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The parents’ practical guide to resilience for children aged 2-10 years on the autism spectrum

This book aims to give practical suggestions that parents can use to promote resilience in their children by understanding from the child’s perspective, through the autism lens. The authors are autistic which explains their intricate understanding of the topics covered and insightful ideas about ways to support. The advice is illustrated by the authors’ casework examples, not their own experience. The book begins with an overview of what resilience is, and, in particular, why it is important to foster resilience in autistic children, since they experience persistent knock-backs growing up in a non-autistic world. The premise that if autistic children behave neurotypically their problems will be resolved is criticised, with examples given as to why this is counter-productive and can actually exacerbate difficulties which are targeted for help. For example, most stimming is not harmful, but a strategy for selfregulation which reduces anxiety. Resilience develops through experience and the child’s development of social understanding, but also borne out of an acceptdifference mind-set espoused by those around the child. “Controlled challenges” in everyday life situations, handled in an empathic way, allow children to face difficulties in a safe context. The main content of the book describes childhood life events which are often challenging for autistic children, reasons for this and how to go about supporting their navigation through them. This includes trying new foods, siblings, visiting relatives, residential, peer relationships, bullying, eating out and healthcare appointments. There is a chapter on how to teach successful failure with links to self-esteem. Commonalities in autism are central to themes addressed; hence approaches are aimed at autistic children across the language and cognitive ability range, internalised and externalised presentations. There are no explicit references to research papers or cognitive theories of autism. A resource section lists web-based resources, documentaries and books including those written for children. I recommend this text for parents because it describes how they can support their children face challenges in a non-autistic world using an approach which works with, not against their neurological make-up. For teachers and other professionals it offers practical advice which can be shared with parents, and helps to foster double empathy, or neurotypical professionals to develop an autistic theory of mind. There are bullet point outcome summaries at the end of chapters denoting what it looks like when an autistic child is resilient in the areas discussed. These may be helpful discussion points when ascertaining parent aspirations, and with some tweaking to ensure SMARTness, could be adapted for EHCP Measures of Success.