Incorporate cool down or relaxation activities into the school day (e.g., yoga, deep breathing).

This website is dedicated to promoting inclusive schooling and exploring positive ways of supporting students with autism and other disabilities. Most of my work involves collaborating with schools to create environments, lessons, and experiences that are inclusive, respectful, and accessible for all learners.

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DAY 2: Autism – Sensory/Movement Differences and Diversity

Posted on December 14, 2012 in Autism, Inclusion, News

For a lot of people, the most anticipated books each year are about vampires or girls with great archery skills, but the release I waited for was this book by friends, Martha Leary and Anne Donnellan. I am not exaggerating when I share that their first book, Movement Differences and Diversity in Autism, completely changed how I thought about disability, behavior, and autism. This new volume did not disappoint, and I am now recommending it to everyone in my circle (and now, to all of you)! To me, no other researchers/scholars in autism are doing more than these two women to move the field forward and to help us offer the most humane, gentle, and appropriate supports possible to those with sensory and movement problems. Bravo, Martha and Anne!

Book cover for The King Who Rained

Autism: Sensory-Movement Differences and Diversity

“If we follow the lead offered here we will not only have a model of the discipline we must cultivate, we will also have the support of people with disabilities as full partners in the difficult search for better understanding. Leary and Donnellan carefully note anomalies, irregularities likely to be ignored or explained away in routine practice: irregularities such as the many accommodations people with disabilities and those who care about them have invented beneath the notice of the professionals who ordinarily control their treatment. The authors rigorously deconstruct the myth of mental capacity.” —John O’Brien, author (with Connie Lyle O’Brien)

Comments

  1. From mylindaelliott on 15 Dec 2012

    Thanks for the head up about this one. It’s hard to keep up with good information that can help my daughters.

  2. From Lauri on 15 Dec 2012

    Thanks for letting us know about the new volume. Ordering it now!

  3. From Casey DePriest on 22 Apr 2014

    Thank you for highlighting this amazing book. It is a must read for educators, physicians, therapists, and parents of children or adults with autism. An understanding of the movement differences, paired with appropriate sensory and communication supports can rescue a lost child (or adult) from a lifetime of misunderstanding, misery, and grief.) Really, you MUST READ!!