Gardening for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders and Special Educational Needs: Engaging With Nature to Combat Anxiety, Promote Sensory Integration and Build Social Skills Paperback – February 15, 2012

I have passed this book on to a Botanical Garden that I volunteer for. I am a retired school psychologist, I highly recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this book as I am embarking on a new year working with an ASD child easy to read and very interesting.

The heart of this book is using the mindfulness approach to have gardening facilitate the educational and developmental goals of special needs children. The mindfulness approach consist of compassion, patience, and flexibility. The book outlines safety concerns such as what plants are poisonous and should not be planted in a garden frequented by special needs children. It includes some guidelines such as letting children dig in the soil to work off excess energy before moving on to other activities. Only one chapter focuses specifically on children with Autism spectrum disorders. I believe Autism spectrum disorders are mentioned specifically in the title for marketing purposes. Other chapters focussed on Anxiety, depression, ADHD, and wheelchair users. The information on adapting gardening tools for children who have difficulty holding them and the instructions for building an adjustable height raised bed garden for children in wheelchairs are particularly well-written. Although the book description states this book is for parents and teachers, I felt like it focused primarily on the school rather than the home setting. The time in the garden is broken down into discreet lesson plans rather than incorporating gardening with childcare. It's certainly not irrelevant from a parents perspective, but seems to be more tailored for a teacher.

This is very basic, so it might be good for someone who knows little about autism or about gardening. It offers a good sell for the sensory balance gardening can bring for autistic people, but I was wishing for something more.