Interventions and educational approaches for children with autism spectrum disorders have developed in response to the different models for how autism has been constructed and understood. This book explores the evolving theories on autism and how these have impacted the interventions and outcomes in education. Drawing on thirty years of professional experience and detailed research, Harvey exposes the myths around autism, advocates for understanding autism as difference rather than impairment, and provides practical guidance on teaching and learning, behaviour management, addressing sensory and physical needs of children with ASD. This accessible overview shows how to put autism research into practice, learn from historic mistakes and create the most supportive environment for children on the autism spectrum.
Market: Practitioners who work with children on the autism spectrum, including teachers and trainee teachers and therapists; parents. It has the potential to be adopted as a text for a course at an introductory level.
Dedication. Preface. 1. What if we got it wrong? 2. Autism - a recent story. 3. Autism approaches - origins and insights. 4. A changed socio-culture or impairment increase. 5. School and children with autism. 6. Behaviour management. 7. Sensory and physical needs. 8. Literacy and mathematical approaches. 9. Where next? Further reading. References.
'It is a rare and sensitive person who can share a lifetime of human experience illuminated by research and allow the reader access to new thinking. This book offers the complex world of autism serious reflections in unexpected and creative ways. Scholarship written with sensitivity.' - Professor Bart McGettrick, Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Glasgow 'This book offers readers - whether they are teachers, psychologists, parents or academics - a remarkable level of heartfelt insight. It has the emotional literacy that is often absent from texts in this area ... with supporting wider evidence, born from a career well spent in the service of children and education.' - Dr Toby Brandon, Reader in Disability and Mental Health, Department of Social Work and Community Wellbeing, Northumbria University 'As the parent of a daughter who is on the autistic spectrum, I found the book informative and wished that I had read it when she was first diagnosed.' - Surrinder Sandham Bains, Health Professional/Parent Carer
