The cover. Check this out. The kid is smiling! Compare and contrast to the disturbed child on the cover of Out of Sync Child. The tone of the book is similarly upbeat, imploring the reader to focus not just on impairment but also on positive attributes.
Of the books I've read, The Mislabeled Child is the best explication of what I call the A Little Bit Autistic-sphere because it describes the relevant disorders and their component parts comparatively, and it does so in a parent-friendly manner. So while many books separately explore autism, sensory processing disorder and language disorders, this book pulls it all together and then some (ADHD), compares and contrasts the disorders to each other, and peppers in the neurology for credibility and good measure. Also, it explores what I refer to as the lesser-includeds: visual processing impairment, central auditory processing disorder, working memory impairment and dysgraphia.
Next, a note about the authors, Brock Eide, M.D., M.A., and Fernette Eide, M.D. Brock Eide's medical specialty, in the formal educational sense, appears to be internal medicine, while Fernette Eide is a neurologist. Together, they run the Eide Neurolearning Clinic, specializing in neurologically based approaches to learning. They host this blog.
And here they are, on tv, plugging their book:
Nice people.
Last, a note about the title, "The Mislabeled Child." See, the book is not about unlabeling, or losing the label. Labels are useful, the Eides argue. Rather, it's about re-labeling in the broadest sense. They cite as an example of mislabeling a dyslexic child whom the educational system "labeled" lazy, careless and slow.
The "neurolearning" lens is pervasive throughout the book and shapes how the Eides define autism, and the other conditions they explore. In an earlier post, I explored the fundamental question: what is autism? Under the Eide/neurolearning paradigm, autism appears to be defined in large part by its neurological indications and the child's learning strengths and weaknesses. Behaviors are taken into account, but are not dispositive in and of themselves. In a recent blog post, they write:
Historically, autism was first recognized as an entity by a psychiatrist, but as it becomes even more clear that the behavioral label subsumes many different neurological conditions, it's time for business-as-usual to come to an end.
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In the coming weeks, I'll explore the chapters on sensory processing disorder, autism and ADHD.
6 comments:
I was ordering something else on Amazon tonight, so I just added this onto my order. I hope I like. :) Actually, I hope I find time to read!
oh good. repay the rec: what did you think of Quirky Kids? I think you said you have that one. Brad's developmental therapist (from EI) recommended it to me many moons ago.
You really do write well. If I were to do something like this it wouldn't be nearly as organized and thought out. Even your intro addressing the book cover is something I would't have even thought about. I'm looking forward to your other posts on this.
Did you see Not Just a Label's link about the brain characteristics of autistic kids? Another physical brain difference that can be seen.
I have Quirky Kids from the library right now, but I'm in the middle of Communicating Partners and The Boy Who Loved Windows, so I'll read that next. Since it was recommended to you, it makes me want to read it sooner.
I think I mentioned before how nice the Eides were to me, and I just want to repeat it here. So many people would not have even taken the time to write me back, but they did, and it was a very thoughtful reply too. And then not long afterwards, Dr. B. Eide even sent me a SECOND email to reinforce how strongly they feel that many children with processing disorders really have input problems that caused the processing delays in the first place. He actually forwarded me an email from another parent who had taken his child in for repeated hearing testing at Dr. Eide's recommendation and eventually they discovered that his son really had some sort of an intermittent hearing problem. It was very interesting. I really like their attitude a lot. You know, it was the picture of that child on the cover that made me pick that book up in the first time. I guess sometimes maybe you can judge a book by its cover.:)
Shari, thanks. Yeah I wonder if the latest discovery correlates to having a big head, which is reported in something like 20% of those with ASD.
Nyx, interesting - peripheral or central ("CAPD")? Brad actually had a peripheral hearing issue - fluid in his ears - when he was first dx'ed. We were totally shocked because he wasn't sick and never had an ear infection. But he flunked his hearing test the first time he took it, and my pedi confirmed fluid was there. We got a pass the second time. I have a lot more to say on CAPDs but I will save it for a post.
how did i miss this post?
i am interested in this discussion of head size- my son's is on the 1st centile. mine is on the 15th or something, and we are not short people.
also, i am completely going to read this now. thanks!
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