Autism Out Loud: Life with a Child on the Spectrum, from Diagnosis to Young Adulthood

Autism Out Loud: Life with a Child on the Spectrum, from Diagnosis to Young Adulthood by Kate Swenson, Carrie Cariello, Adrian Wood

Autism feels like an incidental topic for this book. The authors talk about social media gathering and come across os mommy bloggers who happened to have kids with autism. They do go into some of their experiences, but the focus is on the mom, rather than the kid. The autistic child, the dad and the other siblings are bit players in this book of a mom's experience. The autistic child comes across as a challenge to "standard mommyhood" rather than a real person. The writers appear to be very outgoing go-getters who struggle significantly with a child that just does not adhere to social norms. This book will be useful for those ultra-social moms who have children with extreme autism. However, this only covers a small fraction of the cases out there.

One of the challenges with autism is that it is a single term applied to a large variety of conditions. The book does acknowledge that there are a number of co-existing conditions (such as ADHD and anxiety). Would it be better to split up autism into a number of unique diagnosis? Some kids have severe developmental and intellectual challenges. Others appear fine, but have social challenges. Lumping everything together just causes confusion. (Perhaps this is why it is becoming more common.) Autistic people tend to be more inward focussed. Even those that appear outwardly social are often less concerned about how others feel. These seems to be the opposite of the LGBT individuals who tend to be very outwardly focussed. They have pride parades and actively advocate for themselves. Autistic people rarely advocate for themselves. Are we missing out on an important part of culture? Were these people significant contributors in families before, but now shoved to the sidelines because they cannot adapt well to the challenges of ever-changing urban society?

May Tomorrow Be Awake: On Poetry, Autism, and Our Neurodiverse Future

May Tomorrow Be Awake: On Poetry, Autism, and Our Neurodiverse Future by Chris Martin

The author is a poet that works with many neurodivergent people, especially non-verbal autists. He talks about the benefits of treating people with the benefits that they can provide to society rather than trying to pigeonhole them into certain roles. Then he comes across as a "savior" who seems to be above the people he is creating poems with. On one side, he says there is "no normal", while on the other he wants people to be part of "his ideal". It felt like a "difference" fetish rather than a true respect. How can we really allow different people to achieve their full potential rather than talk about one's personal "privilege" because of certain characteristics that they think make them better?

Al Capone Does My Shirts

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Moose is a teenage boy living in California in the 1930s. His dad gets a job at Alcatraz and they move to the island in part so his mentally-challenged daughter can have the opportunity to attend a special school. Moose often has to watch his sister, sometimes interfering with his social life. He also associates with the warden's daughter, Piper. In the prison, the convicts do laundry. Some kids get in trouble for trying to sell these laundry services to others. Later they try to meet with Al Capone's mother when she comes to visit. (She ends up leaving before visiting after triggering a metal detector.) 

One day Moose left his sister around for 45 minutes and found her with one of the convicts. This is implied to be Capone. He freaked out when he saw this. There was a rule that they should not associate with convicts. His sister was a teenager, even though she had infantile mental capacity. 

The family learns that the daughter will not be able to attend the special school, in part because of her age. Moose writes a letter to Capone asking for help getting his sister into the special school. Then the family learns that she will be the first to attend the special school for older children. Shortly after, Moose gets a letter from Capone saying that it is "done".

The book shows the struggles of families with members with mental challenges. There are challenges, but also a lot of love involved. Capone is portrayed as somebody that cares about others, even when he is in prison.

Mockingbird

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

A fifth grade girl with Aspergers lost her brother in a school shooting. She continues to struggle with talking and behaving appropriately. She is working through her feelings and what happened to her brother. She has no real friends. Then she befriends a young boy who had lost her mother in the shooting. She struggles with relationships with other kids. She offends some by being too literal, while offending others by trying to use her coping mechanisms on them. 

With a title of "Mockingbird", I immediately associated To Kill A Mockingbird. The author did too. The girl has seen the movie and was sometimes called scout. This tied in with her brother's Eagle Scout project, with the double scout meaning. (He was building a chest that they later finished for "closure" - would building a chest really be a scout project?)

In an afterward, the author mentions the Virginia Tech shooting and early intervention for aspergers are important. It does make an interesting combination. Having the novel through the mind of the girl does seemingly make the emotions seem more "distant".

Drama Queen: One Autistic Woman and a Life of Unhelpful Labels

Drama Queen: One Autistic Woman and a Life of Unhelpful Labels by Sara Gibbs

If you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person. Sara Gibbs was diagnosed with autism in adulthood. Her version was a very social type of autism. She talked too much. She constantly had crushes on people. She lived in a dream world. Her boundaries were not good. She struggled with all social activity. However, she grew up in an "odd" environment, with a family that was very much into new age anti-vax and Waldorf education. Her father had multiple affairs and was distant from the family. However, he was the one that helped her when times were the hardest, and they grew closer in adulthood and she cared for him near his death. She seemed to have a constant stream of boyfriends, with plenty of drama and obsessiveness. She eventually landed with a caring husband and found a job writing comedy. Her outgoing nature likely helped her to manage - even if it also the source of her problems. The book ends with her diagnoses with autism. This helped her to vanquish some of her "problems" and better understand herself.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

An autistic boy sees a dog that was killed at night. He decides to go on a quest to find the killer. This leads him to discover more about his parents and neighbors. The book feels like a children's book, but has plenty of salty language and deals with parental affairs.  The adults feel fairly undeveloped in the book. The author claims he did not do any research on the boy and that he does not associate him with any condition. That is probably for the best, as he comes across as fairly caricatured. But since autism can differ from person to person, this may be appropriate.

The Speed of Dark: A Novel

Speed of Dark explores the mind of an autistic man. Lou has pretty strong autism, yet through training he is well adapted to society. He has a job where he works in a group of other autists at pattern recognition tasks. His group has special benefits (such as their own gym). The company receives tax breaks for employing them, and they produce high value work for the company. However, their boss's new boss doesn't like that. He wants them to be normal, and the company has purchased treatment for it.

Lou also like to go to fencing practice. He has become quite good at fencing. He also has a crush on a girl their (Marjorie). The feeling is fairly mutual, but they never do go out. His friend Don at fencing gets mad at him after Lou does well at his first fencing tournament. Don sabotages Lou's car multiple times and later tries to abduct Lou at gunpoint. The police are already watching him and arrest Don. We learn that the punishment he will receive is a chip implanted in the brain that will prevent him from doing bad.

The big boss that tried to force everyone to become normal is fired, but the treatment goes on. Lou initially decides against it, but then decides that change and heeling is good. He gets treated and then goes in to space.

The life inside a well-adapted autistic man's head is quite intriguing. He analyzes many details of social encounters. Things do not come easy or naturally to him. Yet he is able to analyze details and come to even better solutions. (He realizes differences between "fake" and "real" smiles as he analyzes faces.) 

Things do seem to work themselves out in the story. (The bad uber-boss gets fired. The stalker gets in jail. Even the autism treatment works.)

It felt like a cop-out to see him get the treatment and have it succeed. He is no longer the same person after being treated. He no longer likes the same girl. What else was different? The book just jumps ahead a few years. Does the "normal" him have any of the strengths the old him did? 

What is normal? He often compares himself to "normal" people, but realizes that normal people have their faults also. The encounters with the police officer see language about "others" being non-cops rather than non-normal people. Is normality just a function of grouping? Why do the autistic people end up being supported by an organization with other people with mental impairments. The line between "normal" and "not normal" is artificial. Yet our perception is influenced by where the line is drawn.

Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions

Temple Grandin has been diagnosed with autism and thinks visually. The visual thinking has helped her in her career with animals. She identifies things that are not easily noticed by others and helps them to work. She likes to identify herself more by what she can do than the label of autism.

The book spends time one the lamentable state of the US education system. Visual thinkers are often shunted aside. They are forced to do algebra and abstract math classes that are not relevant to their needs. We have also not been providing sufficient vocational coursework that could be beneficial. At the same time we are kicking them to the curb, we have a lack of expertise in key "hands on" work. We need to better let people use their skills. At the same time we are delaying verbal thinkers. When students do well at math and school, they should be pushed ahead, rather than have them delayed by others. 

Another part of the book covers the differences between visual and verbal thinkers. The types are not a binary, but exist on a spectrum. There are different areas that people do well on. The autism spectrum also comes in here and can include both types. Though the spectrum is wide and has many overlapping areas. 

The end of the book is a discussion about animals and how they "think" and "feel". It all comes together to give it the feel of "multiple books in one" rather than a single work.

Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World

The typical interview process is great at finding "least offensive" employees. It helps filter out those that will absolutely fail, but does a poor job of identifying great talent. This book was written by an economist and a tech entrepreneur to identify sources of  transcendental talent. 

For an interview, it is useful to delve into an area that the candidate has not prepared. One question today is to ask "what are your current open browser tabs?" This helps identify what they are interested in. Personality is often defined more with a what a person does on the weekend than while at work. Another question is "What do you believe that everybody else finds irrational?" The goal is to find things that really make the person unique.

A person can't learn charisma from book and list of traits. It is much better to find examples of people that have the desired traits and try to emulate them.

Interviewing is very different in the world of Zoom than it is in person. A video call leaves off many of the cues that we would have in a face to face conversation. An audio call can in some ways be better since it does not provide "false clues". The skills to make a good video call appearance are different than those for an in-person conversation. 

Finding the best talent often involves seeking out diversity. Those from different cultures may appear to be very polite or quiet. This could be just a reflection of being in an unfamiliar surrounding rather than their true personality. Sometimes the best talent will have a different outward appearance, be that gender, race, age, language, or other characteristic. Great talent can be uncovered by being willing to work with people with different neurologies. (One of the author's even states that there is a need to have a degree of neuroticism.) Those on the autism spectrum are an especially overlooked source of talent. (The author's even mention that a number of actors may be on the spectrum. They need to "act" to function in the world, so emulating different characters is a natural extension.) Work needs to be done to accommodate those that are different, but it will often pay off.

The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention

"If-and-then" is the key to human innovation and domination. That point is repeated over and over in Pattern Seekers. The second half of the book dives down into the evolutionary history of homo sapiens and analyzes how humans came to dominate.

The first part of the book focussed more on the different types of people and what they excel at. Most people are near the center of the bell curve for systematizing and empathy (with women skewing more empathetic and men more systematizing) However, inventors tend to be very high on the systematizing end. Their brains are often the scientific method in action. Autism is often manifest as high systematizing with low empathy. Studies have shown that children of engineers tend to be overrepresented on the autism spectrum. There was a plan to do a detailed study of MIT graduates to see autism correlation. However, the president of MIT stopped it, for fear that it would cast the university in a bad light. The end of the book includes a short quiz to scale yourself on the two spectrums. (I came up heavily skewed towards systematizing.) 

Our current education system does a great disservice to those on the autism spectrum. The conventional general education system has moved more to the "fuzzy" instruction and away from the more concrete. This often results in very smart students struggling. (Ironically, at the same time, we are super concerned about the lack of people in STEM.)  It would be better for us to focus on the strengths of those strong in the "in-built" scientific method. These people may coast through some classes in school, but struggle greatly with the social interactions. As a society it would benefit everyone to acknowledge the different ways in which people think. Future Edisons may by languishing as we spent effort trying to make them something they are not rather than let them move the human race forward.

The Stars Beneath Our Feet

A boy in Harlem has his older brother murdered. He copes with it by building a giant lego city. He gradually befriends an autistic girl who also likes to build with legos. They have a contest to build a 10 foot tower. However, both of their towers fall. They end up building a big city together. Hers is a realistic model of New York buildings (including their projects). His is a fantasy world with heroes and monsters. He also makes a game with it to help people learn. In the end, they discover that the "wasted" legos that his mom's girlfriend is bringing are actually stolen. The criminal experience helps him to chose not to try to use a gun to attack thugs that have jumped him.
The story deals with coping with grief and difficulties. It also has an underlying theme of how difficult it is to take the projects out of people. They have a big fear of police and snitching and more willing to exact revenge via murder than to snitch on criminals. The projects may have a bunch of people that look "black". However, they are a mix of immigrants from other countries and multi-generational American residents. There are also the mix of various sexual orientations and desires. It may have been more interesting told from the perspective of the autistic girl, big Rose. Her mother committed suicide. She had been teased by others. However, she has a great memory, and can model the city from memory. Only in the end is she taken away for more treatment. (And the book seems to state that her time without treatment helped her.)