Addressing the Challenging Behavior of Children with High Functioning Autism/Asperger Syndrome in the Classroom: A Guide for Teachers and Parents

Leo isn’t reading, or writing, or drawing, or even speaking, and his father is concerned. But Leo’s mother isn’t. She knows her son will do all those things, and more, when he’s ready.

In Overcoming Underachieving two nationally recognized experts in children’s school problems show you how to become your child’s advocate, coach, and guide through the educational process. Using numerous case examples, they help you pinpoint your child’s unique learning patterns and the problems that interfere with learning, behavior, and achievement. This information-packed book provides dozens of creative, parent-tested tools to help your child overcome difficulties with reading, math, handwriting, study skills, memorization, attention span, and many other problems that affect school success.

“Difficult.” “Picky.” “Oversensitive.” “Clumsy.” “Unpredictable.” “Inattentive.”

Children who have been labeled with words like these may actually be suffering from Sensory Integration Disorder — a very common, but frequently misdiagnosed, condition that can manifest itself in excessively high or low activity levels, problems with motor coordination, oversensitivity or undersensitivity to sensations and movements, and other symptoms. This guide, written by an expert in the field, explains how SI Dysfunction can be confused with ADD, learning disabilities, and other problems, tells how parents can recognize the problem — and offers a drug-free treatment approach for children who need help.

The child with a nonverbal learning disability presents a puzzling and challenging profile to teachers, therapists, and parents. This resource translates the research into an understandable manual for the identification and treatment of children and youth with nonverbal learning disorders.

Nonverbal Learning Disabilities: A Guide to School Success shares the experience of three professionals who work with students with NLD in a variety of settings. Whether it is how to best present a writing assignment or how to ask a classmate to a dance, the authors have come to appreciate these students as creative, informed, and personable.

Author Rondalyn Varney Whitney, a pediatric occupational therapist, is the mother of Zac, a child who suffers from nonverbal learning disorder, or NLD. By definition, NLD is a neurological defect in children who are unable to recognize the nonverbal clues that make up 50 percent of communication. In Bridging the Gap, Whitney seamlessly weaves practical professional advice throughout the account of her passionate involvement with her son. She writes, “I believe that NLD, now thought to be as prevalent as dyslexia, is a difference and not a flaw.” She also warns parents and teachers that kids with NLD are likely to be misdiagnosed as lazy or defiant, so she urges readers to consider both the strengths (high intelligence and advanced verbal skills and memory) and weaknesses (low visual, spatial, and motor skills and deficits in social communication) of these kids.