has PDD-NOS and I feel much clearer on how to approach play with him now that I've read the book. The only reason I didn't give this book a 5 star rating is because the book was written in England and therefore contains unavailable resources for people outside the UK and the author occassionally uses different and possibly unfamiliar terminology for non-Brit readers. It's still worth the read!