We are also able to supply any of the titles from Jessica Kingsley Publishers - they carry a large range of books covering many aspects of autism and related subjects, and this list covers just a few.  If you want to go through a quick list of titles only, this can be reached at the left-hand side.

A Guide to Successful Employment for Individuals with Autism

Published by Brookes Publishing Co., 1995, Price £27.75

Marcia Datlow Smith, Ronald G. Belcher & Patricia D. Juhrs

This title is now unobtainable - the company Eurospan distribute Brookes Publishing books but the title cannot be traced on their website.  We have a copy in the BSMT Library which members only can borrow.

With increasing frequency, individuals with developmental disabilities are finding jobs and contributing meaningfully in the workplace, gaining for themselves a greater measure of independence.  However, many individuals with autism have yet to achieve their vocational potential because of the misconception that they are unemployable.

This handbook demonstrates how individuals with autism can perform effectively in the workplace, stressing that many workers with autism have skills that employers seek.  Addressing all aspects of job placement, this resource provides strategies for assessing workers, networking for job opportunities, and tailoring job supports to each individual.  Case studies illustrate techniques for helping individuals with autism become productive employees, and detailed descriptions of specific jobs provide ideas for employment in manufacturing, printing and bulk mailing, food service, retail, and other areas.

Employment specialists, educators, psychologists, service providers, and families will find this practical guide invaluable in helping individuals with autism find and keep jobs, creating important opportunities for community integration.

A Positive Approach to Autism

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2000, Price £15.95

By Stella Waterhouse

In this fresh and positive book, Stella Waterhouse investigates how people with autism perceive the world, and discusses the symptoms, behaviours and possible causes of this condition.  In addition to examining the relation of autism to hyperactivity, Attention Deficit Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Tourette Syndrome, she also considers the impact of anxiety and the advantages and disadvantages of some of the current treatments including secretin, diet, tinted lenses and Auditory Integration Training.  Her approach emphasises the importance of taking into account the views of people with autism and their families.  This is a practical and sympathetic book, which will be of interest to professionals and non-professionals alike.

Asperger's Syndrome - A Guide for Parents and Professionals

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1998, Price £12.95

By Tony Attwood

Providing a description and analysis of the unusual characteristics of Asperger's syndrome, with strategies to reduce those that are most conspicuous or debilitating, this guide brings together the most relevant and useful information on all aspects of the syndrome, from language and social behaviour to motor clumsiness.  Incorporating case studies from the author's own practical experience, the book contains many examples of, and numerous questions from, people with Asperger's syndrome.

Autism - An Inside-Out Approach

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publications, 1996, Price £15.95

Donna Williams

Donna William's challenging new book, written by an autistic person for people with autism and related disorders, carers, and the professionals who work with them, is a practical handbook to understanding, living with and working with autism.  Exploring autism from the inside, it shows clearly how the behaviours associated with autism can have a range of different causes, and in many cases reflect the autistic person's attempt to gain control over their internal world.  The sensory and perceptual problems that challenge a person with autism are described in depth, together with strategies for tackling them so as to enable that person to take more control of their lives.  Donna Williams comments on the various approaches to autism, drawing may prove counterproductive, leaving the autistic person feeling even more isolated and misunderstood.

Taking the view that understanding autism is the key to managing the condition, Donna William's book will bring illumination to all those who have felt baffled and frustrated by the outside appearance of autism.  It contains a wealth of helpful suggestions, insights and new ideas, exploding old myths and promoting a view that all those involved with autism will find empowering and creative.

Autism and Play

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2000, Price £12.95

Jannik Beyer and Lone Gammeltoft

Many children on the autistic spectrum seem to be at a very early developmental stage in their play, which tends to be less spontaneous, exploratory and varied than that of other children.  This accessible handbook describes different play sequences when encourage the integration of social, emotional and cognitive development in autistic children.  The easy-to-follow play strategies focus on the four key skills of visualizing, imitation, mirroring and turn-taking.  The book is illustrated throughout with photographs, and includes a questionnaire for observing and assessing play interventions as an appendix.  The authors combine an accessible developmental approach with practical tried-and-tested play strategies.

Autism and Sensing - The Unlost Instinct

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1998, Price £15.95

By Donna Williams

Expanding on themes of her previous book, Autism: An Inside-Out Approach, Donna Williams explains how the senses of a person with autism work, suggesting that they are 'stuck' at an early development stage common to everyone.  She calls this the system of sensing, claiming that most people move on to the system of interpretation which enables them to make sense of the world.  In doing so, as well as gaining the means of copings with the world, they lose various abilities which people with autism retain.  She goes so far as to suggest that the constraints of space and time do not exist in the same way for autistic people, and that the emotional as well as the physical world is seen and therefore approached in a different way.  The book provides a fascinating insight into the way that people with autism perceive the world, going into far more depth than Williams' previous books.

Children with Autism - Diagnosis and Interventions     2nd Edition

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Second Edition 1998,  Price £19.99

By Colwyn Trevarthen, Kenneth Aitken, Despina Papoudi, Jaqueline Robarts

This completely revised and substantially expanded new edition embraces new developments in this rapidly developing field.  Every chapter has been rewritten with the addition of new material, and a new final chapter on 'Putting the Pieces Together' reflects the authors' conviction that the complexity of autism means that many kinds of information are valuable and need to be taken into account in providing therapy or teaching for children with autism.

Other chapters, updated from the first edition, include a description of the latest information on the findings of brain research (put into the context of the development of the human brain and its effect on communication in early childhood), and the contributions of music therapy and psychoanalysis.  A very much enlarged chapter on educational provision for children with autism and Asperger's Syndrome provides information on the latest methods for improving the learning of these children, to give them the best possible preparation for a life of greater autonomy and maximum self-satisfaction in the pleasure of human company.  New appendices summarise medical diagnostic systems, checklists and questionnaires for identifying autism, and the glossary has been considerably expanded.  The wealth of up-to-date information provided will be invaluable not only for researchers and students but also for psychologists, teachers and other professionals, and parents, carers and family members in search of comprehensive and helpful information.

Children with Language Impairments - An Introduction

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Price £11.95

By Morag L. Donaldson

'This excellent little book is a scholarly, but very readable summary of child language impairment...it will prove useful for students who require some knowledge in areas of communication impairment such as teachers, nursery nurses, psychologists and medical practitioners...its descriptions and arguments are concise...there is a comprehensive up to date bibliography which would make the book of use to practising speech and language therapists.' 

- AFASIC Newsletter

Communication-Based Intervention for Problem Behaviour - A User's Guide for Producing Positive Change

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers,  Price £22.50

Edward G. Carr, Len Levin, Gene McConnachie, Jane I. Carlson, Duane C. Kemp, Christopher E. Smith

'A lucid explanation of a systematic approach for assessing and intervening with problem behaviours...immensely useful and very readable book...The most credible, comprehensive, and feasible approach that is available in the field today...a skillfully composed and eminently pragmatic book that will benefit all individuals who work and live with people with autism and related disabilities.'

    - Journal of Autism an Developmental Disorders

Working with individuals who demonstrate aggression or self-injury can be frustrating; techniques that are successful one day may be useless the next.  In Communication-Based Intervention for Problem Behavior: A User's Guide for Producing Positive Change, Dr. Carr and his colleagues demonstrate how to uncover the communicative purpose that problem behaviour often serves, and how to teach individuals alternative skills for expressing their needs and influencing their environment - skills that supplant aggression and self-injury.

Consolidating years of important research, this step-by-step guide details innovative methods for managing episodes of problem behaviour...conducting initial and ongoing functional assessments...selecting and teaching forms of communication...using an array of intervention strategies...and working toward maintenance and generalization.  Education and vocational staff, community living and behaviour specialists, teachers and job coaches, parent trainers, and psychologists will use this indispensable resource to help individuals with disabilities curtail problem behaviour and gain greater independence in the community.

Discovering My Autism - Apologia Pro Vita Sua (with apologies to Cardinal Newman)

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1999, Price £13.95

By Edgar Schneider

In 1978, under immense pressure at work, Edgar Schneider suffered a nervous breakdown.  After convalescing, he returned to work, but within a few months he was again suffering from problems involving short-term memory and concentration.  He was described as eccentric, tangential, illogical and hallucinatory; and misdiagnosed as schizophrenic.

Sixteen years later, the chance reading of an article on autistic savants alerted Schneider to the possibility that he had been misdiagnosed.  This proved to be the case: he is believed to be a high-functioning autistic, with attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Suddenly, many apparently paradoxical or inexplicable elements of Schneider's life mad sense.  He calls the discovery of his autism 'liberating'.  Schneider attributes his autism to brain damage caused by infectious diseases in early childhood.  In Discovering My Autism, he reflects on his experiences and his memories of his childhood and teenage years as a clever and artistic loner.  He explains how in order to experience 'emotions' such as grief, sympathy or desire, he must intellectualise or aestheticise them.  Dispassionately, he examines his difficulties with relationships, his high pain threshold, his lack of concentration and his highly absorbant intelligence, all of which are related to his autism.  He also describes the pleasure he derives from art, music and literature; the importance to him of his religious beliefs; and his work with parents' support groups.  As an account of how it feels to be a high-functioning autistic, this book should be read by parents of autistic children, professionals working with them, and people with autism, Asperger's Syndrome, or ADD themselves.

Empowerment in Everyday Life - Learning Disability

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1997, Price £18.95

By Paul Ramcharan, Gwyneth Roberts, Gordan Grant, John Borland

'A valuable resource for the increasing number of professionals and students undergoing professional training...clearly written and accessible...It should be widely used by educators, researchers and students.'

    - Issues in Social Work Education

Individual acts of empowerment practice whether undertaken by service personnel, families or through the efforts of people with learning disabilities themselves, are not sufficient to produce an empowered life.  Empowerment in Everyday Life takes a unique 'bottom up' approach to empowerment by starting with an examination of the lives and relationships of people with learning disabilities, their families and friends.  From these experiences, questions are then asked about how policy making, service provision and state legislation might be implemented in ways which would maximise self-determination, equality and the fight for citizenship by people with learning disabilities and to provide for an empowered life and lifestyle.

The various voices heard in this book provide a spectrum of viewpoints relating to 'empowerment', a concept which has gained much attention, and generated a great debate, in the past decade.  The contributors include people with learning disabilities, self advocates, practitioners, academics, and a freelance trainer and consultant on social care.

Freaks, Geeks & Asperger's Syndrome: A User Guide to Adolescence

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2002, Price £12.95

By Luke Jackson

Have you ever been called a freak or a geek?  Have you ever felt like one?  Over the years Luke has learned to laugh about the name-calling but there are other aspects of life which are more difficult.  Adolescence and the teenage years are a minefield of emotions, transitions and decisions, and when a child has AS, the result is often explosive.  Luke's book gives guidance on bullying, friendships, when and how to tell others about AS, problems at school, dating and relationships, and morality.

From Thoughts to Obsessions - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in Children and Adolescents

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1999, Price £13.95

By Per Hove Thomsen

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is the term given to a condition  characterized by recurring obsessive thoughts or actions.  These thoughts or actions are involuntary and are often a response to a deep-rooted fear.  This introductory book, richly illustrated with case examples, explains the nature and treatment of OCD in children and adolescents.  OCD has been little discussed in relation to this age group, although it is now believed that approximately 1 per cent of all children and adolescents suffers from serious obsessive disorders.  Per Hove Thomsen also examines obsessive features which may form part of normal adolescent development as well as the relationship of OCD to other psychiatric conditions.

Learning To Listen - Positive Approaches and People with Difficult Behaviour

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1996, Price £17.95

By Herbert Lovett

'Lovett reflects on the history of the management of difficult behaviour and provides many fascinating examples of the extraordinary ways in which previous generations have tackled similar issues...historical analysis is interwoven with vivid accounts of people who have been referred to him for advice.  But this book is more than a set of case studies.  Lovett hopes that we will be stimulated to reassess how we relate to our clients and to reflect on our own experience and practice...this book is to be strongly recommended.'

    - Community Care

Learning to Listen offers alternatives to professionals dealing with people with intellectual disabilities.  The aim of the book is to promote a more interactive approach to caring, taking the views of both the client and the carer into consideration, on a personal rather than a clinical level.  Through the use of illustrative case studies Lovett suggests that many of the behaviour modification techniques in present use are overly controlling and ignore the client concerned.  He shows that by building an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect many of the more unpleasant answers to behavioural problems can be avoided, with benefits to providers and users alike.

He urges carers to be more open and sympathetic to the past and present needs of the clients, pointing out that a wider knowledge of the client can be of use in determining the cause of their behaviour, so as to come to a more informed conclusion about the best action to take.  This straightforward yet sensitive book leaves the carers providing a better service and the clients with their dignity intact and with greater autonomy.

Like Colour to the Blind - Soul Searching and Soul Finding

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1999, Price £13.95

By Donna Williams

Beyond the world of Nobody Nowhere, Donna Williams found friendship and a sense of belonging in Somebody Somewhere.  Now, in Like Colour to the Blind, Donna Williams enters the most exposing and fragile realm of human interaction: her relationship and eventual marriage with someone with whom she can 'simply be', a relationship that exposure is inescapable and everywhere.  To truly love, Donna must expose the very things which protected her all her life - the masks she has hidden behind, the patchwork creations which stood in place of self.  She must learn to find a want, to give and to take from others, to reach behind the polite social facades and trained gestures.

In Donna's relationship with Ian, a man with difficulties related to her own, we watch the two of them break through their rock-solid emotional barriers and let go control, daring to defy all the rules imposed by the autistic condition of 'exposure anxiety' and freefalling, together.  Their struggle is told with Donna's characteristic gutsy humour, brutal insight and sense of fragility.

Like Colour to the blind is also the story of Alex, who was misdiagnosed as 'retarded' as well as autistic, and so gripped by 'exposure anxiety' that he had been virtually non-communicative all his life.  Alex's fear of being left behind by Donna and Ian inspires him to push fiercely beyond the boundaries of his limitations and, in his own words, 'to fly'.  His achievements are an inspiration to anyone who has ever been blinded by the power of labels.

Making Music with a Young Child with Special Needs - A Guide for Parents

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1993, Price £8.95

By Elaine Streeter

Intended to help to make the most of the child's interest in music as early as possible, this book describes the ways in which music can be used and provides practical help in starting to play simple musical instruments with the child.  The first part of the book explains how musical activities can help to stimulate skills in other areas such as language and communication, describes a range of basic instruments, and outlines the approach.  Elaine Streeter's guide will help parents and others to learn how they can add to a child's fun - one of the most rewarding things anyone can do.

Marching to a Different Tune - Diary About An ADHD Boy

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1999, Price £9.95

By Jacky Fletcher

Written by the mother of Stefan, a boy diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Marching to a Different Tune is a day-by-day, moment-by-moment account of how his unusual and difficult behaviour affects and disrupts their family life inside and outside the home.  Jacky Fletcher describes the struggles, embarrassments and triumphs her family experiences throughout a four year period of Stefan's childhood.  The diary ends with an expression of the family's love for Stefan - as he approaches adolescence, they will learn new ways to cope with the challenges of his behaviour, applying the knowledge they have gained through experience.  Families whose lives have been touched by ADHD will recognise much in this touching and honest story, which brings the reader into the reality of life with ADHD.

Music Therapy: An Art Beyond Words

Published by Routledge, 1994, Price £19.99

By Leslie Bunt

Bunt explains the purposes and techniques of music therapy as it is practised today for a wide audience of mental health professionals, not just music therapists, and for all those interested in the use of creative arts in therapy.  What has music got to offer a child or adult with a learning difficulty or impairment of any kind?  Can music help people overcome or cope with mental health problems?  Now a classic book for all those interested in the subject.

Music Therapy for the Autistic Child (2nd Edition)  

Published by Oxford University Press,  1991, Now out of print but second hand copies may be available.

By Juliette Alvin and Auriel Warwick

Music Therapy for the Autistic Child was first published in 1978, and was the first book of its kind to analyse the effect of music therapy on the whole development of the autistic child.  It contained detailed accounts of the music therapy techniques found to be effective with different types of autistic children, and it illustrated these with case histories drawn from the author's original research.

This second edition retains all the text of the first and adds three new chapters to it (written by Auriel Warwick), reflecting the depth of research music therapy has received over the last ten years and its important position within the whole therapy of autistic children.  Written by Auriel Warwick, herself a music therapist and a student of Juliette Alvin, these chapters describe how mothers can be involved with their autistic children in the therapeutic process, and illustrates the problems and rewards found in the musical and personal relationships.

Music Therapy, Sensory Integration and the Autistic Child

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers,  2001, Price £15.95

By Dorita S. Berger, MA MT-BC    Foreword by Donna Williams

A new and fascinating look at music therapy for a physiologic perspective.  For professionals, caretakers, educators and researchers working with populations diagnosed on the autistic spectrum and other populations dealing with learning and language delays, physical and sensory issues, and psychosocial aspects of adaptation, this book defines brain function from the sensory interpretation points of view, and how and why music directly interfaces with physiologic function to induce a state of functional adaptation - a state of cenesthesia in which the body and brain reach a level of sensory comfort.

Nobody Nowhere - The Remarkable Autobiography of an Autistic Girl

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1992, Price £12.95

By Donna Williams

Donna Williams was a child with more labels than a jam-jar: deaf, wild, disturbed, stupid, insane...She lived within herself, her own world her foreground, ours a background she only visited.  Isolated from her self and from the outside world, Donna was, in her words, a Nobody Nowhere.  She swung violently between these two worlds, battling to join our world and, simultaneously, to keep it out.  Abandoned from all connection from the self within her, she lived as a ghost with a body, a patchwork of the images which bombarded her, she lived in what she called 'a world under glass'.

After twenty-five years of being misunderstood, and unable to understand herself, Donna stumbled upon the word 'autism': a label, but one which held up a mirror and made sense of her life and struggles, and gave her a chance to finally forgive both herself and those around her.

Nobody Nowhere is disturbing, eloquent and ticklishly funny: it is an account of the soul of someone who lived the word 'autism' and survived in an unsympathetic environment despite intense inner chaos and incomprehension.  It describes how, against the odds, Donna came to live independently, achieve a place at university, and write this remarkable autobiography.  It is now an international bestseller, sold in over 14 languages throughout the world.  This is a book that will stay with you as one of the most exceptional works you will ever read.  

Pretending to be Normal - Living with Asperger's Syndrome

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1999, Price £12.95

By Liane Holliday Willey

Pretending to be Normal tells the story of a woman who, after years of self-doubt and self-denial, learned to embrace her Asperger's Syndrome traits with thanksgiving and joy.  Chronicling her life from her earliest memories through her life as a university lecturer, writer, wife and mother, Liane Holliday Willey share, with insight and warmth, the daily struggles and challenges that face many of those who have Asperger's Syndrome.  Pretending to be normal invites its readers to welcome the Asperger community with pen acceptance, for it makes it clear that, more often than not, they are capable, viable, interesting and kind people who simply find unique ways to exhibit those qualities.

The last part of the book consists of a series of substantial appendices which provide helpful coping strategies and guidance, based on the author's own experience, for a range of situations.  This positive and humane book will provide not only insight into the Asperger world which will prove invaluable for the professionals who work with people with Asperger's Syndrome, but also hope and encouragement for other people with Asperger's Syndrome, their families, and their friends.

Positive Behavioural Support - Including People with Difficult Behaviour in the Community

Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1996, Price £33.00

Edited by Lynn Kern Koegal, Robert L. Koegal & Glen Dunlap

Which strategies and approaches make inclusion possible for individuals who engage in challenging and self-injurious behaviour?

This person-and family-centred book features compelling case studies, research-based strategies, and thoughtful discussion pieces written by leaders in behavioural intervention.  Behaviour analysts, speech-language pathologists, educators, and child development professionals will find this source to be essential for