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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
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UNIQUELY HUMAN

Barry Prizant Tom Fields-Meyer

A Different Way of Seeing Autism

Essential reading for any parent, teacher, therapist, or caregiver of a person with autism: a groundbreaking book on autism, by one of the world’s leading experts, who portrays autism not as a tragic disability, but as a unique way of being human.
Autism is usually portrayed as a checklist of deficits, including difficulties interacting socially, problems in communicating, sensory challenges, and repetitive behavior patterns. This perspective leads to therapies focused on ridding individuals of “autistic” symptoms. Now Dr. Barry M. Prizant, an internationally renowned autism expert, offers a new and compelling paradigm: the way to help a person with autism change for the better, he argues, is to change ourselves—our attitudes and our behavior.

In Uniquely Human, Dr. Prizant suggests a major shift in understanding autism: Instead of classifying “autistic” behaviors as signs of pathology, he sees them as part of a range of strategies to cope with a world that feels chaotic and overwhelming. Rather than curb these behaviors, it’s better to enhance abilities, build on strengths, and offer supports that will naturally lead to more desirable behavior and a better quality of life. In fact, argues Dr. Prizant, attempts to eliminate “autistic” behaviors may actually interfere with important developmental processes.

While it never discounts the difficulties of living with autism, Uniquely Human offers inspiring stories, and practical advice drawn from Dr. Prizant’s four-decade career working in universities, schools, hospitals, and in private practice. It conveys a deep respect for people with autism and the qualities that make them special. Filled with humanity and wisdom, Uniquely Human offers a compassionate and insightful perspective that parents, professionals, and family members will find uplifting and hopeful.

Barry M. Prizant, PhD, CCC-SLP, is among the world’s leading authorities on autism, with more than forty years of experience as a scholar, researcher, and international consultant. He is an adjunct professor at Brown University and coauthor of The SCERTS Model: A Comprehensive Educational Approach, now being implemented in more than a dozen countries. Dr. Prizant has published more than 120 articles and chapters, and has received many awards including the 2014 Honors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2005 Princeton University-Eden Foundation Career Award in Autism, and the 2013 “Divine Neurotypical Award” of GRASP. Dr. Prizant lives in Cranston, RI, with his wife, Dr. Elaine Meyer, and their teenage son.

Tom Fields-Meyer is author of the critically acclaimed memoir Following Ezra: What One Father Learned About Gumby, Otters, Autism, and Love from His Extraordinary Son, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. A former senior writer for People, he lives in Los Angeles, where he teaches in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post.
Available products
Book

Published 2022-04-01 by Simon & Schuster

Book

Published 2022-04-01 by Simon & Schuster

Comments

A masterful treatise advocating for necessary changes in the way we see, understand and provide services to persons with Autism. This is a book for all parents and persons providing professional services to individuals with significant disabilities, not just those with Autism. My hope is that this exceptional book will bring about the change in thinking and practice it is intended to do.

The reverence that Dr. Prizant brings to his work with individuals with autism and their families leaps out from every page of this remarkable book, enabling him to tell the story of autism in a deeply personal way that is at once inspirational and informative. The engaging, real-life examples interspersed throughout the book serve both to illuminate the experience of autism from the inside out, and to expose the folly of viewing behavior separate and apart from the motivation that fuels it. That is epochal!

An excellent book that conveys what autism is like and how individuals with autism may be helped to build on their strengths and gain a greater social understanding. The approach involves much practical guidance for families and teachers, but it is refreshingly flexible and non-dogmatic.

This is a wonderful book. Based on his own vast experience as a clinician working with children with autism and families, Barry Prizant offers a compassionate and insightful perspective on autism that many will find inspiring and hopeful. The book is filled with sound advice based on real world experience as well as research. Most importantly, it conveys a deep respect for persons on the autism spectrum and the qualities that make them special.

A long-awaited tour-de-force that parts the ever-expanding sea of books on the topic of autism. A must-read for anyone who lives with and loves a person with autism, this book should also be required for anyone who is striving to be a competent and humanistic professional.

Uniquely Human is not just the perfect title for Barry Prizant's book, it's also an appropriate summation of Dr. Prizant's career. Though a clinical scholar, he is a humanist first, and always has been—a professional who is fascinated by unexamined lives that could be lived happily, yet aren't. With every brilliant, illuminating example in his book, he steers us away from the traditional fix-it mentality and towards the beatific, personally rewarding detective work that the entire spectrum world would be well served to adopt. Thanks be to Barry for the first-ever ‘must read’ written for parents, educators, and clinicians.

Elegant in its simplicity, Uniquely Human tackles extremely complex topics and how they impact school, home and community. Compassion, learning and supportive strategies--the three essentials for working with folks with ASD--are an integral part of this must-read book.

Dr. Prizant explains the causes of behaviors associated with autism. I love his approach for understanding problems with sensory overload, anxiety and discomfort. He provides common sense, practical advice based on a 40-year career working in the trenches with both parents and teachers.