Girls Growing Up on the Autism Spectrum
What Parents and Professionals Should Know About the Pre-Teen and Teenage Years
It has been tough to identify girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) because their symptoms are so different from boys’, but for the millions of pre-teen and teen girls who feel “different,” under-standing how to deal with autism and Asperger’s can be a lonely, unexplored effort.
In Girls Growing Up on the Autism Spectrum: What Parents and Professionals Should Know About the Pre-Teen and Teenage Years, Shana Nichols, Gina Marie Moravcik, and Samara Pulver Tetenbaum provide solid, specific advice on teen issues—social life, changing bodies, friendships, diet and nutrition, self-reliance, anxiety, and more. This is an excellent beginning, with re-sources listed (books, articles, Web sites, blogs) in every chapter and short case studies that break up the text throughout. The authors tackle the bigger issues of socialization and friendships, plus the nitty-gritty of raising an adolescent girl—periods, ob-gyn exams, weight, privacy, and hygiene.
Girls Growing Up is long and detailed but very easy to reference. “Tips for Talking” in each chapter help parents remember the main points of each section. As autism covers a wide spectrum, this book offers a wide variety of answers to a very complex diagnosis.
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
