Our bible: The Child with Special Needs, by Stanley Greenspan and Serena Weider. I can’t recommend it enough. Even if you’re a die-hard ABA aficionado, this book can give you valuable insight into your kid’s issues, as well as additional tools for your arsenal.

The Out-of-Sync Child, by Carol Stock Kranowitz. All about sensory integration dysfunction, such a huge part of the puzzle for most spectrum kids. It affects so many non-spectrum kids too. Apparently kids with ADD/ADHD are now being treated with sensory programs and it’s working!

The Boy Who Loved Windows, by Patricia Stacey. Her son Walker was clearly severely impaired from a very young age. In this beautifully written book, she details how she and various therapists worked intensively with him, using a Floor Time approach, before he'd even turned a year old. It's an inspiring read, and is the only parent-written account of Floor Time in publication.

All the King's Men, by Karen Dembroski. She used to detail her son Max's story in journal form on her website. Now it's an ebook (also available in paperback). I found it when Damian was first diagnosed. It's a moving read. Max was classically withdrawn and came a huge distance in a relatively short time, thanks to his mom and therapists' intensive work with him. (It wasn't ABA but didn't sound like Floor Time either, which may go to show that the intense one-on-one relating is the most important element in bringing a child out of his shell.)

Let Me Hear Your Voice, by Catherine Maurice. Written by a woman with two autistic children who were recovered through ABA. This is the work most people cite as The Book that turned them on to ABA. Damian was already well on his way up the developmental ladder via DIR when I read this, so I had a different reaction. I found it interesting how much time Maurice herself spent on the floor teaching her children to play interactively. She was doing Floor Time and didn't know it! This book is beautifully written, and her early pain is so familiar to me, though the old blame-the-mother school of thought she portrays is (thankfully) now alien.

A Slant of Sun: One Child's Courage, by Beth Kephart. Written by a woman whose son was diagnosed as PDD and over the next few years became completely mainstream and well adjusted. It's more about her journey than about his, really. Frustrating if you're hoping to emulate her methods, but a worthwhile read nevertheless. Honest and heart-true and well thought.

THE book on Asperger's Syndrome is called, funnily enough, Asperger's Syndrome, by Tony Attwood. It's packed with info on every aspect of the condition. His website is also worth checking out.



Websites:

The mother of all links pages, truly magnificent: The Maze: the Oops... Wrong Planet! Syndrome autism links page.


FLOOR TIME/DIR LINKS:

The Floortime Foundation works in conjunction with the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders to get the message out about Floortime and DIR. Lots of good information on the Floortime Foundation website, including research facts, a list of clinicians and a weekly web radio show by Dr. Greenspan.

Helping Delayed Kids. A wonderful resource put together by Margaret Motamed and Jill Rege, chock full of tips on Floor Time and biomedical intervention.

The Asperger's Express. Written by Jeanette Vance. Her daughter Katie has Asperger's and/or Hyperlexia. This page has tons of great info on Floor Time.

Cheryl Baucum: Another mom with an autistic child. She and her husband first tried ABA, which worked to a point, but they felt something was missing in the approach. When she learned about Greenspan's methods, it clicked for her. They switched to full-bore Floor Time. Great discussion of the approach, plus a video of her husband doing floor time with her son.

Polyxo.com: Floortime: Building Play Partnerships: Embracing the Greenspan Floortime Model: A detailed overview of Floor Time, originally designed as a handout for parents and play partners. Like reading someone's crib notes. Very useful distillation.

Coping.org's overview of Floor Time covers all the bases and includes a number of useful tips.

Dave Nelson's page. He's a parent of a child dx'd with PDD and a DIR-trained play therapist. His site has a good list of floor time strategies, taken from The Child with Special Needs (go to the bottom of this page).

The Floortime email list is filled with knowledgeable parents and professionals, as well as many parents in the early stages of working with their children. It's a good place to get your questions answered and also find emotional and moral support.


DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS:

The Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC). I occasionally retest Damian on this one. I like seeing his numbers change.

The Parental Developmental Questionnaire (PDQ - cute, no?). This is the one that first alerted us that Damian might be on the spectrum. (Note: this page doesn't load properly in my web browser.

You can find other diagnostic tools via this page at Coping.org.

The first sign of autism is usually a delay in speech development. This doesn't necessarily mean a child is on the autistic spectrum -- other possible diagnoses include apraxia, alexia and partial deafness -- but is cause for concern. Here are two charts of a young child's speech milestones: one from BabyCenter and one from the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders.


PERSONAL BLOGS RELATED TO AUTISM
(partially annotated, to be continued)

Rubenpants Father to a young boy. Floortime and biomedical intervention.

Greener Pastures Mom to a very young girl; floortime and biomed.

Sleeky's blog Mom to a high functioning boy

Adventures in Autism

Blooming Minds ABA therapist

Leelo and his Potty-Mouthed Mom Mom to an ASD boy. ABA and biomed.

Trip to Wonderful Travelling across country with two ASD children
MB also co-authors the primarily political weblog, Wampum (sharing those duties with her husband Eric and Dwight, another parent of a spectrum child).

stoneleafunfounddoor Mom to an AS girl; ABA and other interventions

Our Aspergers Teenage Boy

Left Brain Right Brain

Ponder Ethereal a la Aspie Adult with AS. Intelligent insights.

Little Boy Confused Mom to boy recently (re)diagnosed with PDD-NOS.

If you have or know an autism-related personal blog or online journal, drop me a line. If you're on this page and would rather not be listed, let me know that.