Asperger's and Girls

Opens up a window to the minds and inner world and their mechanics of females. It’s not technical but just deep enough to give you an idea and curiosity to dig deeper in case it seems relevant. I would definitely recommend reading.One critical feedback: A little bit too much emphasis on sexism - comparing the girls to boys continuously to this extent puts unnecessary emphasis on the male aspect of autism - when most of the relevant literature has been and still is about men’s autism. Explaining female autism aspects without using males’ as the benchmark would have kept the book truer to its purpose.

All of the essays here have at least a point or two of value, but the one that all by itself made the book worthwhile for me was Jennifer McIllwee Myers' contribution. I moved on to find and order her two books and greatly look forward to reading them. Trenchant observations and quick wit. I think we Aspies can pick up a lot from her confidence.All these essays have point or two worth making, but the one that makes the book is the one by Jennifer McIllwee Meyers. Her confidence and trenchant observations have a lot to offer Aspies. I quickly proceeded to find out that, yes, she has written a book, two in fact, and now they are on their way to me.

I've read many books on this subject and it wasn't due to lack of knowledge or awareness of it by any means. And no one recommended me to any of the books I read on Aspergers. The Pluses of this is it specifically addresses a group of females who haven't yet been included in books on the subject. One of it's major downers witch it repetedly says in the book is that it isn't much to say about the women now do to lack of research on us. So It says basically nothing new to what I already knew and read. I would say at the most I appreciated 1 and 1/2 chapters in it and the others (some) were good but nothing all that impressive. My fav chapter was written by the author who is one of the least famous writers in the book and the 2 chapters from the most famous people who wrote it were the most dissipointing chapters. And the fact that 3 of the writers all contradicted themselves slightly really bothers me. With the most famous guy being inaccurate. I'm thrilled they r starting a support core and more research for others about us. But, using a role model who doesn't have Aspergers!? Are you serious!? I like Temple Grandid alot but, she doesn't belong in this book!

There is some good information in the book, but the rest is either common sense or condescending to aspies, which is irritating.Lisa Iland's article sometimes had a condescending tone to it which I disliked. It talked about different "hierarchies" of social groups of girls as if some girls were inferior. It actually says the phrase "equal or higher social status". Girls already see the peer group this way, erroneously. It is wrong to give it credit, and the message needs to be that all girls are equal. It also talked about "improving" clothing style and image, which seemed kind of snobby, and did not give any specifics examples how. About clothing image, it said that if a girl dresses "mainstream" she will be more likely to make friends. Yes and no. Even if the outside blends in with the group, the inside remains the same. Fashion style is just one facet of a person. At the same time, I think it is healthy for an Aspie to become aware of the current fashion trends, or even just typical clothes that most of her peers wear, and try to emulate them, to make fitting in, at least in that sense, fun. It may help her confidence in a way, since she may feel so different from her peers in other ways, at least in fashion she can feel the same as them. Most of all, it is healthy for an Aspie to look her best. As an Aspie myself, I wish someone would have guided me more about fashion and flattering clothes when I was growing up, so I wouldn't cringe so much when I look at old pictures of myself. So, in this sense, Iland's advice about finding appropriate clothing style had some good points. The article did have some other good points such as direct information about how to start a conversation in a group, how to make small talk, how to judge the level of emotional intimacy in a friendship, how to tell if someone is bullying, etc. These were presented in a concrete way which is easy for an Aspie to understand."Preparing for Puberty and Beyond"...common sense mostly. The part about shaving was inaccurate. It said "NT girls decide to start shaving on their own", but this is not always true, especially for tomboys. Often, the mother needs to talk to the daughter about shaving, just as a father would talk to a son about it. It said shaving on their own "may not occur to Asperger's girls", again, showing Aspies as idiots and NT's as all-knowing. Ruth Snyder's article...well....it needed editing. Major editing. First of all, the title: Maternal Instincts in Asperger's Sydrome. I thought it would be a comprehensive study of many Aspies and how they do as parents, which is something I would be interested in, not a memoir. Snyder seems to have some good things to say, but unfortunately her article's writing quality was wordy and digressing, sometimes rambling, which made it difficult to read. Maybe she has trouble writing clearly, but that is where an editor steps in. I don't know why they let it through the way it was, I don't know if they were afraid of hurting her feelings if they touched it, or they just didn't care, or what. In lack of editing, I think they did this person a disservice. It just shows how Aspies can be neglected in guidance sometimes. Also, as I said before, this made Aspies look clueless or weird, which is not right.

As others have said, this has narrow scope and is very US-centric - it majors on the idea that autism is a thing to be masked and implies that the autistic mind and outlook is not valuable or useful. All the advice seems to be around encouraging girls to follow American cultural norms, to mask and disguise their autism: it risks further underlining the common perception that autism is always, and only, a bad thing to have. Given that autism in females is less well understood and recognised, I'd have been grateful for some thoughts around how one might bring out the positives in autistic neurology, and build on those, as well as finding ways to foster better understanding and appreciation in the neurotypical world. I'm afraid this book really doesn't do this, and really if anything serves to bolster the perceptions the neurotypical world has of the aspie one.

All of this seems to have been written in the context of American culture, which is fine if that is where you are. If you are in the UK I think that some chapters will not be very useful - especially the one about girl-to-girl friendship, which seems about as relevant to life in the UK as American TV is... However, although also very American, the relationship advice is very sound - probably the best chapter in the book - and provides good food for thought anywhere in the world.When is someone going to write an Aspie Female book from a UK perspective? It is different here you know!

This book is a collection of observations, explainations and advice from different authors on different aspects of being a female Aspie.Each section is written by a different author, allowing the best advice to be offered as these authors seem to specialise in the area they are talking about. There are links to other books and other information also.This book is not patronising in any way and is therefore suitable for the Asperger's female themselves or friends, family, educators etc.A big message throughout is how different the females are from the males in having Aspergers (and explains why) and that girls are often diagnosed later than boys, even as late as adulthood.Highly recommend this book to anyone who knows a female Aspie.

Many women go un-diagnosed as Asperger's 'types' causing problems in later life so this book is timely as a diagnostic aid for the perplexed.It has a checklist of signs and behaviour and gives valuable advice to the Asperger Girl through all stages of life. The parents or carers may like to read this but this is very much from the Asperger person's viewpoint and other books for those dealing with them might be necessary as well as professional advice.

Bought this on clinical recommendation but recipient found it no use at all. Indeed it was chucked across the room in frustration at its unhelpfulness. Getting information on female autism/ ASD is very challenging. There is so much difference in the condition though it might be of use to another recipient