READING SPOTLIGHT II 

"The Martian in the Playground: Understanding the Schoolchild with Asperger's Syndrome" by Clare Sainsbury,
(Published by Lucky Duck Publishing Ltd., 2000. ISBN: 1 873942 08 7.)

You can order it by phone/fax from: 

Lucky Duck Publishing, 3 Thorndale Mews, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2HX, United Kingdom Phone: 0117 973 2881
Fax: 0117 973 1707 e-mail: publishing@luckyduck.co.uk 

"It's based on my own experiences and interviews with 25 other people with High Functioning Autism/Asperger's Syndrome, and it aims to give a view of education for children with HFA/AS "from the inside", in order to help teachers, SLTs, parents, etc. to approach kids with HFA/AS with greater understanding and insight (several people with HFA/AS have also reported that they found it interesting and helpful to read about what other people went through at school - certainly I did when I was writing it). Although it's published in the UK, the interviewees include people from the US and Canada, so hopefully it will be relevant to the various different school systems. 

I've copied the table of contents below to give an idea of the topics it covers: 

Foreword by Jean Gross 

1. Introduction 

2. What is Asperger's syndrome? 

3. 'We are not broken': Asperger's syndrome and the goals of education 4. In the Classroom: the learning environment 

5. In the Playground: the social environment 

6. In the Lunch Queue: the sensory and motor environment 

7. Secondary Conditions and Challenging Behaviour 

8. Preparing for Life After School 

9. Talking about Asperger's Syndrome 

10. Conclusion
Appendix A: Recommended Reading 

Appendix B: Resources Bibliography

It would be wonderful if people could pass on the details to anyone they know who they think would like the book or find it useful. 

By the way, I've donated my author's royalties to the UK National Autistic Society - I couldn't have written the book without all the other autistic spectrum people who contributed their ideas and experiences, so I thought the money ought to go back to the autistic community."

   ~   Clare Sainsbury

3: November 26, 2001