Growing Up on the Spectrum: A Guide to Life, Love, and Learning for Teens and Young Adults with Autism and Asperger’s, written by Dr. Lynn Koegel & Claire Scovell LaZebnik Excerpt taken from Amazon Autism is now the most commonly diagnosed developmental disability, with one in 150 children falling somewhere within the spectrum. Koegel, a psychologist and LaZebnik, the mother of an autistic son, follow up Overcoming Autism with an expert-cum-parent perspective plus the contribution (and pencil drawings) of LaZebnik’s 15-year-old son, Andrew. The first of six sections reviews terms, techniques and interventions essential to understanding and managing life with autism. The following sections focus on making and keeping friendships; dating, sex and romance; successful school experience; life beyond high school and college; and improving daily life. Each chapter features real-life narratives from the LaZebniks and Koegel; lists of practices and prompts; FAQs; anecdotes about kids and issues like distinguishing between private and public behavior or how parents can supervise from a distance; a making it work for your kid section; and sample dialogues for teaching and communication. Some of the suggestions, for example, for dealing with bullies, carrying on a meaningful conversation and developing good manners, are so good…