An Autistic’s Review: Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism

L to R: Corina Becker, Kerry Magro, Shannon Rosa,
Stephen Shore, Carol Greenburg, Jennifer Myers.
TPGA contributors all. At IMFAR 2012.

This review is by self-advocate Kerry Magro, whom I finally met in person at IMFAR last month. Thanks Kerry!

Kerry was diagnosed with Autism at 4 years old. Now as an adult Kerry has become a disability advocate who has been featured in television, radio, and film. Today Kerry works as a Motivational Speaker, Co-Host of Hope Saves The Day: Autism Radio, and Vlogger for his blog “My Autism My Voice.”

Kerry also taped a video review:



A community is defined as a group of people living together in one place where they are often intertwined with a common goal or purpose. Now, if you were trying to define an autism community, this book could certainly be one of your best examples of that. Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism, which was edited by Shannon Des Roches Rosa, Jennifer Byde Myers, Liz Ditz, Emily Willingham and Carol Greenburg gives us a look inside autism in today’s society from some of the people who know autism the best. It started off as a blog where they asked people within the autism community to send essays focused around autism related topics. It ended up book published by Deadwood City Publishing.

This is no ordinary book. After reading it I was astounded by the amount of information. There is a wide range of topics in essay’s that stay on point with a clear mission and purpose. It is something that any reader who cares about autism can get behind.

I had always been an avid reader of the Thinking Person’s Guide to Autsim blog and even wrote a blog post for them about Coming Out About Autism in College in August 2011, so I knew first hand that a collection of these blogs posts could be great.

The main areas of the book that stood out to me were done by the editors along with the essays by Laura Shumaker (SF Gate, A Regular Guy with Autism) and Jess (A Diary of a Mom). The book does a great job of balancing between informing the reader and also giving hope and inspiration to them as well. It’s a book that’s very well rounded overall.

Along with the essays comes a great deal of resources at the end of the book, which I found impressive. Between recommendations for books, movies, online resources, and blogs, there is a sense of further learning for readers of the book.

The next step I see for the autism community now is to continue to encourage young individuals on the autism spectrum to pursue literary work. There were several essays from autistic adults in the book and I’m optimistically hoping that we hear from one or more of these voices on a best-seller list in the near by future.

In the end I commend everyone at Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism for all their great work in this project and hope they come out with a sequel very soon to include more of the blog’s wonderful essays.

If you want to learn more about The Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism please check out the blog here.

Last-Minute Holiday Gifting: 5 Fantastic Kids' Books

Do you have a sassy, spirited, clever, imaginative, creative, unpredictable, emotional, intense, amazing, capricious, occasionally obstreperous, mostly wonderful, never boring child in your life? Do you want to get that kid an awesome book for the holidays? Do you want books that deal with emotions and/or girls as main characters but appeal to boys too? Are you freaking because you have no idea which books to choose and the holiday clock is ticking?

Here are five recommendations for young readers, all favorite family favorites, all ones that newly-six-year-old Miss Mali and I both agree are not just keepers but worth daily go-overs:


The Day Leo Said I Hate You tells of a loving but fiery little boy named Leo (the best name in the world, though this Leo is conversational). Leo gets angry and -- having overheard his mother use the word "hate" about broccoli -- decides to test out the phrase "I hate you" on her when her thoroughly reasonable but firm parenting choices make him angry. He is instantly horrified over having said something so hurtful, but his mother skillfully uses silliness and honesty to talk him through and past his penitence. It's a sweet, lovely, useful book, with lively illustrations.

The illustrator, Molly Bang, also created our family's beloved When Sophie Gets Angry--Really, Really Angry... -- a gorgeously colorful, empathetic take on a small girl working through an angry outburst on her own by leaving the scene until she cools down and feels reasonable again.  When Sophie Gets Angry and The Day Leo Said I Hate You are similar to one of my own Leo's perennial favorite books, The Chocolate-Covered-Cookie Tantrum, in that they legitimatize the full explosive glory of the children's emotions before showing rather than preaching about how the kids found their ways back to calmer places.

We also love love love love My Name is Not Isabella by Jennifer Fosberry, in which a small and also intense, capricious, and clever girl spends a day declaring herself alternately named "Annie" (Oakley), "Sally" (Ride), "Rosa" (Parks), and "Marie" (Curie), and telling of the historically accurate things she will be doing as she channels each notable woman's persona. Fosberry's light, deft take makes each scene a romp rather than a lesson, and she includes biographies at the back for the kids (and parents) who get hooked and want to know more. Note to the author: A starting point for the sequel could be the Rosalind Franklin episode from the My Favourite Scientist website -- brought to you by the wonderful Periodic Videos folks from the University of Nottingham. Note to parents of inspired children: budding scientists can get find the coolest gear at Educational Innovations or American Science & Surplus.


Are you all done with happy pink &/or good fairy crap like Disney Fairies and Pinkalicious? (The latter seems awfully inspired by A Bad Case of Stripes, to my mind.) The tales of pint-sized mad scientist Franny K. Stein might just be the series for your family, especially if you have no intention of raising your children as delicate flowers -- these books show that it's OK for a girl to be socially awkward, occasionally antisocial, and interested in things that are gross plus in science and in geekery. We need more characters like Franny!




Babymouse is also quite awesome -- as a character and as a series. My girls are completely hooked on Babymouse's slightly neurotic but always exciting daydreaming and waking life adventures, whether our hero is a Rock Star, a Dragonslayer, or a Cupcake Tycoon. In fact, my eldest left a precious Babymouse behind when we two flew back from Cambodia -- and that loss rather than our trip was almost all she could talk about for several days. Babymouse is the goods.




Tell Me a Dragon is possibly the most beautifully illustrated children's book we own, and features various children's imaginings (so we're told) of their dragons' appearance and personalities -- and shows the dragons in forms you may have not considered, all hail dragon diversity! If, like Mali, your child champions The Lord of the Rings' fiery Balrog demon and enjoys listening to older kids' fantasy books like Tamora Pierce's Wild Magic -- or just likes dragons (or should like dragons, damn it), this book is an excellent choice.

For those looking for even last minute-ier gifts, I'll be publishing reviews of both Mali's and Leo's favorite iPad apps next Monday and Tuesday.

Disclosure: I was sent review copies of The Day Leo Said I Hate You and My Name Is Isabella, but was not otherwise compensated in any way. This review is entirely my own opining, and features not one scrap of promotional copy. Jennifer Holm, who writes Babymouse, sent us a copy of Cupcake Tycoon (Babymouse #13) but did so well after and in fact because we were established fans.

Review: Wonder Rotunda

Today is my 40th birthday. If I were the type who considered such milestones opportunities to dwell upon unachieved dreams, I would moan bitterly about the very cool new kids' educational online world, Wonder Rotunda, and gripe bout why I should have been the one to create it given that I and my two Geography degrees have been creating and improving upon that which used to be called "edutainment," for almost fifteen years.

Instead, I'll pause to appreciate all the loveliness in my life, remark that contract gigs combining geography, education, and interactivity are my very favorite kind of paid endeavor, and commence with the review.

Wonder Rotunda is an online, exploration-based learning environment for kids age seven - twelvish who want to learn more about the world around them, or whose parents would like them to learn more and understand that game-like environments are very good carrots. Specifically:

"The Wonder Rotunda is a virtual, educational theme park designed to open the eyes of youngsters to the wonders of our world, much the way world’s fairs and expos did for prior generations. It is designed to get kids thinking about our world, finding things that they're passionate about, and exploring how they might make their mark some day.

"Set on an island in New York Harbor, the Wonder Rotunda’s fifteen, interactive, animated adventures cover topics as diverse as tropical rainforests, African wildlife, marine life, the human body's digestive system, money and business, American government, nutrition, globalization, film making, classical music, performing and visual arts, space exploration and, making a difference in the world. The adventures move briskly and with excitement, while affording youngsters the option of probing more deeply where they have the interest."

The kids explore Wonder Rotunda's many exhibits via self-created avatars (mind you, kids used to Rock Band avatars might be a bit option-underwhelmed). There's a bit of standard kid-game looking for gold coins and Wonder Dollars to keep the avatars supplied with "healthy choices" from the Wonder Rotunda food stands, or to let them shop for souvenirs, but otherwise players are free to explore the many educational exhibits and adventures, in as much detail as they like.

Parents worried about Webkinz or Club Penguin-like unmonitored social environments will be pleased with Wonder Rotunda. Though it's web-based, there are no social networking or commercial options, no advertising. And there are considerable parental controls, such as requiring parents to create their own, administrative account before the child's account can be created, allowing parents to create their own avatar so they can tag along with their kids (the Wonder Rotunda folks liken it to visiting a museum together), and the ability to browse your child's Wonder Rotunda's trail, to see where they have been spending the most time -- so you can tell what subjects they're most interested in, and encourage them to pursue them.

I have to admit, given Wonder Rotunda's squeaky-clean appearance, its earnest goals, and the home page's tour, I have not felt the need to monitor my ten-year-old Iz as she explores Wonder Rotunda. She finds WR's subject matter motivating, and has been tearing around all by herself, popping out occasionally to blurt newly acquired facts:"iguanas can fall from a height of 40 feet without getting hurt!" and decry the occasional factual error: "Thomas Jefferson was the third U.S. President, not the second, tell them that right now, Mommy!" (To their credit, the Wonder Rotunda staff fixed the error immediately. Gotta love online content.)

The graphics are nicely done, the content has depth (always a concern, Iz gets bored quickly), and -- most tellingly -- I had to rip Iz away from the screen so she could do her homework. This led to a debate about my priorities -- did I want to send her brain chasing after the new facts, systems, and synergies Wonder Rotunda offered, or did I want it to stagnate in revisiting concepts and worksheets it had already mastered? I recommend that you avoid such scenarios by requiring that your children finish their homework before they get to "play" with Wonder Rotunda.

I approve of Wonder Rotunda's mission wholeheartedly. I would likely have purchased it for my kids independently, but we were gifted a one month unlimited access pass worth $12. (Unlimited access for one year is $45, and can be renewed each year for $35). If you have the kind of kids who love The Magic Schoolbus and The Discovery Channel -- or are looking to nudge your kids in that direction -- Wonder Rotunda is a safe, mentally enriching, fun place to send them.

ABA Affordably on Demand: Rethink Autism

If you're at all familiar with ABA Therapy (Applied Behavioral Analysis), you know that you can use its anchor techniques of carefully planned positive feedback and reward/reinforcer systems to influence almost anyone's behavior. And that's what I wrote about at BlogHer this week (I hope people decide to use their newfound behavioral powers for non-nefarious purposes):

BlogHer: Using Behavioral Approaches in Autism (And on Anyone)

I also wrote about ABA therapy in general, why it can be so useful for helping children with autism learn, and -- most importantly -- a new way for autism families who want but normally wouldn't have access to an ABA program to bring it to their child: an comprehensive online program called Rethink Autism. As I said on BlogHer:

Rethink Autism creates a customized ABA curriculum for your child, provides hundreds of concise but thorough video-based lessons supplemented by printed lesson plans to teach you how to teach your child, allows automated scheduling so that you can coordinate with with your ABA team as to who's teaching your child what and when, and produces really straightforward data tracking and analysis. They even provide email curriculum support. This is a valuable and very well done resource, and I recommend it.

But here is something that I didn't mention on BlogHer, and which I think new, overwhelmed autism families need to understand: You can use Rethink Autism's many, many videos to learn how to interact with your child. If the integrated data tracking and scheduling is too overwhelming, then put it off until you're ready.

Instead, browse the topics -- which include motor skills and social skills as well as academics -- watch the videos and print the lesson plans, and start practicing those techniques with your child. Learning to communicate and motivate children with autism aren't skills that come naturally to many parents, and how-to manuals can only describe, not model. Video demonstrations, however -- those show exactly what to do. And if you need clarification, Rethink Autism provides email support. Once you're comfortable using the techniques, start incorporating the data tracking elements.

I've included some screenshots of the Rethink Autism interface below, so that you can see for yourself how well organized and planned the program is. I found it easy to use and the interface beautifully and gracefully designed. Click on the screenshots to enlarge them:

Individual lesson plan interface

Tracking data and team comments within a lesson plan

Video lesson interface: choosing steps

Video Lesson demonstration, including physical prompt

Regarding cost, as I wrote on BlogHer:

Rethink autism is also affordable. In fact the monthly Personal (as opposed to Organziational) subscription rate is less than one hour's time with a veteran behavioral therapist. While this is an incredible value, if it's still outside your family's budget, there are organizations like ACT Today! that help autism families fund their children's needs.

Rethink Autism provides excellent resources beyond its paid ABA therapy programming. It also provides free-of-charge resources for new autism families in its What Is Autism section, including a thoughtful Coping/Living With Autism area that reminds parents to appreciate and accept their child, themselves, and to act instead of reacting. There is also a Community section, in which Rethink Autism participants can ask questions of the staff and each other about issues and concerns.

Rethink Autism is a resource that the ABA therapy-using section of the autism community has needed for a long time: comprehensive, easy to use, and accessible by any individual with a computer, internet connection, and browser. I am grateful to the good folks at Rethink Autism for creating these tools, and I encourage those of you who reach out to or mentor families with new autism diagnoses to spread the word.

Disclosure: Rethink Autism granted me a few days of trial access, but I was otherwise not compensated in any way. What I have written above is my honest opinion, as it always has been and will continue to be in any reviews that I post in this space.

Review: Daniel X: Watch the Skies

When I found out that copies of James Patterson's new young adult book Daniel X: Watch the Skies were available for review, I immediately asked my eldest child and Patterson fan, Iz, if she wanted me to snare her a copy. She said "yes, please," so I turned around to my computer and wrote "yes, please," too.

The book arrived. Iz gobbled it down. She liked it, she said, because it was never boring, it was funny, it was fast, and it had what she considered to be an interesting twist at the end. She also liked the back-end placement of teaser chapters from other, forthcoming Patterson books, and wanted to know when she'd be getting her complimentary copies of those? I told her I couldn't guarantee anything but we never know.

Then I sat down with the book to see if I liked it as much as Iz did, and initially the answer was "no." The story was creative and exciting enough, about an orphan teen alien hunter and his friends, both imaginary and real, battling a giant malevolent extraterrestrial catfish-like media producer who makes marionettes out of humans before exterminating them, all in the name of "endertainment" and TV ratings; the book features explosions, fast cars, motorcycles, spying, narrow escapes, and chases galore, plus lots of nose-thumbing at school administrators. But it reads like Michael Crichton for kids: an innovative but minimally padded story outline, and it's peppered with too much of what seems like movie, songs, restaurant, and brands product placement. And the chapters were jarringly short -- many were only two pages. Daniel X: Watch the Skies was all bam-bam-bam action, with no time to take a breath or let characters develop. I found it disorienting yet skimpy, and was surprised Iz enjoyed it.

Then I put the book aside and thought about its appeal, and the authors' (it is co-written with Ned Rust) motivations some more. James Patterson is also the founder of ReadKiddoRead, a site devoted to getting kids to love books like the author does. And I get the sense that Daniel X, like the Maximum Ride series Iz also enjoys, is about getting kids to do that reading using any hooks necessary. From this perspective, Daniel X is a rich read -- it's full of such hooks.

Many older kids and teens, and indeed adult sci fi/fantasy fans don't want character development. They want action. This book will give them that, in an extremely violent but still relatively sanitary fashion -- people are melted into goo, but there is almost no blood or gore. And the book is so fast-paced and there are so many action scenes that readers don't really have time to analyze what kind of violence & action they're reading about.

The constant citing of contemporary brands might be more grounding and comforting for some readers than a book skirting the retail and cultural footholds of our era in a bid to remain classic. Daniel X: Watch the Skies might not age well, but then again it might remain very much a symbol of that which was 2009. We'll see.

Daniel X has much for a parent to approve of in that it celebrates love and responsibility towards family, friends, the environment, and even animals. It's also quite tame when it comes to teen relations. There are funny feelings in tummies, there are kisses and swooning -- but naught else. Parents or guardians concerned about all that sexy sex pervading teen literature should be pleased.

That tameness makes it rather strange, though, that the authors keep mentioning Stranger in a Strange Land as a pillar of literature, one of the Best Books Ever. I have already been teaching my kids about Stranger in a Strange Land concepts like the Fair Witness and grokking -- but consider the book itself inappropriate for my ten-year-old Iz, who's on the younger end of the Daniel X readership. What are kids to think about Daniel X when they discover the book he adores says it's usually a girl's own fault when she gets raped? That it depicts sixties-style free love? This is a bit of a misstep, in my opinion.

I could also do without the unsubtle preaching about the evils of technology and media and how they turn people into mindless consumer bobbleheads, but I suspect readers who enjoy Patterson's books are willing to put up with that quirk in return for a rip-roaring bit of chaste ultraviolence with the likeable, resourceful, cheerful teen alien hunter Daniel X. They might smirk a bit, though, if they're reading his story on a Kindle.

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MotherTalk sponsored the Daniel X Book Tour. In addition to putting yet another volume on Iz's groaning bookshelf, they provided reviewers with modest Amazon gift certificates. I look forward to using our certificate to replace my son Leo's loved-to-shreds copies of My World, Hop on Pop, and Everyone Poops.

Bee Yourself, but Bee Sweet

The nice folks at Bee Tees sent each of my three kids shirts. I'm not sure if they did so because they read this blog and thought my sometimes cantankerous trio could use good behavior reminders, but the shirts are cute as hell and my kids think they're great.

I especially appreciate a kid with autism like Leo getting to run around town with a t-shirt that declares: "Bee Yourself"! And the fact that the BeeTees folks also do custom Bee-Cause designs for fundraising. SEPTAR could certainly benefit from a design option you might easily guess.



Big sister Iz swiped his shirt later on. She says she's the one who is entering middle school in a few weeks and needs tools like a "Bee Yourself" shirt to remind her about priorities and bucking peer pressure. Her shirt actually fit him better, so I didn't mind letting them swap.



Mali got the same shirt design Iz was supposed to wear, "Bee Sweet." I think it's appropriate. Mali has full-tilt Defiant Little Sister Syndrome, so anything that reminds her to be nice is appreciated (Bee Kind, Bee Happy, and Bee Good would also be options; as her mom I consider Bee Unique self-evident).



Iz complained that Leo's the one who needs the Bee Sweet shirt anyhow, as he's been going after his little sister again. I let him wear it not because of her griping but because most eight-year-old little brothers could use such a reminder. Plus at Leo's team meeting today, we had two main discussion points: 1) How close he's getting to reading -- we think he might be doing some real work by the end of the year, in which case shirts with one or two words on them can help reinforce reading skills, and 2) The importance of using very firm and direct language and a commanding tone of voice with him when he misbehaves, to help him understand when he is doing something that is not okay. If we want him to be sweet, we have to be firm.

Regardless, these are truly very cute shirts, and I'm glad to know about them before the holiday shopping season starts. I know quite a few kids who could use or would appreciate them. And I might just get a Bee Unique shirt for myself.



The kids and their BeeTees in front of a bee mural at the BeeKind apiary products & supply store in Sebastopol.

Friends Don't Let Autism Families Read Jenny McCarthy's Mother Warriors

A friend with a child on the spectrum recently tweeted her dismay in seeing numerous parents at her child's ball game reading Jenny McCarthy books. I understand, because I read Ms. McCarthy's Mother Warriors, and am myself distressed by how misinformed the author and her featured parents are regarding legitimate autism research, treatments, and literature.

Mother Warriors is not a book new autism families should be reading, so please don't recommend it to them. Parents and caregivers who don't know any better -- or whose libraries aren't stocking any other autism books -- are going to be stuck with a pitifully skewed, and largely unhelpful take on autism treatments and possibilities.

The main problem is that Mother Warriors is a compilation of testimonials. Ms. McCarthy really does believe what she's saying, and so do the other parents featured in her book. But if this was a book we could take seriously, someone would have edited the self-contradictory statements and omitted the factual errors that riddle its pages. If this was a legitimate information source for autism families, it would list resources besides the ones the author is promoting.

Trusting Jenny McCarthy with your autistic child's welfare and future is like asking an American who spent a couple of years working in an Israeli Red Sea Resort -- and thinks that's all the experience she needs -- to guide you through Gaza. She might be passionately dedicated, she may have even even weathered an attack or two. But she simply will not have the background or breadth of experience to speak for all of the people involved, or to guide you through areas of severest conflict. If you rely on her, there's a good chance you're going to be very, very sorry.

This is not to compare autism to a war zone, but to reiterate that new autism "recruits" are best served by veterans with extensive experience. This is especially true for families whose children are not as high-functioning as Jenny's son.

Autism families, you want better than Mother Warriors. Your autistic child deserves better. Please spread the word.

Update: My extended review of Mother Warriors elaborates on the statements above.

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Seymour suggested that we blog and RT books that families of autistic children should be reading instead. Here are my top six:

Autism From Autistics' Perspectives:

• Born on a Blue Day -- Daniel Hammet
• Thinking in Pictures -- Temple Grandin

Autism From a Parent's Perspective:

• Making Peace With Autism -- Susan Senator

Autism Approaches and Therapeutic Techniques:

• Overcoming Autism -- Lynn Kern Koegel
• Behavioral Intervention for Young Children With Autism -- Catherine Maurice
• Functional Behavior Assessment for People With Autism: Making Sense of Seemingly Senseless Behavior -- Beth A. Glasberg

Double Daring Kool-Aid Hair Dyeing Party

So, yeah, we love The Double Daring Book for Girls here at Casa Rosenberg. What better way to demonstrate that adoration than with a party centered around one of the book's activities, for instance How to Dye Your Hair With Kool-Aid (p. 48)?

First, we got together our participants slash victims: Merlin, Iz, Sophie, SuperGirl, Danielle, Elise, and Mali (who did not get her hair dyed, standing in for Willow, who did).



Then, we got together the materials: conditioner, vinegar, gloves. And lots of Kool-Aid powder packets.



After a few beats we adults realized that none of these kids had encountered Kool-Aid powder before. We indulged in some mild passive cruelty by watching Danielle mix Kool-Aid powder with water.



Unfortunately she didn't read the directions, and so didn't add sugar, and used a pint of water rather than a half gallon.



It tasted like crap!

Then we all got down to business. I read everyone detailed instructions.



Then everyone's foreheads got nice and vaseline-y to prevent skin staining. Behold Merlin's glistening dome:



Next the kids all put on gloves and started mixing up their colors/flavors (ingredients: a few packets of Kool-Aid powder, some conditioner, and some vinegar).



For the actual application of the dye, everyone was encouraged to go outside.



We wanted the kids to dye each other's hair, but the process was more challenging than we'd anticipated (none of them had dyed hair before). Once we assured them that their honor would remain intact, every child called for parental assistance.



The Kool-Aid was quite vibrant when applied. Here's Iz's grape-flavored head:



One small hiccup: the instructions say to keep the Kool-Aid mixture on your hair and off your scalp, which is common sense if not totally realistic for kids this age. What the instructions didn't say is that you should keep the mixture off your scalp because it really stings and itches! The big girls were able to tough it out, the younger girls tried to be strong but were not pleased and after about twenty minutes asked to have the mixture washed out, NOW!



Even so, our group endeavor was a big success, especially for raging towheads like Merlin. He ended up looking like his head was on fire, which he loved. Supergirl's pink-tinged tresses looked elegant indeed, and while Iz thought her hair would be purple rather than blue colored grape Kool-Aid powder + natural blonde highlights = green locks, she's still happy happy.



Kool-Aid hair dyeing is but one of the incredibly fabulous activities in The Double Daring Book for Girls, which itself is part of Andi Buchanan's and Miriam Peskowitz's Daring Book for Girls series. These books really are the ultimate rainy (or sunny) day inspiration guide for kids, as well as for the parents who love them and would rather see them involved in activites other than watching TV, playing video games, or reading books of questionable merit.

Double Daring Book Review

Before I had children, I would obsess about a theoretical future daughter and the critical information I simply had to impart to her. Epiphanies would strike -- Fair Witness! She'll need to know how to be a fair witness! -- and I'd pull the car over, write my revelation down, and then daydream about compiling a D'Artagnan-Rosenberg infostream manifesto to hand to that girl, once she appeared and when she was ready.

Lucky me, I got my daughter -- and a spare (and a handsome son as well). I never put together that manifesto, but also no longer fret about it: Andi Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz let me off the hook two years ago, when they published their own compendium of core girl knowledge, The Daring Book for Girls.

Lucky us, they've now published a second collection: The Double Daring Book for Girls.

Do I love their Daring books? Yes I do, passionately, and so does my ten-year-old daughter. She squealed when our copy of The Double Daring Book arrived (the good folks at Houghton-Mifflin sent a complimentary copy), immediately dispatched the whole thing, and dove straight into the activities. Here's her first attempt at Calligraphy (p. 256):

I too read the entire Double Daring Book (though a bit more slowly than my daughter), and was delighted. Look how many pages I dog-eared, so as to remember the best of the best of its activities, biographies, and histories:

Honestly, I want to hand this book to every girl I know, and the boys as well (pink typeface and Girl label be damned, this book is a powder keg of information and ideas for any kid). I am pleased that it contains overlaps with that imagined manifesto of mine, e.g., batik techniques and history (p.99), commonly confused words like imply and infer (p. 141), and the specifics of quality private eye work (p. 177).

What I truly appreciate, and what makes the Daring books transcend the How To label, is the activities' historical and often rebellious context. Why should our kids want to know how to waltz (p. 78)? How about because it was considered scandalous -- the dancing partners touched! And vulgar, forbidden -- it was easy to learn and didn't require a dance master!

Mostly, I am dazzled by the amount of good, hard, enticingly written information amassed in this book. I want kids to know everything in it. I want them to know exactly who Eleanor of Aquitaine was, and how startling her long, accomplished, independent life was compared to most women of her era. I want them to know the fundamentals of rhetoric, how to make a raft, the story of Ada Lovelace, how to join the circus, how to say thank you in scores of languages, how to make snowglobes, how to conduct an orchestra, and how to make rope ladders.

One quibble: The entry on Running a Magazine (p. 204) never mentions the word "zine," or how those handmade magazines helped drive the relatively recent Riot Grrrls feminist movement, which is perplexing, but I suppose in keeping with the book's overall timeless and classic feel. Don't let this one item keep you away.

The Double Daring Book for Girls is buoyed by positivity, and focuses on cultivating competence, independence, willingness to experiment, and open-ended fun. It provides multiple short biographies of women whose lives exemplified these attitudes. These role models and this book are antidotes for heavily-marketed (and in some cases marketing-originated) books like the one pictured below, the title of which I will not type here, which my daughter and her friends crave, and in which junior high-aged girls live lives of insecurity, negativity, and cruelty, while obsessing about label-spangled fashion, unrealistic body images, and social machinations. Ptui.

If you want your girls to value knowledge and abilities like they do store-bought items, get them The Double Daring Book for Girls. I truly believe it has the power to inspire and edify any child with a curious mind, while simultaneously countering media-induced materialism. It is a treasure.

The ExplOratorium Gets All the Gold Stars

Two days ago, San Francisco's Exploratorium hosted an exploratory Autism/Aspergers Family Night. The goal was to help ascertain the needs of certain Exploratorium-adoring families who can have a hard time being *at* that wonderful science center, and how best to accommodate said families when the Exploratorium moves pierward in 2012.

Admission was free. The event was fantastic. Leo and the girls frolicked. I was floored -- and so, so grateful. I've never seen a non-autism organization put so much effort into meeting the needs of my son and his friends. My faith in humanity has been restored.

There are so few places we can go as a family where Leo will enjoy himself, and where we needn't worry about a scene if his enjoyment ceases. Hiking, swimming, the Monterey Bay Aquarium on a slow day, the Arboretum ... that about covers it. There are many places Leo tolerates, but few in which both he and his sisters get to have fun.

At this event, our entire family got to have fun. Unbridled, rambunctious, kooky fun. Hours of it.



This success didn't come without significant, almost herculean effort to accommodate Leo and his friends. The Exploratorium brought in Bryna Siegel and her UCSF Autism Clinic crew to plan, and to staff. (Side note: It was amusing to see Ms. Siegel instructing Mali on using an exhibit properly; autistic and defiant behaviors can both be handled with similar techniques.) Exploratorium staff also volunteered their time.

As a very thoughtful bonus, dinner and snacks were provided, and they were mostly GFCF. Representatives from both Mariposa Baking Company and Acre Catering donated their time to serve the food, which was all super-healthy and delicious -- Seymour and I tucked in. Unfortuntely our picky boy only liked the toast wedges, but I always bring food for him so it was no problem.

Fortunately and un-, they limited the number of attendees. I feel for the numerous families who had to be turned away, I really do -- especially because I know several of them. But limited attendance also meant a relatively mellow audioscape (they provided earplugs for the truly sensitive) and lots of personal space, and no typical Exploratorium crowds or noise -- so no overwhelm and resulting acting out. It was thrilling to see Leo running around, exploring, and investigating without us having to worry about him bumping into people or stomping on toddlers.



Leo explored like crazy. He loved being in a space full of manipulables that were all about tactile, audio, and visual feedback. (He was also excited about "going on an airplane?" because he thought the hangar-like space was an airport. We spent a lot of time explaining that we were already at our destination.)

My son's experience was made even easier by the planners, who understood that Leo and his friends are not all alike in their needs and interests, and planned three different pathways/walks: sensory-based, reading-based, and an organization-centric. Each path came with a map, each station on the path was marked with color-coded balloons. The staff gently encouraged but did not interfere, and the kids the interacted with exhibits in their own ways. Leo, for instance, was as happy to play with sand wherever he found it, inside or outside the exhibits.



Leo absolutely loved the Exploratorium, and so did his sisters. But we might never have risked a visit, had we not been given the gift of Autism Family Night. The staff said that it's not as busy in the late afternoons. We just might show up.

Exploratorium staff, you have my sincere thanks and gratitude. Please say you'll do it again!

ReadKiddoRead!

MotherTalk/MomCentral is currently hosting their best blog tour ever: James Patterson's ReadKiddoRead. (James Patterson being the author of the Maximum Ride books coincidentally and currently being devoured by my daughter Iz.) I would have been interested even without the Amazon gift certificate the tour organizers dangled in front of me.

If your kid is anything like my kid, and not content to have books on hand, or to go to the library on Mondays, or to surf the Amazon.com "also boughts" for recommendations, if your kid wants more more more book recommendations all the time all day long, and isn't satisfied by Newberry credentials ("Those books are all so depressing, Mommy! Everyone always dies!") then ReadKiddoRead is a godsend. If you're simply interested in a well-organized resource for finding your kids nice meaty, enjoyable books to read, then ReadKiddoRead will merely please you immensely.

James Patterson talks about the idea behind ReadKiddoRead:

"A few years ago, I realized my son, Jack, didn't exactly love books. We'd always read to him as a baby, and he was beginning to read for school. When he got home, him going to the shelf and picking up a book was about as likely as his pulling out a notebook and solving quantum physics problems. Actually, the latter was more likely. He's a smart kid.

"So Sue and I took it on ourselves to fix the problem if we could.

"Starting that summer, and every summer since, we went out and found books that I was pretty sure he'd not just read, but would love to read. That was a big part of the inspiration for READKIDDOREAD."

Judy Freeman, the site's primary reviewer, has this to say about why ReadKiddoRead is so important:

"James Patterson’s mission is to get kids hooked on unputdownable books that will lead them to other unforgettable books that will launch them as lifetime readers. Naturally, to become a reader, you need to be surrounded by good books. There are more than 5,000 children’s books published every year. How on earth do you figure out which ones are the best ones to read to or share with or recommend to your children? That’s where ReadKiddoRead can help.

"We’ve tried to help make your job easier with this website, culling a select list of cutting edge books we believe your kids will love. We couldn’t review every exemplary book out there, so included with each title is a list of more treasures (If You Loved This Book, Then Try) on the same theme or subject or by the same author, that will keep kiddos reading and exploring.

"Will every single book listed here ring your child’s literary bell? Well, no. That would be impossible. Children’s book tastes are far-ranging, just like yours are. So, we’ve gone through thousands of books to come up with an eclectic mix, balancing historical, hysterical, drama, fantasy, contemporary, mystery, suspense, animals, fictional, fact-ional, and then some. We think it’s a compelling assortment of titles that will really pop. Some are more for girls than boys, or vice versa; others are more universal in theme.

"I like to tell kids, “Everything you read makes you smarter and makes your brain grow. But if you always read the same type of book, your brain will develop an unsightly bulge. You need to try a bit of everything.”

Aside from thoughtful book recommendations for kids of all ages and inclinations (I especially appreciate the understanding that some five-year-olds are ready for books like City of Ember), the site contains interviews with authors such as Julie Andrews, links for getting free books, and (warning!) access to the dangerously slippery slope that is Shelfari.

The main is nicely organized into four main reading levels, each with four sub-categories of recommendations, but it is not infinitely deep in terms of the number of books. This is okay -- there's a lot of additional current and potential meat in the Ning, so don't forget to join the increasingly lively ReadKiddoRead community and help this potentially amazing resource grow and flourish.

Technorati Tags: ReadKiddoRead

The Right Toy

Still processing yesterday's sweet victories and callous disappointments. Though I wish I'd taken a video of Mali jumping up and down on the couch yelling "OBAMAOBAMAOBAMA!" during that gentleman's first speech as President-Elect.

In the meantime, I'd like to show you an example of how wonderful it is to find the right toy for a kid like Leelo. The toy in question is a Tactile Pathway made by WePlay and sold by BeyondPlay, and was Seymour's mother's birthday gift for our almost-eight-year-old boy:



Sweet.

The background song "Pony Boy" is one of Leelo's favorite tunes. It is sung by Jaycob Van Auken and Stephanie Schneiderman, and is from the That Baby CD--which I partially panned in a MotherTalk review a few months ago. Come to think of it, all my reviews for MotherTalk were mixed, which may be why I haven't heard from them in a while. Hmm. Perhaps honesty is not the best approach when reviewing Blogosphere schwag, if it comes with promotional undertones.

Technorati Tags: autism, autism blog, MotherTalk, sensory, That Baby

Review time! Milking It: Horizon Organic Single Serving Milk

I grew up in a family of six: Mom, Dad, three stinky brothers, and me. We took our motor home on at least one extended camping trip every year, exploring the corridor from our home in Orange County, California, to my mother's native British Columbia.

I will always cherish the memories from those trips. July snow at Crater Lake. Convincing my dad to eat MacIntosh Toffee, which pulled out one of his crowns and sent him into nearby Grand Forks for emergency dental work. Abusing our parents' patience by obsessively re-playing our eight tracks of Dreamboat Annie and Living in the USA, and later our cassettes of Freedom of Choice and Beauty and the Beat. My dad spending all three weeks of our Camp Richardson vacation lying on a lawn chair under the fragrant pines, with his back in traction to help recover from a fall through a factory skylight. My mom handing me my own copy of Jane Eyre, touching off my life-long love affair with the twin powers of skilled storytelling and righteous indignation. My two younger brothers' crusade to trap and release every squirrel in our campsites. My mom not remembering until twenty minutes on the road that she'd forgotten to pay for gas in a small B.C. town, turning our mobile behemoth around, and encountering the squad cars that had been sent after her.

I will also never forget the awful taste of the powdered crud that was our only camping milk option. Hack. Spit. Ptui.

So, while I am not a fan of packaging, I do appreciate products that make sense under specific circumstances. I am grateful that Horizon Organic makes single serving cartons that give a real milk option to sad little campers who would otherwise be stuck with nasty powdered milk. The regular milk doesn't even taste funny. So, yay for Horizon's single serving regular milk. I will pack it along on our next overnighter outdoor excursion, and never again fear my campside morning cereal.

The regular single-serving milk is useful. But Horizon also provides single serving milks in three flavors: vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. I was prepared to disfavor them all (again, I am packaging-averse). But I also spent many afternoons of my childhood experimenting with Quik, and Horizon's strawberry milk tastes and smells exactly like Strawberry Quik -- except organic. As I am a sucker for childhood sense-memories, I suspect I will be squirreling away a few packages of the strawberry single serving milk. Yay for Horizon's strawberry milk.

I didn't even know I liked vanilla milk until I tasted the Horizon single serving version, but now I will make sure that there is vanilla milk on hand, for those times when sadness descends and a sixth cup of coffee just won't do. Yay for Horizon's vanilla milk.

But what about the chocolate milk? Well, I know well enough that few people are content with a mere sip of chocolate milk, and I do not need any additional addictions at the moment, so I tested the single serving chocolate milk on my girls.

Iz enjoyed it. Yay chocolate milk, of course it's good, HELLO, Mommy.

Mali, however, will not normally drink milk or even touch it unless it is dampening her cereal. But she thought Horizon's chocolate milk was so delicious that she swore she has always liked milk. She also swears that she will drink it if I put it in her lunch, which made me re-evaluate in favor of the utility of single serving packages. Mali is not as picky an eater as her "I eat only six items" brother Leelo, but she is close. The opportunity to feed her anything different, especially something with a few grams of protein, is always welcome, so yay for Horizon's chocolate milk.

Pictures and video proof of chocolate milking:


Mali trying to put the straw in by herself.


Yes I do like chocolate milk! I do I do! (My mother also wants to show you that I get healthy meals on occasion)


Iz demonstrates her more mature approach to chocolatey nom.


Please note that anyone who cares to discuss or debate the facts about Horizon can do so at www.horizonorganicfacts.com.