Parents are faced with tremendous challenges when their own child is diagnosed with early childhood autism. They have to accept that their child is different, they have to obtain information about appropriate help, and at the same time they also have to cope with everyday life. This book provides parents, as well as schoolteachers and preschool teachers, with basic knowledge about autism, guidance through the jungle of treatment options, and help with everyday educational questions: What is important for the child at what age? What type of support is useful? How can parents and teachers help the child learn? How can they explain problem behaviour and deal with it? The book answers these and many other questions using specific educational situations. Last but not least, it provides a manual for ways of dealing with children in the autism spectrum.

Christiane Arens-Wiebel is head of the advice centre of the Bremen Autism Association.