#1 Temple Grandin (movie) - We LOVED this movie by HBO, starring Claire Danes. Temple is definitely a hero of mine and this movie did a fantastic job of showing how her autistic mind works. I must confess that I sort of scoffed when I heard that Claire Danes was playing her, but I think she did an outstanding, award-worthy job. I get the giggles now every time I hear the phrase "animal husbandry"!
#2 Potty Journey by Judith A. Coucouvanis - This book was a good starting point, with lots of troubleshooting, a helpful overarching theme and, most helpful of all, some reproducible charts for keeping on track. Ultimately, an ABA article from his teacher at school gave me the "Aha!" I needed to figure out that he was not afraid of the toilet, just afraid to change the routine that he had established around doing his business.
#3 Facing Autism by Lynn M. Hamilton
If you only have time to read one chapter, read Chapter 6: Applied Behavioral Analysis. She is a "poster child" for ABA therapy and does a good job summarizing what it is and, most importantly, describing in detail all the work that she and her husband put into implementing this therapy for their son. She also lists the major objections to ABA and thoughtfully responds to them. She paints a very realistic picture of what this therapy looks like on a daily basis, which can be very helpful for other parents trying to decide whether they have the resources (time, money, energy, motivation) to pursue it. It's not much different than starting your own business!
Chapters 7-11 describe most other interventions and advice, e.g. dietary, biomedical, speech therapy, education, etc. I would recommend just skipping these chapters, especially if you've already read a bit about these therapies. They contain some good information, particularly about her good relationship with her speech therapist, but also a lot of outdated information (published in 2000). She rightly criticizes certain programs for lacking empirical evidence for their claims and encourages parents to analyze carefully the claims of therapies, but then she seems willing to accept some therapies that I would deem sketchy, at best, e.g. chelation therapy. She seems to rely on anecdotes from other parents. Unfortunately, the researcher she touts several times throughout the book is Andrew Wakefield, who has been proven over and over again to be, at best, a bad researcher and, at worst, a fraud. I was also disappointed to find Speech Therapy on equal footing with Therapeutic Listening and the Gluten-free/Casein-free diet, even a step below since it was at the end of Chapter 11!
Pros - Very detailed description of an intensive, in-home ABA therapy. I also appreciated her perspective as a Christian.
Cons - In my opinion, unbalanced portrayal of orthodox and unorthodox treatments, but, of course, it is her book, not mine.
