By Leslie Holzhauser-Peters and Leslie True; 191 pages. Subtitle: A Step-by-Step Tool for Understanding Children With NLD, Asperger's, HFA, PDD-NOS, and Other Neurological Differences.
Interpreting the behavior of a child with neurological issues like Asperger syndrome, high-functioning autism, and Nonverbal Learning Disabilities can be a full-time job for parents. It fills this book quite nicely, as a mom and her son's speech therapist guide readers through the steps of figuring out why a sweet kid's sometimes surly. A chart and simple instructions will make you a pro at it, too.
- Filled with family stories you'll relate to
- Those stories are indexed so you can find them easily
- Writing is clear and friendly
- Each chart category gets its own chapter for maximum understanding
- Team of parent and professional presents a good case for helping these kids
- Being your child's translator to the world could be an all-consuming task
- Many may find this much analysis to be tolerating bad behavior
- Best implemented with fairly high-functioning, self-aware kids
- Chapter 1: The Systematic Tool to Analyze Thinking (STAT)
- Chapter 2: Abstract Language
Chapter 3: Motor - Chapter 4: Sensory
Chapter 5: Spatial Orientation - Chapter 6: Control/Consistency
- Chapter 7: Thinking About Others Thinking (Theory of Mind)
- Chapter 8: Social Communication
Chapter 9: Emotions - Chapter 10: Mental Flexibility
Chapter 11: Impulsivity - Chapter 12: Executive Functions
- Chapter 13: Anxiety
- Chapter 14: Believe
Who needs mystery novels or police procedurals? If you live with a child whose behavior is influenced by the unique and inaccurate way he perceives the world, you've got all the mystery you need just trying to interpret actions. Why does a sweet kid hit, or talk back to the teacher, or ignore a friend? Why is a smart kid clueless about the kinds of social conventions his classmates just seem to know? It's a real brain-teaser sometimes trying to figure what's due for discipline and what needs understanding.
Teachers and relatives and random strangers may not always be sympathetic to the reasons behind the odd and offensive actions of kids with neurological issues, but parents often become masters of detection. For them, Making Sense of Children's Thinking and Behavior offers a procedural tool that will be a worthy addition to their bag of tricks. The Systematic Tool to Analyze Thinking (STAT) has four steps: Assess the Situation, Develop a Hypothesis (choosing from a lengthy list of trouble areas and elements), Ask Questions to Obtain a Step-by-Step Account, and Actions to Consider.
After an explanation of how to go through these steps and the presentation of a chart carrying helpful questions and prompts, the remainder of the book illustrates the use of the STAT in a number of different situations experienced by one author's son and a girl who's a composite of many other children.
Anything that makes child-interpreting less a seat-of-your-pants enterprise is welcome; even if you can't go through everything your child does as painstakingly as the authors do here, it's good to have these ideas in your head when you face the crisis du jour.
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