Barry Prizant, Ph.D., has had an extensive background in working with autistic children and adults throughout his career. In “Uniquely Human,” he shares his experiences and a positive perspective of autism. Read my book review below.
The Book: “Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism” (affiliate link)
Author: Barry M. Prizant, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
What is it about?
The cover explains so well what this book is about. It says, “Autism is not an illness. It’s a different way of being human. Autistic children and adults progress through development stages as well as we do. To help them, we don’t need to ‘fix’ them. We need to understand them and then change ourselves – our beliefs, attitudes, and actions.”
Dr. Prizant pulls from his long career working with autistic children and adults through school and health systems to help families, school administrators, teachers and others to think and approach autism differently. He shares many examples of how changing our views and strategies with working with autistic people benefits them, solves problems and helps them live better lives.
What I liked about this book
I really enjoyed the many stories of autistic children and adults that Dr. Prizant shared throughout the book. It helped as a parent to hear others’ experiences and success stories of how situations could be worked out to the benefit of the child.
It also was refreshing to see autism put into the light of how autistic people are more similar to neurotypicals than different. Many books and references talk about autism “symptoms” and different behaviors. Dr. Prizant instead presents them not as different but as behaviors that are more pronounced or intense. There is a positive side to autism that many of us forget to focus on for our children.
What I didn’t like about this book
Honestly, there wasn’t anything about this book that I didn’t like. It was well written, and the information and stories were all relevant to the topic.
Would I recommend this book?
Absolutely, I recommend the “Uniquely Human” book (affiliate link) for every parent who has a child with autism. It is well worth the read, and I learned a great deal from the book.
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars*
*(1 being the worst and 5 being the best)
