The blackhole bookshelf

If you're like me, upon diagnosis, you bought, and were given, numerous books that were sucked into the blackhole I call my bookshelf. In those days, finding the time or energy to read in any meaningful fashion seemed impossible. Slowly those books have escaped the gravitational forces of impossibility and here are some recommendations.

The Whole-Brain Child

In each of our unique spectra, not every section of every book will apply. I have employed several of the strategies in this book at different times and found them useful. I also found this book instrumental in how I viewed different situations and controlled my own responses. It is an easy read and delivers a lot of bang for the time buck!

Anxiety Relief For Kids

So many of our kiddos battle the additional stress of anxiety. It's not only paralyzing for them, but can be very confusing for us. This book provides an overview of anxiety disorders, how to identify coping behaviors, and provides quick and practical strategies to help support our kids. Another well-written book that makes the topic easily accessible.

Now I See the Moon

This is just a beautifully written story of a mother and son's journey to understand each other. I followed up reading this book with watching the Emmy Award-winning HBO documentary Autism: The Musical. Good stuff. Elaine Hall also founded The Miracle Project. You can access their site by clicking on the image of her book, above.

Don't Push The Button/Don't Touch This Book

These books create wonderful interactive opportunities for you and your little one. They provide a chance to push yourself into their world and pull them into yours.

Penguin and Pinecone

This entire series by Salina Yoon is really engaging for some of our little ones. My son was "reading" this book in secret (hiding in our bedroom) before he ever spoke to us. The images are very clean and simple. The storylines are very engaging and pepper in appropriate sound effects and exclamations which is very useful in the development of language. Try this first one - I'm sure you'll be adding the rest to your library in no time.

Books about words . . .

In our house, ironically, books about words have always been popular, starting with I'll Teach My Dog 100 words by Michael Frith. Add to that, the beautifully written and illustrated Word Collector by Peter Hamilton Reynolds, and Big Words for Little Geniuses by Susan and James Patterson. Our son still says "horripilation" instead of "goose bumps"!