Providence, RI
The birth of an autistic child is a sad and devastating family event that alters forever the family's relationship to everyday life and deprives parents of the anticipated joy of child rearing. The excitement of the child's educational achievements are replaced by negotiating individual educational and treatment plans, navigating troubling behaviors, and visits to psychologists, neurologists, and developmentalists.
Aiden's Brain written by author Albert P. Scheiner is the story about Aiden's mother, Sandy, and his developmental pediatrician. Sandy is not an atypical parent of a child with autism who seeks answers and advocates for her child's best educational and social interests. The developmental pediatrician works to make the arduous journey of families who struggle to attain services for their children less difficult. Sandy finds herself submerged in an emotional tsunami while trying to decipher the information and institutional forces needed to help her child and family.
Aiden is a child with high-functioning autism. He strives to understand the people and the world around him. He does this with the help of a cell phone that he thinks improves his cognitive and social performance. With the help of a friend's father who is concerned about the use of the cell phone, an autism transcranial magnetic stimulator (AUTMS) is developed. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is used in the treatment of psychiatric illness and is currently under study. Whether TMS will be effective in the treatment of autism is yet to be determined.
Although the names of the families, the schools, and the service providers have been changed, the events that are described in this book have actually occurred. The effects of the cell phone and TMS on behavioral and cognitive performance are speculative. Their uses are included to focus on the unique ability of some children with autism to invoke as yet unexplained methods that they use to calm themselves and enhance their cognitive and behavioral performance. Although Aiden's success is admirable, it is by no means unique, even without cell phone and TMS use.
Aiden's Brain is directed at parents and professionals who are interested in children with Aspergers Syndrome. It addresses the nature of autism from the symptomatic, neurobiological, and treatment point of view. It also provides an in-depth description of the parent's emotional and administrative struggles in obtaining appropriate services, the legal rights of the child and family as it relates to the educational system, the families difficult interactions with the school, and outlines strategies for receiving optimal services and treatment for children.
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About the Author
Albert P. Scheiner is a developmental pediatrician who is professor emeritus of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. As the director of the clinic for Children with Developmental Disorders he has evaluated and provided treatment plans for hundreds of children with autism and their families.
Aiden's Brain* by Albert P. Scheiner
The Underfunded Autism Epedemic
Publication Date: 6/28/2013
Trade Paperback; $15.99; 99 pages; 978-1-4836-4643-5
Trade Hardback; $24.99; 99 pages; 978-1-4836-4644-2
eBook; $3.99; 978-1-4836-4645-9
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