101 Tips for Parents of Children with Autism: Effective Solutions for Everyday Challenges

Do you need help dealing with your child's tantrums, inappropriate behaviour or communication issues? Then this is the book you've been waiting for. Based on the principles of the Miller Method, this book is filled with effective tips for solving behavioural issues promptly in day-to-day situations.

Miller's insights, compiled here and expanded upon by Theresa Smith, are based on an understanding of the cognitive and sensory needs of children with autism and how this can underlie certain disordered behaviors. This practical how-to guide will help you to identify causes of distress, foster friendships, increase focus, toilet train, stop tantrums and handle inappropriate conduct.

This will provide essential daily support to parents, families, carers and teachers of pre-adolescent children on the autism spectrum. The book is targeted toward the most affected ASD children.

Table of Contents

Prologue.

Preface: A Few Words from Dr. Paul Callahan.

1. Reaching Children on the Autism Spectrum with the Miller Method.
2. How to Capture Your Child's Attention, Increase Focus and Develop Coping Skills.
3. How to Maximize Communication.
4. How to Expand Interactions.
5. Identifying Causes of Distress for ASD Kids.
6. How to Stop a Tantrum and Re-establish Equilibrium.
7. How to Foster Friendships.
8. How to Increase Family Connections.
9. A Few More Tips for Parents.
10. Conclusion.

Afterword from Ethan Miller.

Appendix 1. How You Can Toilet Train Your Autistic Child with Help from Your Doctor.

Appendix 2. If You Want to Know More.

Glossary of Miller Terms.

Short Bibliography.

Index.

"Dr. Arnold Miller's name is known to many in the field of ASD through his writings about the need to harness the drives, obsessions, and compulsions of these youngsters transforming them into interactive exchanges that build communication and resilience. His interesting ideas and integration of theory and practice have appealed to many over the years. One problem has been a difficulty in translating his thoughtful and creative ideas into specific treatment approaches. Now this problem has been addressed with this new book by one of his long-time parent collaborators who describes 101 different intervention ideas and integrates them with the theoretical foundations that Dr. Miller and his followers thought were so important. What this book adds to Dr. Miller's appealing theory is many practical and easy to apply strategies that have proven successful in implementing his ideas and these practical activities will be of great interest to his long-time followers and newcomers to his ideas alike."
- Gary B. Mesibov, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina

"Inspired by the cognitive-developmental theory of psychologist Dr. Arnold Miller, Dr. Theresa C. Smith has written a much-needed guidebook for expanding the communication, social, and problem solving skills of children with autism spectrum disorders. With heart-warming anecdotes and humorous “intermezzo”, Dr. Smith offers keen insight into the disordered perceptions and sensory sensitivities which evoke challenging behaviors and impede adjustment. More importantly, the book offers a treasure chest of surprisingly simple, yet highly effective strategies to help children navigate around underlying obstacles and make better sense of a chaotic environment. I highly recommend this invaluable resource to parents and caregivers, or anyone else for that matter, who wants to establish a genuine relationship and make a meaningful difference in the life of a child on the autism spectrum."
- Michael J. Kowalski, Principal and School Psychologist