My friend picked up a booklet for me at her doctor's surgery yesterday. It's for young people on the spectrum and they have involved young aspies in creating the content of the booklet. There is also one for parents which explains more of the diagnosis process and suggests reading materials etc. Both booklets emphasis that special diets and supplements are not shown to be helpful and aim to keep medication to a minimum. Any medication recommended is for specific purposes, closely monitored and to be used in the short rather than long-term. Melatonin gets a mention for sleep problems.
You should be able to access both booklets from the attached link. I couldn't get the young people's one from clicking on the picture, but got by clicking on the table underneath. So if you're interested in the Scottish approach - this seems to be it...
http://www.sign.ac.uk/patients/network.html
Realised I've said they involved young aspies: they are somewhere on the spectrum, it doesn't specify where.
Maybe they found functionality labels too politically incorrect?
I thought the booklet was pretty awesome and I think it would have been a great help to my hubby in his younger years.
Maybe they found functionality labels too politically incorrect?
I think they just want to keep it fairly straightforward. They explain that the spectrum "is the name for a group of similar conditions, including autism, atypical autism and Asperger's syndrome." They "use the name ASD in this booklet to cover all of these."
One of the things that struck me as being positive was on page 2 it says,
"When we decided to produce this booklet for young people with ASD, we thought we would ask some young people with ASD about their experiences.
We wanted to hear:
- what it was like for young people before and after they knew they had ASD;
- how young people were told they had ASD;
- what they had found helpful; and
- what information people needed about ASD."
From what I've seen on here and other blogs and forums, it seems to be pretty unusual for autistic people to be given the chance to participate in or contribute to anything about themselves, so thought this seemed to make a nice change!
One bad thing. The book contains the word disorder. Disorder is not the term that should be used.
One bad thing. The book contains the word disorder. Disorder is not the term that should be used.
Yes, I did notice that, but thought that the positives far outweighed that one negative! 