Reviewed by Janice McKinley, Area SENCO
The parents of children with autism often complain 'that no one understands autism', so US social psychologist Alex Durig introduces a new way of looking at the disorder.
This book sets out to help the reader to understand that autism is a different mental process of meaningfully perceiving the world.
The author believes that this way of looking at autism will enhance the understanding we have of ourselves and of all human understanding. He also puts forward the idea that we are all autistic to some extent.
Alex Durig's model for understanding autism explores three kinds of thinking - social, computer and creative thinking. He uses clear diagrams and the explanation is easy to read. He then explores how social thinking and computer thinking work together to create the six functions of perception.
Social thinking tells us the who, what, where, when and why of social interaction. Computer thinking tells us how to behave accordingly. If someone is unable to adequately understand what is going on in a social situation, then they will not have enough information to compute appropriate behaviour. Interesting case studies are described that show how this model explains some autistic behaviours.
Other chapters explore the experience of autism and the keys to communicating with children who have the disorder.
This is a fascinating and intriguing book that will be useful for all practitioners who are interested in or work with children who have autism.
