More Than Hope: For Young Children On The Autism Spectrum Paperback – June 11, 2012

After my (then 27 month old) daughter was diagnosed with autism, I got my hands on all the autism books I could. This is by far my favorite. Both of my parents read it, too, & felt the same. At the time of diagnosis, we were in the middle of child custody/placement court. My daughter's father either doesn't care, doesn't want to understand, or doesn't believe she has autism. His follow through is awful & he refuse to participate in any type of therapy/appointments. The GAL we had was big on fathers rights, and I can whole-heartedly say that I feel part of what got him to change his mind & realize what this idiot was (& wasn't) doing for my daughter could really effect the rest of her life negatively was certain parts of this book that my lawyer and I cited & reiterated to him & the family court commissioner. We were in court for exactly 2 years, and this book finally helped put an end to it, & we got great results, & are seeing improvement in her!! The best part of this book, generally speaking, is it's tone. So many books I've read have been too full of medical terminology or written in such a negative/sad/depressing tone that, if I even finish reading them, I am left defeated when I'm done. This book left me realistically feeling positive. I knew our options, I knew the possible outcomes with the different options. I understood everything I read. It was full of enough inspirational context to really give me hope, & also had just the right amount of professional/clinical context to make it realistic/believable. Since December 2013, I have read this book more than once, & shared it with family members, & always recommend it. My copy is full of highlighting & tabs because there is so much great information in it! I can't say enough good things about this book. If you have a child, are related to a child (or adult), work with a child (or adult), or had friends with a child (or other family member) who has autism, this book is SO worth your time. If a loved one's child is diagnosed, you might not know what to say, but having been there myself, I would say a copy of this book, a hug, & a promise to be there would be more than enough to make any parent feel relatively better. Even if you end up with multiple copies, as a parent that's a good thing, because if you're anything like me, you'll loan it out as a fool-proof, simple way to explain autism to other loved ones, & then you don't have to worry about losing your personal copy!

This is a wonderful little book that you quickly learn to trust. It is concise, clear, and without a square foot of wasted space - as a parent, you will not want to skip a word. This is practical advice that you can begin applying immediately. The chapters are broken down into key developmental areas: language, social interaction, joint attention, imitation, etc. Each chapter contains a short introduction about how typical children develop and demonstrate skills in these areas, followed by how children with ASD present and behave. The heart of each chapter is a subsequent "Strategies for Change" section which provides detailed guidance for how to address issues in children with ASD. Dr. Paparella literally walks you these strategies, including DTT, so that the process is very clear. For example, in Chapter 4, she shows how you teach "pointing to request" through a process that starts with errorless learning, moves on to a series of prompts, and then starts to fade the prompts, while encouraging generalization. She gently guides you and helps you out in detail when a strategy doesn't go as expected - a sure sign of an experienced clinician. Many other books would leave you hanging when their approach doesn't seem to be working; this one does not. The author is also very honest with the challenges to be faced, and doesn't pretend to be providing a "cure"; these are simply a set of excellent, reliable strategies that can help make a real difference in major areas of concern. Overall, this is a very accessible and practical book - true to its name, it's a book about everyday intervention that can be delivered in the course of daily living, with a variety of people. This is part of the book's message: consistent application of techniques is key. Throughout the book, the guidance and advice is complemented with the real-life experience of the author at one of the most amazing clinics (THE most amazing, in my opinion) for children with ASD. The book is lovingly written - you feel that the author is really on your side, and your child's side. She encourages you to not underestimate the incredible changes that can happen along with early intervention. Finally, I should add that my child was under the care of Dr. Paparella and others at UCLA last year, and the voice in the book is the same comforting, intelligent, and thorough one I recognize from our stay there. Throughout our many weeks at UCLA, my wife and I saw - first hand - amazing changes in several children, so I can attest to the fact that these techniques really do make a big difference.

I want to start with a disclaimer that I worked under Dr. Paparella's instruction in the clinic at UCLA. The thing I saw most frustrating for parents with recently diagnosed children was the waiting process. With autism every second counts and parents want to be able to do something as soon as possible, after reading this book I believe parents now have the ability to do that. Although no parent can undertake the task of providing their child the intervention they need, and as Dr. Paparella points out in her book, they shouldn't try to, and they need to remember to take time for themselves and not let other relationships go to the wayside. However, this book provides several strategies that we implemented daily with the children in the clinic, and it can help parents capatalize on every moment with their child. Not only does it detail skills and strategies for parents, Dr. Paparella makes it clear that the child will succeed as long as the parent can find hapiness with their time with their children and connect with them during any activity. This is a well balanced book, that is not trying to "sell a cure", but presents parents with the choices and knowledge they should be armed with when entering the world of treatment, and the sound of reason and support to navigate it succesfully. I wish I had some way to tell EVERY parent about this book, whether their child was recently diagnosed, in the process of being diagnosed, or too young to know the warning signs yet.

basic parents ABA training

When I started to read this important book it opened a world of real possibilities for parents with autistic children. It is a clearly written, accessible book that will allow parents to almost immediately have a positive impact on their child with this development disorder. It is written in an easy, straightforward way by a leader in the field of early intervention and success with this difficult condition. The authors are to be congratulation on achieving such a level of simplicity of communication in such a complex area. The ability to express a multifaceted subject like autism in simple terms is a sign of mastery of the subject!This is a book which energises me as it is full of reasons to 'keep going' rather than giving up. More Than Hope puts much information, that up until now, has only been available in specialist clinics and with a few practitioners.A great achievement!