Parent Survival Manual

his book is the result of more than 30 years of experience and hard, T resourceful work by Eric Schopler and his team-first as lonely pioneers, now as leaders whose influence extends as far as Kuwait, India, and Japan. It is the fruit of a concept so simple, human, and obvious that it is hard to believe that not so long ago it was both revolutionary and controversial. Parents of children in mid-adulthood well remember what it was like to be considered the cause of their children's problems, rather than part of whatever solutions could be achieved. In 1971, when Eric Schopler described us as our children's "cotherapists" in the Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, it validated and strengthened the efforts we had already been making. When Division TEACCH began to develop new methods to help autistic children and-this is what was revolutionary-actually to teach them to parents, we could begin to heal. So what seems, and should seem, ordinary and matter-of-fact about this book-that it is a collection of ingenious solutions that parents have developed as responses to the continual challenges of living with autism-feels to me more like a miracle. It is not only that its nine chapters provide ingenious suggestions for dealing with the difficulties that arise in every aspect of daily life with an autistic person. Each chapter illustrates the root principle of Division TEACCH: collaboration between parents and professionals.