Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew by Ellen Notbohm

What a saving grace!  This was the first book I read after my son, ‘Matthew’ was diagnosed with Autism.  I was scared, completely overwhelmed and exhausted.  To be honest, I purchased this book because it was small, seemed easy to read and about all I could handle at the time.  But at the end of reading it, I felt hope.  It is positive, insightful and inspiring.

At the time, the one thing (of the 10) that I found most impactful was:  My senses are out of sync.  People with Autism often have sensory challenges.  “Their brains can’t filter multiple sensory inputs and they feel overloaded, disoriented and unsettled in their own skin.” (Pg. 37).  We expect our children who live with Autism to pay attention, learn and communicate all while they are dealing with a world that is too loud, too bright, smells too strong, and is completely overwhelming.  This information was very helpful to me.  My husband, ‘Steve’ and I realized that we should be looking at situations from Matthew’s point of view, as well as our own.  We wanted to see, hear and feel things the way he did so that we could try to understand how he was experiencing the world.

This book supported my son in a surprising way.  When he started grade 1, his teacher told me that she had never had a child with Autism in her class before.  She wanted to know more about Autism so she could understand what Matthew might be dealing with.  She asked if I had any books about Autism that she could borrow.  Of course, I gave her this book!  She found it very helpful because it helped to explain what a child living with Autism might be feeling, and yet, unable to express.

Since I first read this book, an updated and expanded edition has been published with even more encouraging information.

Be sure to look for more book/reading recommendations in my future blog posts!

** Some names have been changed to honour people’s right to privacy