Page 78 - SEN115 - November/December 2021

Book reviews
Book reviews
Connecting & Communicating With Your Autistic Child:
A Toolkit of Activities to Encourage Emotional Regulation and Social Development J. Griffin
Tessa Morton and Jane Gurnett co-founded Act for Autism, to deliver country-wide training and to contribute to community projects. With qualifications and extensive experience in drama, counselling and autism, they won a NAS award in 2020 for their work.
Act for Autism is a not-for- profit social enterprise that provides workshops in their programmes : Cleartime and 3C Pathway. Both of these approaches help parents and teachers to build reciprocal
communication and to nurture trusting relationships. The 3C approach refers to ‘connecting, calming and
communicating’ and supports children in becoming more self-aware and able to express themselves in healthy ways.
Morton and Gurnett explain how they use drama exercises throughout their work in, in this book they describe how these exercises are used in their workshops and in their drama settings. These are designed to give parents and carers an idea of what it might feel like to be autistic.
This is a very positive book that is supportive and the exercises are well described and have been developed and refined in many settings. The authors also stress that the exercises can be personalised as parents ‘enter into their child’s world and ‘lean in’ to their passions.
Jessica Kingspey Publishers ISBN: 978-1-78775-550-5 £14.99
The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to
Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties
K. Spohrer
This is one of a series of practical guides providing essential advice for classroom aides, assistants and support staff. Other books in the series include guides to Managing Behaviour, Dyspraxia and Autistic Spectrum Disorders.
The author of this book, Kate Spohrer, is a Behavioural Consultant, ADHD Family Coach and trainer and she is also the author of the guide to ADHD in the series.
Chapters include a range of
activities, case studies and quizzes to consolidate learning and the emphasis is on emotional health and wellbeing, rather than difficulties
or deficits.
The format encourages a reflective approach and the quizzes are particularly useful, as the correct answers at the back also provide a brief explanation of why the answer is correct.
This series of books would form a very useful core resource library for support staff, as well as contributing to professional development training. The books are compact and the authors manage to distil years of experience into bite-sized information chunks that can support staff in improving their understanding of learning differences. The practical activities are well-chosen to support and reinforce this learning process. By inviting the reader to think more creatively about how to face problems in school, there is a focus on shifting the emphasis away from a dependency culture and towards environmental change.
Continuum International Publishing Group ISBN: 978-0-8264-9838-0
£16.99
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