A welcome, instructive handbook for readers concerned with the well-being of people with autism.
Animal scientist Grandin and psychologist Moore provide helpful guidelines for supporting people affected by autism.
Herself on the autism spectrum, Grandin urges a change of mindset that recognizes that being autistic—or, alternately, a person with autism; the authors use both terms throughout—is not the totality of the person. “The problem with the label of autism is you’ve got a spectrum that ranges from Einstein to someone with no language and with intellectual disability,” she observes, after stating plainly that she wants to be remembered less for her state than for her work as an authority on cattle. The whole-person approach asks that anyone dealing with an autistic person be aware of initial impressions: These are data points, but behavior first observed is not necessarily a pattern. A child who exhibits shyness in the presence of other children may do so whether autistic or not, for instance. Changes in environment can trigger behavioral change, and improvements in environment can improve circumstances for the child, whose behavior is very likely to be different at home from at the clinic or school. “In an initial evaluation,” write the authors, “you want to assess a child’s optimal functioning, not how they perform under sensory assault.” In this regard, Grandin and Moore consider the effects of pandemic isolation. Though difficult for everyone, it forced changes on people with autism that were not easy to accommodate, disrupting all sorts of conditions in the home. Another change of mindset among caretakers is to shift focus from deficits to building skills and encouraging interests. The authors’ advice may sometimes seem contradictory: On one hand, they advise maintaining regular schedules and predictable conditions while also encouraging caretakers to introduce their charges to new environments. Still, writing in clear, emphatic language, they make a convincing case for changing the outlook from a “disability mentality” to one of nurturing interests, talents, and strengths.
A welcome, instructive handbook for readers concerned with the well-being of people with autism.Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-393-71484-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
The Stoics did much better with the much shorter Enchiridion.
A follow-on to the author’s garbled but popular 48 Laws of Power, promising that readers will learn how to win friends and influence people, to say nothing of outfoxing all those “toxic types” out in the world.
Greene (Mastery, 2012, etc.) begins with a big sell, averring that his book “is designed to immerse you in all aspects of human behavior and illuminate its root causes.” To gauge by this fat compendium, human behavior is mostly rotten, a presumption that fits with the author’s neo-Machiavellian program of self-validation and eventual strategic supremacy. The author works to formula: First, state a “law,” such as “confront your dark side” or “know your limits,” the latter of which seems pale compared to the Delphic oracle’s “nothing in excess.” Next, elaborate on that law with what might seem to be as plain as day: “Losing contact with reality, we make irrational decisions. That is why our success often does not last.” One imagines there might be other reasons for the evanescence of glory, but there you go. Finally, spin out a long tutelary yarn, seemingly the longer the better, to shore up the truism—in this case, the cometary rise and fall of one-time Disney CEO Michael Eisner, with the warning, “his fate could easily be yours, albeit most likely on a smaller scale,” which ranks right up there with the fortuneteller’s “I sense that someone you know has died" in orders of probability. It’s enough to inspire a new law: Beware of those who spend too much time telling you what you already know, even when it’s dressed up in fresh-sounding terms. “Continually mix the visceral with the analytic” is the language of a consultant’s report, more important-sounding than “go with your gut but use your head, too.”
The Stoics did much better with the much shorter Enchiridion.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-42814-5
Page Count: 580
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.
The former iCarly star reflects on her difficult childhood.
In her debut memoir, titled after her 2020 one-woman show, singer and actor McCurdy (b. 1992) reveals the raw details of what she describes as years of emotional abuse at the hands of her demanding, emotionally unstable stage mom, Debra. Born in Los Angeles, the author, along with three older brothers, grew up in a home controlled by her mother. When McCurdy was 3, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Though she initially survived, the disease’s recurrence would ultimately take her life when the author was 21. McCurdy candidly reconstructs those in-between years, showing how “my mom emotionally, mentally, and physically abused me in ways that will forever impact me.” Insistent on molding her only daughter into “Mommy’s little actress,” Debra shuffled her to auditions beginning at age 6. As she matured and starting booking acting gigs, McCurdy remained “desperate to impress Mom,” while Debra became increasingly obsessive about her daughter’s physical appearance. She tinted her daughter’s eyelashes, whitened her teeth, enforced a tightly monitored regimen of “calorie restriction,” and performed regular genital exams on her as a teenager. Eventually, the author grew understandably resentful and tried to distance herself from her mother. As a young celebrity, however, McCurdy became vulnerable to eating disorders, alcohol addiction, self-loathing, and unstable relationships. Throughout the book, she honestly portrays Debra’s cruel perfectionist personality and abusive behavior patterns, showing a woman who could get enraged by everything from crooked eyeliner to spilled milk. At the same time, McCurdy exhibits compassion for her deeply flawed mother. Late in the book, she shares a crushing secret her father revealed to her as an adult. While McCurdy didn’t emerge from her childhood unscathed, she’s managed to spin her harrowing experience into a sold-out stage act and achieve a form of catharsis that puts her mind, body, and acting career at peace.
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-982185-82-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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