The Good Box: Beyond Sensory Turmoil and Pain in Autism

In her influential and successful book The Anger Box, expert practitioner Phoebe Caldwell shifted attention away from the surface symptoms of autism and towards understanding sensory experiences and alleviating the distress associated with them. The Anger Box of the title was a drawing by William, then aged six, of the sensations he felt when he lost control due to sensory overload. The book ended with Williams Good Box, representing his experience of calm and relief.

Bringing together ideas and material from The Anger Box as well as the later Hall of Mirrors, Shards of Clarity (which explored sense of self), and integrating updates and findings from a further decade of autism research, The Good Box gathers and extends insights from a pioneer of the field now in her ninetieth year. It also reflects a further shift of focus away from distress and towards acceptance and more positive interpretations of autistic experiences.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. A People Spectrum
2. Defensive Systems
3. Flight Evolutionary Interlude
4. All In the Mind?
5. Neurological Damage
6. Vision In a Grey World
7. Auditory Processing
8. Feelings, Touch and Pressure
9. Emotional Overload Historical Interlude
10. Brain Wiring
11. Behavioural Approach or Engagement?
12. Autism and Society
13. A Sense of Self Conclusion