What Really Works for Children with Autism aims to be a guide for anyone who has a child with autism, as well as for educators and caregivers. Many difficulties for these children arise due to a lack of knowledge about exactly what autism is and what its consequences are. This book provides detailed information about these issues, including:

• What the 10 most important needs of autistic children are.
• Understanding their sometimes unexpected or difficult behavior.
• How to support them as a parent, teacher, caregiver, or therapist.

When you get to know the specific characteristics, abilities, challenges and needs of a child with autism better, you will see their behavior in a different light. Knowing how their brain works and what their real needs are will give you a deeper understanding of why things can be difficult for them and you. What Really Works for Children with Autism also helps you to develop strategies that will create positive moments at home or in the classroom, so that autistic children can develop meaningful relationships with the important people in their lives.

The 10 needs are:
– Being understood
– Clarity
– Predictability
– Autonomy
– Connection
– Good agreements and rules
– Positive self-esteem
– Contentment
– Meaning
– Encouragement

What if our previous teachings and beliefs regarding processing stimuli, reading emotions and understanding human behaviour is all untrue? In this book, Peter Vermeulen investigates new findings on the predictive brain and what these insights mean for autism and current interventions.

Recent research has shown that the classic ideas about how the human brain first needs to process incoming information about the world before it can react are no longer tenable. Rather, to survive in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment of modern society, what we need is a brain that predicts the world quickly and unconsciously, while taking proper account of the context. This book explains the new theories relating to the predictive brain, summarising some of the more recent highly technical research studies about the predictive mind and autism into as accessible and understandable language as possible. Shedding new light on the predictive brain and its relation to autism, the chapters lead readers to the inevitable conclusion that many of the current interventions used in connection with autism urgently need updating and outline possibilities for revising.

This approachable book synthesises advanced research for professionals across disciplines working with people with autism spectrum disorder along with readers who have or have family members with ASD.

Curious to see the reviews by Uta Frith, Brenda Smith Myles, Richard Mills, Marita and Torbjörn Falkmer and the autistic self advocate Sam Peeters? Read this.