Free online coloring & free online drawing tool & free drawings at TimTim.com
Asperger's Syndrome - often pronounced as(s)-burger, is an unusual phrase used to describe people on the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum who are single-minded perfectionists with very poor social skills and a very literal interpretation of the world around them. For most, the term Aspergers brings to mind an image like the one in the drawing. But the growing number of kids being diagnosed with this learning disability as well as the recognition that many of our most famous well-known names were/are asperger people. In science, Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein, In the arts, Mozart, Beethoven, Glen Gould, Jonathan Swift, Hans Christian Andersen, Herman Melville, Lewis Carroll, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, George Orwell, Leonardo Di Vinci, Michelangelo, Van Gogh, and Andy Warhol.
When my son was diagnosed as Autistic Asperger's Syndrome - that butt-burger image turned to a cry for help answered by an award-winning book QUIRKY YES - HOPELESS, NO. The bulk of the book is an alphabetically organized, 85 chapter, user manual for parents of Aspie kids, a kind of “Aspergers For Dummies.” I wish I’d had it 10 years ago!
Asperger’s Syndrome is one of the fastest growing developmental disabilities in the Western World and one of the most difficult to diagnose. In 2001, I knew nothing about it and, like so many others, had only heard of Autism through films like Rain Man. The diagnosis of my only child came like a sledge-hammer blow on the head to my settled, professional life as an illustrator. I was a single dad in a foreign country, scared, unprepared, alone, and heart-broken. I needed help and knowledge – fast!
Luckily, I live in Denmark, which has free medical care, fantastic schools for dealing with special education needs, as well as a counseling support system for parents. But what I really needed was practical information – a user manual for my son. I picked up a copy of Temple Grandin’s THINKING IN PICTURES and it was like a revelation to me. Her experiences spoke volumes to me about what it means to be in that small group of humans who think in pictures, who have trouble socially, who are far too literal and honest for this mad competitive world in which we live. It was a great help to me, but it had little practical use in the day-to-day problems of raising an Aspie child.
Through the tears and fears of the long and difficult diagnostic process, my son’s doctors, out of curiosity, began questioning me and eventually administering a few simple tests. The result showed that I was clearly on the edge of what is known as the Autism Spectrum. I grew up long before Asperger's was a known diagnosis. I was raised in a large American family in the 50’s, have a high IQ, a university degree, and have worked at home most of my life doing graphics. My son had none of these advantages. The more I dug into my son’s condition, the more I discovered about my own self. Puzzling and embarrassing retro-memories from my past began to surface and be understood. I read all I could find on the subject such as Tony Atwood’s renown book ASPERGER’S SYNDROME. It is a great book for defining and understanding the disability, but what I really needed was a practical how-to-do-it and step-by-step guidebook - a sort of ASPERGER'S FOR DUMMIES. I had to wait a few years but now it is here.
Award winning children’s book author Beth Brust (herself a mother to a 17 yr old Aspie child) has spent 3 years co-authoring QUIRKY, YES – HOPELESS, NO with Cynthia La Brie Norall, Ph. D, a licensed educational psychologist and the founder of the Friends’ Club in California, which has helped thousands of Asperger’s kids learn basic social skills in a structured and supportive environment. The book, now in its 3rd printing, is a helpful, reader-friendly A to Z guide to understanding the most common struggles of children and teens with Asperger’s Syndrome. The bulk of the book is 85 easy-to-look-up, how-to-do-it subjects with real life examples such as: How to greet others and make eye contact, How to let go and move on to new tasks, How to cooperate and ask for help, How to pay compliments, How to discern someone’s true intentions, How to handle teasing and bullying, How not to be rude, How to deal with clothing and diets, and much, much more.
My son is now 12 years old, doing well at school and will soon be entering that strange world of teenage puberty. Despite my own “quirky-ness”, visual thinking, and now 10 years of dealing 24/7 with this invisible, time-consuming, emotional roller-coaster of a disability, "QUIRKY" will be kept within arm’s reach!
USA Amazon Books link for Quirky, Yes - Hopless, No
UK Amazon Books link for Quirky, Yes - Hopless, No
