Book Review: Making Sense of Autistic Spectrum Disorders

By James Coplan, M.D.; 424 pages. Subtitle: Create the Brightest Future for Your Child With the Best Treatment Options

If you're looking for some straightforward information on what autism is, what the standard and accepted treatments are for it, what the latest research is looking for, and what the prognosis might be for your child, Dr. Coplan is happy to discuss it with you in this lengthy guide to understanding autism. He's also got some advice on school, your marriage, and your family relationships, too. It's a one-stop source for conventional wisdom.

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In an ideal world, parents receiving a diagnosis of autism would get lots of good information from their doctor, including an explanation of what autism is and what it means, what the prognosis might be, whether other children in the family might be affected, and how they should manage their home life and behavior. They'd get an overview of the current therapies, an idea of what services they should be signing up for with the state or the school district, some measured advice as to what treatments might not be worth the trouble. In a world where office visits are getting shorter, doctors are often not that well-informed about autism themselves, and it's hard to have a long chat anyway without your child freaking out, parents have to rely on books like Making Sense of Autistic Spectrum Disorders to explain it all for them.

Author James Coplan, M.D., who according to his bio "is one of the few physicians in the world to be board-certified in both developmental-behavioral pediatrics and neurodevelopmental disabilities," sets out to be that understanding doctor who will inform, reassure, recommend, and counsel. How much you appreciate that may depend on where you are in the process of diagnosis, acceptance, and moving forward. I'd say the book is probably best-suited for parents just getting the diagnosis, but About.com's guide to autism, Lisa Jo Rudy, said just the opposite in her review, that it would be a bad choice for parents new to autism because there's an overwhelming amount of information. So perhaps the ideal target is parents who have gotten through the first rush of panic and overload, and are now ready to move forward and figure things out -- but aren't yet at the point of becoming attached to a particular philosophy or treatment. Once you get dug in somewhere, you may not appreciate all the doctor's opinions and pointers.

I appreciated the doctor's friendly tone, support of parents, and general air of positivity about the potential of kids with autism and the likelihood that they will improve with time. That's something that a lot of parents of severely affected kids might disagree with, but it's certainly a good attitude with which to start down the road. I wish the book was shorter -- the length can be intimidating when you're dealing with an overwhelming topic, and I personally could have skipped the parts of the book that are really outside the doctor's expertise, like marriage and family counseling, as well as the somewhat condescending section on quacks. There's plenty of good material here, though, and it's certainly easy to skip through and choose what looks interesting, something that may vary as you go along your autism journey.

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